🌏 Huge childless cat lady news

Good morning, Quartz readers!

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Oil hasn’t been this cheap in years. Economic uncertainty in China is dragging crude prices down globally.

Kamala Harris sank Trump (Media). Shares in her presidential opponent’s social media company dropped more than 10% after his poor debate performance.

An Ozempic-style pill is looking promising in trials. Novo Nordisk (NVO+0.93%) says its amycretin phase 1 trials suggest the drug is very powerful.

Warren Buffett is bailing on Bank of America (BAC-1.87%). The investor has sold more than $7 billion of the bank’s stock since mid-July.

A Brazilian businessman unknowingly sold a house to Jeff Bezos. He’s suing the realtor because one of the world’s richest men got an allegedly undeserved discount. 

McDonald’s wants you to have more screen time 

The world’s biggest fast food company is making a bet that you neither want to talk to a person when you’re ordering your food nor wait for them to give you your change once you’ve paid.

McDonald’s says that it’s rolling out new order kiosks that accept cash and card payments, which it hopes will free up human staff to do things like bring your food to your car.

Quartz’s Francisco Velasquez breaks down the announcement, what it says about the digital future of McDonald’s, and what it could mean for the flesh-and-blood employees.

Taylor Swift says never, ever to Donald Trump

The pop star endorsed Kamala Harris for U.S. president shortly after Harris and Trump’s debate Tuesday night. She said Harris “fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”

Besides signing the endorsement “childless cat lady,” a rebuke of derogatory comments by Trump’s vice presidential running mate Sen. J.D. Vance, Swift denounced a false, AI-generated endorsement that Trump had previously paraded.

Quartz’s Britney Nguyen spells out what the endorsement says about America’s political landscape and the implications of voter-targeted AI misinformation.

MORE FROM QUARTZ

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 After Taylor Swift’s endorsement, Swiftian Harris campaign friendship bracelets promptly sold out

🛍️ Amazon is expanding its Fresh grocery stores to compete with Walmart and Kroger 

💊 Drug prices barely came up in the presidential debate, but they’re still rising

👄 The creator of OpenAI’s controversial ‘Her’ chatbot voice is leaving to start his own company 

🔒 Caroline Ellison doesn’t think she deserves prison time for that whole FTX collapse thing

🤖 Oprah says she’s excited by the possibilities for AI in education and medicine

SURPRISING DISCOVERIES

There are more people in Earth’s orbit than ever before. A Polaris Dawn project manager tallied humanity’s extraterrestrial population.

Lightning cost America’s insurance industry $1.3 billion last year. Inflation and climate change are driving fears that the number will go higher than that.

It’s curtains for Reddit’s Celebrity 6 mystery. The internet hive mind figured out that the textile-printed figure is Spanish model Leticia Sardá.

Women’s basketball was on a whole lot of TVs this year. ESPN (DIS-1.65%) says the WNBA’s regular season had a record audience, nearly tripling in viewership this year.

An Eminem greatest hits compilation has been charting for nearly 13 and a half years. It becomes the first rap album and the sixth album ever to do so. 

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Our best wishes on a safe start to the day. Send any news, comments, safe-for-work Eminem lyrics, and friendship bracelets to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Melvin Backman and Morgan Haefner.