U.S. and world news for Jan. 29

Bipartisan border deal: Pressure from Donald Trump is expected to result in House Republicans killing the bipartisan Congressional deal that was finalized over the weekend to address border issues and provide new aid for Israel and Ukraine. With respect to the border, the package would provide most of what Republicans have been asking for in the way of border security and new restrictions on immigration. It would allow President Biden to close the border if illegal immigration got too high. Although Republicans in the Senate support the package, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says he’ll block it in the House. Donald Trump has been pressuring Johnson and other Republicans to block any action to deal with border issues so that he can continue using the situation at the border as a campaign issue.

U.S. to respond: President Biden says the U.S. will respond to the killing of three U.S. troops in a drone strike on a U.S. base in northeast Jordan. U.S. officials had not immediately identified who staged the attack. Biden said that the U.S will retaliate at a time of its own choosing and using whatever techniques it deems appropriate. The attack hit a base known as Tower 22 that is near Jordan’s border with Syria.

Moon lander is working: Japan said today that the robotic vehicle it landed on the moon 10 days ago has resumed operating after having been shut down when it first landed. When the Japanese lunar rover landed its solar cells that generate electricity were facing in the wrong direction and technicians shut it down to save its battery power. The angle at which sunlight reaches the moon’s surface has now changed and the solar cells started to generate electricity. The Japanese robot landed about 200 miles from where the U.S. astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission first walked on the moon.

Chinese real estate giant: A court in Hong Kong has ordered the Chinese real estate company China Evergrande to liquidate after it was unable to restructure its $300 billion in debt. The company listed $240 billion in assets. Evergrande owes the money to banks and buyers of bonds it issued. The judge in Hong Kong said the company still has not come up with a restructuring proposal. Evergrande’s chairman was taken into custody by Chinese officials in September for allegedly committing unspecified crimes.

U.N. workers: Japan and Austria today joined other countries that have cut funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees following evidence that 12 of its employees participated in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. The U.N. agency has fired nine of the 12 employees in question. Israel released information today that seven of the U.N. employees were with Hamas fighters that invaded Israel and two of the U.N. employees took part in kidnappings.

Taylor Swift: Elon Musk’s internet site X, formerly known as Twitter, has shut down most searches for entertainment icon Taylor Swift. X said searches for Swift pull up fake pornographic images of the star. Similar fake pornographic images have shown up on Facebook and other sites, but not in the quantity that they have appeared on X. The images started appearing on X last week. They appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence. An official at X said the shutdown of Taylor Swift searches is temporary.