U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer signed an agreement (NYT) to share the recipe for its COVID-19 treatment pill with manufacturers in ninety-five developing countries, mostly in Africa and Asia. The company said the drug can reduce risk of hospitalization or death (WaPo) from the coronavirus by as much as 89 percent.
 
Global health experts praised the deal, which follows a similar agreement by pharmaceutical firm Merck and comes as many countries struggle with low vaccination rates and high caseloads. Still, some health advocates criticized Pfizer’s exclusion (NPR) of hard-hit, middle-income countries such as Brazil and Russia, as well as its refusal to give poorer countries the formula for its COVID-19 vaccine even as they receive the fewest doses of the shots.

The bill aimed to overhaul institutions (Reuters) that its backers said are unduly influenced by the military. The government is led by the architects of a 2014 military coup.
 
U.S./China: The countries agreed to extend the validity period (SCMP) for journalist visas from three months to one year.
 
For the Asia Unbound blog, CFR’s Ian Johnson looks at the takeaways from Monday’s meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The group said the U.S. freeze on Afghanistan’s central bank assets violates the 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement (TOLOnews) and contributes to the country’s humanitarian and economic crisis.
 
India: The families of several men killed by police in India-administered Kashmir said the men were innocent civilians (Al Jazeera). The police have said they were targeting suspected rebels.

In a phone call, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi discussed the future of the 2015 nuclear deal (Bloomberg). Iran and other world powers are set to resume talks on reviving the nuclear deal later this month. Raisi also told Putin that Iran is ready to finalize an economic cooperation agreement with Russia.
 
For Foreign Affairs, Eric Brewer writes that the world cannot give up on diplomacy with Iran.
 
UAE: Israel, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are preparing to sign a deal to build a solar farm funded by the UAE in Jordan, Axios reported.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Ethiopian police have used provisions of the state of emergency declared on November 2 to detain at least one thousand people, most of them ethnic Tigrayans, in the last week or so.
 
Burkina Faso: Amid extremist violence in the country, reports of missing relatives rose (AP) from 104 in 2019 to 407 in 2020, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Russia brokered the cease-fire (Bloomberg), which was declared after the deadliest day of fighting near the Armenia-Azerbaijan border since the countries’ war last year.
 
This In Brief lays out what to know about Armenia’s postwar crisis.
 
Brussels: The European Union is expected to introduce (FT) a draft anti-deforestation law that would ban imports of goods including beef and coffee from areas at risk of deforestation.

Chile’s Senate voted not to impeach (MercoPress) President Sebastian Pinera for alleged financial wrongdoing revealed in the Pandora Papers leak. The legislature’s lower chamber had voted to impeach him.
 
Bolivia: The legislature repealed a law (MercoPress) on combating financing for extremism after nationwide protests and strikes by people who claimed the law violated civil liberties.