Our daily voyage around the world

🇨🇦 Google and Canada reached a deal to keep links to news stories in Search and News. Google had previously vowed to remove news links in Canada in response to a new law set to take effect on December 19, which forces large internet companies to pay to host news links on their platforms. Under the new agreement, Google will pay ~$74 million annually (indexed to inflation) to eligible news agencies based on their number of full-time journalists.

🛢️ OPEC+ agreed to cut oil production by an additional 1 million barrels/day, and Saudi Arabia also agreed to extend its cut of 1 million barrels/day that was first implemented in June. Experts say OPEC+’s new deal will likely push up US oil prices – and, by extension, prices at the gas pump – over the short term. In a separate announcement, OPEC+ also agreed to allow Brazil into the trade bloc starting next month.

🇿🇦 A South African nonprofit is mass-producing HIV-preventative vaginal rings. The silicone rings release a drug in doses over the course of a month that reduce the chances of women getting HIV, the leading cause of death among reproductive-aged women in Africa, by up to 50%, per a pair of WHO-cited studies. About 500,000 rings have already been purchased by donors and are currently available to women in Africa at no cost, and Kiara Health of Johannesburg estimates it can produce 1 million rings annually after a few years.