Yesterday a group of countries got together and said, “You know what? Oil prices are too low right now, and we want them to go higher.”

And because they are a cartel and collectively produce more than half of the world’s oil, they hatched a plan to do just that—with far-reaching consequences for inflation and the Russia–Ukraine war.

What happened: The group of oil-producing countries, known as OPEC+, agreed to slash production by 2 million barrels per day, which is its biggest cut since the world shut down in April 2020. The idea is that less oil sloshing around the world will prop up prices, which many of these countries rely on for revenue.

And where do prices stand now? The international benchmark Brent crude is hovering around $93, but it’s had a dizzying year. Its price shot up above $120 a barrel during the early part of the war in Ukraine, but recently plunged to about $81 as fears of a global recession grew. OPEC+ is tapping into these economic anxieties to justify the production cut.

The White House bashed it as “shortsighted”

Because a production cut may result in higher gas prices in the US, the Biden administration is both mad and disappointed. American officials had been working the phones this week to get OPEC+ to back off this cut. But it didn’t appear to work—and it only worsens already rocky relations between the US and Saudi Arabia, the group’s most powerful member.

A second reason why OPEC+ didn’t make any new international friends yesterday: This cut is a huge assist to Russia (also a member of OPEC+). The West has been trying to prevent Russia from making money from its oil exports, which it uses to fund its invasion of Ukraine. Higher oil prices would give Vladimir Putin a flusher piggy bank to spend on his military, and also presents a fresh obstacle for an EU plan to cap the price of Russian oil.—NF

Alec Baldwin, Rust producers reach a settlement. The actor and the family of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who was killed when Baldwin fired a prop gun on set last year, have agreed to a settlement. Hutchins’s husband, Matthew, said “All of us believe Halyna’s death was a terrible accident.” In unexpected news, the film will restart production in January with Matthew in an executive producer role.

Biden traveled to Florida to survey Hurricane Ian damage. The president met with FL GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential 2024 rival, and the two said they were putting aside politics to help Floridians recover from Hurricane Ian. More than one week after Ian made landfall as the fifth-strongest hurricane to hit the US, many residents are still without power and struggling to get food and water. At least 75 people were killed in Florida as a result of the hurricane.

History was made on yesterday’s SpaceX launch. NASA astronaut Nicole Mann became the first Native American woman to go to space, joining three others on a trip to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle. It was SpaceX’s sixth crewed mission to the ISS for NASA since 2020.

With Elon Musk and Twitter just maybe close to ending their legal battle, we can turn our attention to Musk’s plans for Twitter once he owns it—specifically, how he aims to hit his wildly ambitious goals of quintupling revenues to $26.4 billion and reaching 104 million *paying* users by 2028. (Twitter has just 217 million free users currently.)

Musk hinted at his vision on Tuesday, tweeting that his purchase of Twitter would accelerate the creation of an “everything app” called X.

An “everything app” isn’t a new concept. Better known as a “superapp,” these apps integrate pretty much everything you need into your life, including social media, payments, gaming, and the most necessary, food delivery. WeChat in China is commonly cited as the world’s foremost superapp, with an estimated 900+ million daily active users, but others, like Singapore-based Grab, have also reached superapp status.

Musk has signaled his intentions of building a WeChat clone before, telling Twitter’s staff this summer that if they can recreate WeChat with Twitter, “we’ll be a great success.”

Bottom line: Building a superapp in 2022 might be downright impossible, Bloomberg argues, given that Americans use mobile payments far less than Chinese people and that WeChat’s success is directly tied to the moment in time (2011) that it launched. But that probably won’t stop Musk from trying.

One last thing: The Twitter deal hasn’t closed just yet, and the judge presiding over the trial is still prepping for a potential Oct. 17 start date.—NF

Workers kicked off the Hollywood sign’s makeover this week ahead of its 100th birthday in 2023, using 250 gallons of paint and primer to cover up all the dirt and shattered Midwestern dreams.

This American landmark has a pretty fascinating history.

The original sign, which read “Hollywoodland,” was erected in 1923 by Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler to promote his real estate development. By 1944 the sign became property of the city after the development went bust, but the only real upkeep the city did on the sign was to remove the “land” part.

Some of LA’s more prominent residents weren’t happy about their beloved sign turning into an eyesore, so they pushed the city to build a new one. And In 1978, the biggest push came from Hugh Hefner, who hosted a fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion to raise the quarter of a million dollars needed to replace the old, decrepit sign with the more Insta-worthy one you see today.

Here’s what the sign looked like in 1924, before the city was flooded with green juice.—MM

Stat: For the third year in a row, Chick-fil-A was the restaurant with the fastest drive-thru line when considering the number of cars in line, according to Intouch Insight's Annual Drive-Thru Study. The fast food restaurant clucked in an average wait time of 107.41 seconds (about 1 minute and 47 seconds) topping No. 2 McDonald’s and No. 3 Taco Bell. Across US restaurants, the average wait time spent in a drive-thru lane was 6 minutes and 13 seconds, and 9 minutes if some TikToker was harassing the worker for content.

Quote: “This person’s on a mission.”

Officials in Stockton, CA, have linked seven shootings, six of them fatal, to a potential serial killer. Police have no workable leads, but have released security camera footage of an unidentified person they believe is the attacker, who has been ambushing victims late at night in the Stockton area since April 2021.

Read: How Bella Hadid’s spray-on dress was made. (The Cut)

Words against strangers: The word game that allows you to beat someone you’ve never met.

Looking for a remote-friendly job? This thread has 19 websites to help you find one.

Morning beverage matchup: The coffee vs. tea smackdown.

Brew Mini: Today’s puzzle observes the rule of threes. Play it here.

Three headlines and a lie

First, a correction: In yesterday’s trivia, we incorrectly wrote that cable No. 5 was a Mini USB when it was actually a Micro USB. Sorry we’re not IT Brew.

Now, onto today’s quiz. Three of these headlines are real, and one is faker than people’s excitement when someone suggests a group Power Rangers Halloween costume. Can you spot the odd one out?

1. Climate for kids: Cartoon uses animals to address ins and outs of climate change
2. English soccer player sidelined after getting injured playing Xbox
3. Living plant controls a machete through an industrial robot arm
4. No one’s talking about Gucci’s cheeseburger fashion week stunt

If you love Three Headlines and a Lie, play along on The Refresh from Insider and dive deeper into these weird headlines.

How to become a millionaire quickly: be born into a rich family. So easy! Just kidding. Listen to or watch the latest Money with Katie Show episode to learn how much you’d need to earn, spend, and invest to become a millionaire in 10 years.

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Learn how author and career executive Daphne E. Jones overcame adversity in the workplace on the latest episode of Imposters with Alex Lieberman.

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