Good morning. Concerns about a new Covid-19 variant are prompting some U.S. businesses to double down on vaccine mandates and to rethink hosting holiday festivities this month, while many others are taking a wait-and-see approach as they look to government agencies for more guidance.

Among the most pressing Omicron-related questions for companies is whether to proceed with holiday gatherings. Companies are asking whether they should change in-person holiday gatherings to virtual events, or cancel them altogether, with some considering giving gift certificates to employees instead, said Johnny C. Taylor Jr., the president and chief executive officer of the Society for Human Resource Management. The association of HR professionals saw more than 500 inquiries about the new variant from its members between Nov. 26 and Nov. 30, he added.

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Although the number of company holiday parties hadn’t yet returned to pre-pandemic levels—and some were already refraining this year because of financial constraints—many are now contemplating the risks of hosting a corporate gathering, which could potentially turn into a super-spreader event, Mr. Taylor said. “In the wake of concerns, they just think it’s not worth the risk,” he added.

For some companies hesitant to require a Covid-19 vaccine and waiting for the court battle on the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate to play out, the emergence of Omicron is pushing many to require employees to get inoculated against the virus, Mr. Taylor said. And some of the companies that already require vaccines are now requiring employees to get booster shots, he added.

The U.S. this week will levy sanctions against foreign-government officials and people it accuses of corruption and human-rights abuse, and urge other nations to join its pressure campaign at its coming Summit for Democracy, administration officials said.

The sanctions will be imposed in the lead-up to the two-day virtual summit on Thursday and Friday, at which administration officials hope to persuade government officials from more than 100 nations to impose similar measures, according to the officials.

The U.S. will impose the sanctions under the so-called Global Magnitsky powers, named after a Russian whistleblowing lawyer who died in a Moscow jail after accusing the government of corruption.

The president’s pick for comptroller of the currency, Saule Omarova, has drawn resistance from moderates, such as Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.). Mr. Biden’s renomination of Jerome Powell for Federal Reserve chairman was met with opposition from Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and other liberals. And, in what could be viewed as an olive branch, Mr. Biden is considering nominating Richard Cordray, an ally of Ms. Warren, for the Fed’s top supervisory position.

• U.S. companies need to give up the London interbank offered rate for new debt at the end of December. Many want to close just one more deal before that.
   
• A Justice Department lawyer argued Friday that the U.S. should be permitted to represent Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit filed by the columnist E. Jean Carroll, saying the law protects a president from being sued in such a case.
   
• The defense in Elizabeth Holmes's criminal-fraud trial made an effort last week to show the alleged directives from her former boyfriend and business partner to influence her leadership at Theranos Inc. The testimony put that relationship on center stage, as she aimed to turn trauma she says she sustained during their long-term romance into a linchpin of her defense.

Another decline in the unemployment rate in November keeps the Federal Reserve on track to quicken the wind-down of its stimulus programs at its meeting later this month, paving the way to raise interest rates in the first half of next year to curb inflation.

The Fed closed a chapter on its aggressive pandemic policy response when it approved plans at its meeting last month to shrink, or taper, its $120 billion monthly asset-purchase program by $15 billion in each of November and December. At that pace, the asset purchases would end next June. The Fed wants to end the asset purchases before it lifts interest rates, which it held near zero.

If officials were to quicken the pace at which they reduce the purchases by $30 billion a month after the December meeting, they could conclude the program by March, giving them more flexibility to raise rates in the first half of next year.

• Related: U.S. Added Just 210,000 Jobs in November

• Russian President Vladimir Putin is amassing a force expected to total 175,000 troops near Russia’s border with Ukraine, giving him the capability for a potential invasion of his neighbor by early 2022, administration officials said Friday.
   
• CNN said it has fired anchor Chris Cuomo after an investigation into his efforts to help his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, respond to accusations of sexual misconduct.
   
• Classified American intelligence reports suggest China intends to establish its first permanent military presence on the Atlantic Ocean in the tiny Central African country of Equatorial Guinea, according to U.S. officials.
   
• U.S. wages continue to rise at a brisk pace in November, particularly in sectors with the most acute labor shortages, Friday’s jobs report showed.
   
• Oil prices showed signs of recovery after worries about the economic effect of the spreading Omicron variant of Covid-19 drove crude into a bear market.
   
• With talks on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal at risk of collapse, the Biden administration faces the prospect of having to rely on two of its biggest international rivals, Russia and China, to end the nuclear standoff with Iran. Meanwhile, an explosion shook the area near Iran’s main nuclear-enrichment plant late on Saturday.

Apple Inc. last week notified 11 U.S. State Department employees in Uganda that their iPhones were hacked, and investigators have linked the attack to a tool developed by NSO Group, an Israeli technology company that was blacklisted by the Biden administration, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Some of the targeted State Department employees were foreign service officers who are U.S. citizens, while others appear to be locals working for the embassy, the person familiar with the matter said. The hacked phones were linked to State Department email addresses, the person said.

The alerts appear to be the first confirmed cases of NSO Group’s mobile hacking tool, known as Pegasus, being used to successfully target American officials.

Twitter Inc.’s newly appointed chief executive, Parag Agrawal, is shaking up the company’s leadership team less than a week into the job in a bid to quickly spur changes.

The social-media platform best known for its microblogging feature said the executive changes were aimed at boosting operational efficiency, as well as increasing accountability and speed, according to a regulatory filing.

The changes come after Twitter in February set ambitious growth goals. The company said then it aimed to reach at least $7.5 billion in revenue or more by 2023, up from the $3.7 billion it posted last year.

Retailers and law enforcement around the country are ramping up security to combat a wave of thefts by criminal groups during the busy holiday shopping season.

Some of the most brazen crimes, sometimes known as “flash mob” robberies, have happened in recent weeks. In suburban Minneapolis dozens of people stole goods from three Best Buy stores over Thanksgiving weekend. The week before, approximately 90 people stole goods from a Nordstrom near San Francisco, according to the local police department. Stores from Chicago to Los Angeles have been hit.

The recent thefts mark an increase in intensity because of the size of the groups and the organized nature of the crimes, said some retail and security executives. During the Nordstrom theft, dozens of people arrived at the store in cars at the same time, rushed inside to cause chaos and steal items, and then drove away. The police made a handful of arrests.

• Royal Dutch Shell PLC is standing firm against Third Point LLC’s call for a breakup of the oil giant to retain and attract investors. But that isn’t stopping Eni SpA and other European energy conglomerates from targeting similar moves to boost shareholder returns.
   
• Chinese authorities on Friday said they would step in to help China Evergrande Group deal with its crisis, after the highly indebted property giant warned it risked defaulting on a large financial obligation and sought help from its provincial government.
   
• DocuSign Inc.’s shares sank 42% on Friday after the company warned that consumers were returning to more normalized buying patterns with the widespread rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and the gradual return to the workplace.

An Omicron outbreak at a Norwegian Christmas party is providing an early, if still anecdotal, data point on the ease through which the new variant spreads between vaccinated people, and how mild its symptoms at times can be.

Before Scatec ASA, a Norway-based renewable-energy company, hosted the annual holiday party, it took all the major safety precautions, said Stian Tvede Karlsen, a company spokesman. Only vaccinated employees were invited. All had to take a rapid test the day before. The party, at Louise, an upscale Oslo restaurant serving seafood and Scandinavian fare, included about 120 people, several of whom had just returned from South Africa, where the company has a solar-panel project.

More than half of those present have since tested positive for Covid-19, with at least 13 confirmed to have the new variant in what appears to be the world’s biggest Omicron outbreak outside southern Africa—and a glimpse into how it fares in a highly-vaccinated population.

• President Biden and many state and local leaders are urging Americans to wear masks and take other precautions in response to the Omicron variant but are largely avoiding endorsing broad mask mandates and lockdowns that marked earlier stages of the pandemic.
   
• Covid-19 cases are climbing and filling hospitals after the Thanksgiving holiday in places like upstate New York, New England and the Midwest, largely fueled by the still-dominant Delta variant.
   
• Vaccine seekers in some states face waits of days or weeks for doses as local health officials hustle to improve access to meet surging demand. CVS Health Corp., Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Walmart Inc., which are facing staffing shortages, now say they may not be able to accommodate people without appointments.
   
• Promising Covid-19 treatment pills are likely to take longer to reach patients in low- and middle-income countries than in rich ones because of manufacturing and pricing obstacles, despite efforts by drugmakers to make them more available, drug-access advocates and public-health experts say.
   
• The Omicron variant has prompted South Korea to accelerate efforts to vaccinate school children, and penalize those who don’t comply, sparking debates over the safety of Covid-19 shots and education access.

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