Good morning. U.S. authorities can now prosecute foreign officials who demand or accept bribes from Americans trying to secure business, reports Risk & Compliance Journal's Mengqi Sun, using new legal firepower granted in the recently signed annual defense legislation.

• What is the change? For the first time, a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act has made it a crime for a foreign official to ask for or take a bribe from an American person, a U.S. company or within a U.S. jurisdiction.
   
• Part of a larger bill: President Biden signed the defense bill into law on Dec. 22, after Congress earlier in the month voted to pass the sweeping annual legislation that designates top U.S. military priorities.
   
• More about FEPA: The provision, known as the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, broadens the scope and reach of U.S. antibribery laws in a way policy supporters say will fight corruption, which the Biden administration has said is one of its top national security priorities.
   
• Why it's important: Advocates for the law say it complements the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a longstanding U.S. antibribery law that prohibits the paying of bribes to foreign officials to win or keep business. Under FEPA, violators would be fined no more than $250,000 or three times the value of the bribe; imprisoned for no more than 15 years, or both.
   
• Its origins: The new provision comes after years of campaigning by a bipartisan coalition of anticorruption groups and government watchdogs, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Netherlands blocks ASML exports of some chip-making equipment to China.

The Netherlands has blocked chip-equipment manufacturer ASML’s exports to China of some lithography systems, which are essential to making advanced microprocessors, in a partial license revocation following U.S. export restrictions.

Background. Dutch semiconductor companies have had to seek government permission since September before they can sell some advanced types of chip-making equipment abroad, the Dutch government said in June. The rule came after national-security officials from the Netherlands, Japan and the U.S. reached an agreement to start restricting such exports, aiming at limiting China’s access to advanced semiconductor technologies.

• Chevron said it will book $3.5 billion to $4 billion in charges for the fourth quarter, citing challenges tied to regulations in California and previously sold oil and gas production assets in the Gulf of Mexico.
   
• Prosecutors opened the trial of media tycoon and dissident Jimmy Lai on national security charges by citing his tweets, comments in interviews and a photograph of him publicly meeting with former Vice President Mike Pence to allege he was the “mastermind” of a conspiracy to urge Western governments to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials.
   
• Juul Labs is fighting a lawsuit from a group of investors alleging that two directors who helped bail out the e-cigarette maker when it was on the brink of insolvency were looking out for their own interests, not the company’s.
   
• Bloomin’ Brands has appointed two new members of its board as part of an agreement with activist investor Starboard Value.

For cyber companies, economic turbulence in 2023 sets up uncertain 2024.

Instability among cybersecurity providers in the past year has rattled security chiefs, leaving some hesitant to rely too much on one supplier.

Cybersecurity is normally seen as protected from economic ups and downs because fears of large-scale hacks spur spending on cyber defenses. But corporate security executives across industries tightened their belts and applied extra scrutiny to vendor costs in 2023, adding pressure on suppliers.

• Danish shipping giant A.P. Moeller-Maersk said it will pause all transit through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden until further notice following the attack on its vessel Maersk Hangzhou on Dec. 30.
   
• A suspected Israeli attack targeted a Hamas gathering in Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least seven members of the Palestinian militant group, including one of its most influential founding members, according to Lebanese and Palestinian security officials, sending shock waves through the Middle East and bringing weekslong hostage negotiations to a halt.
   
• The Ukraine war has highlighted the West’s deficiencies in quickly producing more weapons at a time of need. The Gaza conflict may tighten supplies for certain armaments.
   
• The smoking ruins of what was a popular market for tourists and a seven-story building lying on its side attested to the destruction left by a New Year’s Day earthquake in Japan that killed at least 62 people.
   
• A dearth of initial public offerings in Hong Kong is causing companies to suffer cash crunches and put off expansion plans, showing how the steep market downturn is taking a toll on businesses that need to raise money.
   
• Chinese women have had it. Their response to Beijing’s demands for more children? No.
   
• Employers finished 2023 with far fewer open positions than at the start of the year, according to private-sector estimates, as businesses filled more jobs and decided not to hire for others.

• Harvard University President Claudine Gay has resigned after facing mounting criticism over how she responded to antisemitism on campus and, most recently, allegations that she plagiarized the work of other researchers on multiple occasions.
   
• Russia launched another mass drone-and-missile attack against Ukraine, the latest in a growing campaign to break Ukrainian morale and wear down its air-defense systems.
   
• Israel’s Supreme Court ruling on Monday invalidating a law that was at the center of a contentious judicial overhaul was a reminder of the underlying divisions in Israeli society put aside during the war in Gaza—tensions that could erupt once the conflict is over.
   
• A total of 379 passengers and crew escaped with minutes to spare from a burning Japan Airlines jet after it collided with a Japan Coast Guard plane at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

Follow us on X at @WSJRisk. Follow Risk & Compliance editor David Smagalla @DSmagalla_DJ and reporters Mengqi Sun @_MengqiSun, Dylan Tokar @dgtokar and Richard Vanderford @VanderfordRich.

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