New Covid strain is the most transmissible yet, WHO says

The coronavirus Omicron strain XBB.1.5, which has become the dominant strain in the U.S. in just a matter of weeks, could drive a new wave of cases, a World Health Organization official told reporters Wednesday.

“We are concerned about its growth advantage, in particular in some countries in Europe and the Northeast part of the United States, where XBB.1.5 has rapidly replaced other circulating sub-variants,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead.

Still, health officials are not sure whether that means more people will go to the hospital or die, because of immunity built up by vaccination and prior infection.

What we know: Public health officials have detected the strain in 29 countries, but it could be circulating in many more, Van Kerkhove said.

In the U.S., the sub-variant went from being present in 4 percent of sequenced cases to 40 percent in just a few weeks, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha tweeted Wednesday.

But the WHO doesn’t yet know whether XBB.1.5 is more severe than other circulating sub-variants.

The United States is suffering far less from Covid than it did a year ago. Death rates were about seven times higher at this time last year, and hospitalizations were almost three times as high. Both categories have been lower at various points in the pandemic, however, and hospitalizations in New England, where XBB.1.5 is spreading fast, are rising and are at about 40 percent of last year’s levels.

Van Kerkhove said the increase in hospitalizations in the Northeast cannot be attributed yet to XBB.1.5 because other respiratory illnesses, including flu, could be partially responsible.

What’s next: Jha warned that Americans’ immunity against XBB.1.5 “is probably not great” if a prior infection was before July or if they have not received the bivalent shot that became available in September.

He advised people to get their bivalent booster, to test before attending large gatherings or before meeting with elderly or immunocompromised people and to wear a high-quality mask in crowded indoor spaces.

Covid tests and antiviral pills Paxlovid and Molnupiravir “should work just fine based on what we know,” Jha tweeted.

The WHO is working on an analysis of the new strain’s severity that it will publish in the coming days, Van Kerkhove said.

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Musk's Twitter to lift ban on political ads 'in coming weeks'

Twitter plans to lift its restrictions on political ads, saying it would immediately allow issue-based paid content on the platform while political advertisements will return "in the coming weeks."

The announcement comes as advertisers have fled the platform in droves after Elon Musk's takeover last October, which was followed by a spike in hate speech and the reinstatement of several previously-banned right-wing accounts.

Lifting bans on advertisements from politicians and issue-based groups — which have been in place since 2019 — could potentially lead to more revenue for the platform.

Reversal of course: Twitter Safety's account announced the changes in a tweet Tuesday evening, saying, "We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics. Today, we're relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US."

The company also announced plans to expand political advertising, but didn't set a specific time frame beyond "weeks."

It's the latest in a series of Musk moves that have reversed policies that were put in place under former CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey. Dorsey banned all political ads in November 2019, saying in an October 2019 Twitter thread that paying for political reach "has significant ramifications that today’s democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle."

Additionally, Twitter's former Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal tweeted that political advertising accounted for less than $3 million in the 2018 midterm cycle. Twitter's total revenue was $3 billion in 2018.

Twitter didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on why it reversed the policies.

Issue-based ads are OK: Twitter reversed Dorsey's restrictions on issue-based (or cause-based) ads — set in November 2019 — that banned the promotion of such ads and required advertiser certification for ads that "educate, raise awareness, and/or call for people to take action in connection with civic engagement, economic growth, environmental stewardship, or social equity causes."

Musk has radically reshaped the platform since he bought it for $44 billion, laying off thousands of employees, overseeing a mass exodus of top executives and earning a sharp warning from the FTC.

Prior to Musk's takeover, 90 percent of Twitter's revenue came from advertising, but major advertisers have backed away following Musk's free-wheeling approach to content moderation. Musk launched a revamped version of a $8 monthly Twitter Blue subscription service late last year, and lifting political and issue-based ad bans could be another source of revenue for the company.

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Ukraine-EU summit to be held in Kyiv on Feb. 3

The Ukrainian capital will host the next round of EU-Ukraine talks next month.

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European Union countries near deal on response to China's Covid surge

They will continue talks on Wednesday.

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Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to criminal charges in New York

NEW YORK — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday to criminal charges alleging wire fraud, money laundering and campaign finance violations.

The 30-year-old Bankman-Fried is accused of stealing billions of dollars in customer and investor assets through the FTX exchange and his affiliated hedge fund, Alameda Research.

Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York granted a motion submitted by Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen, to redact any identifying information for two co-signers on a $250 million bond, which is partially secured by his parent's home in California. Kaplan noted that media organizations and members of the public might challenge that order.

The judge also set a new condition to the former billionaire’s bail, directing him to refrain from accessing or transferring any assets belonging to the failed crypto exchange and Alameda.

The new requirements were set after a little more than $1 million in crypto assets were moved from digital wallets belonging to Alameda late last week. Cohen said the defense had notified the government that the FTX founder had not made the transfers.

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McConnell 'pulling' for McCarthy before speaker vote

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday "of course" he wants House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to become speaker, even as he acknowledged uncertainty for the California Republican in the upcoming vote.

“I have no idea. I don’t know any more than I read from what you guys write. I’m just pulling for him,” McConnell said in an interview Tuesday.

The Senate Republican leader previously voiced support for McCarthy in late December, even as the House Republican criticized how Senate GOP lawmakers handled year-end government spending negotiations.

"I'm pulling for Kevin. I hope he makes it," McConnell said at the time.

Other counsel for McCarthy came from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a crucial vote for Democrats over the last two years in an evenly split Senate, who urged McCarthy not to cave to all the demands of the conservatives.

"It just looks like a hostage standoff over there," he said in an interview Tuesday. “I just hope he doesn't surrender to the hostage takers. Don't pay a ransom."

McConnell is due to become the longest-serving Senate party leader in history on Tuesday as McCarthy struggles to lock down sufficient support to become speaker of the House.

The two Republican leaders meet regularly to talk strategy, but have frequently found themselves voting differently during the first two years of President Joe Biden's administration.

McConnell is due to appear alongside Biden at an event Wednesday in Kentucky, as McCarthy faces the prospect of a protracted speakership bid in the House.

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Colorado governor plans to send migrants to New York, mayor says

NEW YORK — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis plans to send migrants to major cities including New York, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday, warning that the nation's largest city is already struggling to deal an influx of people sent from Texas and other Republican-led states.

The impending move by Polis is unusual because Colorado is not a border state and both leaders are Democrats facing severe challenges over what they say is a national crisis around immigration.

"We were notified yesterday that the governor of Colorado is now stating that they are going to be sending migrants to places like New York and Chicago," Adams said during a radio appearance. "This is just unfair for local governments to have to take on this national obligation."

An aide to Adams said the mayor's administration was told of the governor's intentions on Monday evening. And while it appeared that Polis' plan entailed redirecting migrants who had arrived in Colorado to New York City and other metropolitan areas, the details on timing and the number of people who would be traveling east was unclear.

Polis' office did not immediately respond.

Like many major cities around the country, Denver has been struggling to provide services for a surge of people who have fled their home countries in Central and South America, crossed the southern border and sought asylum in the United States. Last month, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock declared a state of emergency and later appealed to the local Catholic archdiocese for assistance. He and Polis — both Democrats — also launched a fund to raise money to support services for migrants.

Thousands of migrants have attempted to cross into the U.S. from the southern border in recent weeks, in part because a Trump administration border policy, known as Title 42, was set to expire in December. The Supreme Court last week blocked the lifting of the policy, which allows the U.S. to expel migrants to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott over the spring and summer bused thousands of migrants from the border to blue strongholds like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, while Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis flew nearly 50 mostly Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard. He claimed it was to bring attention to the border situation.

But in recent weeks, the dilemma at the border has become worse. El Paso’s Democratic mayor, Oscar Leeser, declared a state of emergency in December after migrants began pouring into the city. Abbott also deployed hundreds of Texas national guard and state troopers to the border to stop people from entering the U.S.

A spokesperson for Abbott said in an email, "We are still only busing to DC, NYC, Chicago, and Philadelphia."

Adams said Tuesday around 30,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City since the spring in need of food, shelter and education — a surge that has has stretched the city's social service infrastructure to the breaking point and opened up huge risks for the municipal budget. Adams, along with the two Colorado leaders, have called on the federal government to provide assistance to localities dealing with the influx.

"No city should have to make a decisions if they're going to provide for their citizens — particularly coming out of Covid — or if they're going to deal with an onslaught of migrants and asylum seekers," he said.

David Kihara contributed to this report.

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