December 3, Friday, 2021 (1:30 p.m.) Newsline read by Ms. Keiko Kitagawa

1. US President Joe Biden has laid out his strategy to fight the coronavirus as Americans head into winter. White House officials have confirmed three cases of the Omicron variant. Biden unveiled his plan on Thursday during a visit to the National Institutes of Health, near Washington. He said his administration would fight the variant with “science and speed, no chaos and confusion.”
2. Health authorities in the United States are urging people who attended an anime convention in New York City last month to get tested for the coronavirus. The recommendation comes after a participant was confirmed to have been infected with the Omicron variant, marking the second case in the US.
3. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel says the country will tighten restrictions on people who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus and will seek to make vaccination mandatory as early as February next year.