Morning Update: Wildfires ravage California; Bitcoin soars to record highs (then falls)

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These are the top stories:

The California wildfires have forced more than 200,000 from their homes

At least 166 homes and businesses have been destroyed, with another 15,000 at risk. Schools, museums and highways have all been closed. And filming on Hollywood productions has been delayed. "When you walked outside the sky was red and the clouds were looming over and there was ash everywhere," said one Beverly Hills resident. "It really did feel like the world was ending in a way." Earlier this fall, wildfires in northern California devastated the state's wine industry.

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Britain, EU strike historic Brexit deal, but time runs short as talks enter next phase

British Prime Minister Theresa May has won a key victory in her quest to pull the U.K. out of the European Union, but the win could be short-lived as Brexit talks move into a difficult phase with time running short (for subscribers).

On Friday the European Commission, the EU's executive body, said enough progress had been made on three key issues for Brexit talks to move on to discussions about the future trading relationship between the U.K. and the EU. The issues relate to the fate of the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, the U.K.'s ongoing financial payments to the EU and the rights of EU nationals living in the U.K. after Brexit.

Bitcoin is soaring to record highs

Yesterday, one bitcoin was trading at $16,000 (U.S.), up more than $2,000 from just one day earlier (for subscribers). The price surged more than 20 per cent overnight to top $17,000 before falling back to $15418.19 Friday.

Earlier this year, one bitcoin went for less than $2,000. The cryptocurrency has seen rapid swings up and down, and Wall Street is warning that investing in it could be risky. Two major commodity exchanges are about to start selling bitcoin futures, and some in the financial community are expressing concerns about possible manipulation and fraud.

Here's University of Toronto finance professor Lisa Kramer's take on the bitcoin craze: "The underlying feeling is called a fear of missing out, and it's a terrible basis for making investment decisions. Will the price go higher? I suppose it will, driven by frenzy. Will the market, at some point, crash? Almost surely. Do I know when that will happen? Absolutely not. Will I ever recommend that anyone should hold bitcoins? No, not except the most risk-seeking gamblers who can afford to lose their full stake."

Protests of Trump's Jerusalem decision prompt questions about a new intifada

The day after Donald Trump's formal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the question was whether protests will explode into a full-blown violent uprising

On Thursday, the day after Donald Trump enraged Palestinians, and many world leaders, by formally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the question was whether a third intifada was about to start, or was already under way.

The signals were certainly ominous. Hamas, the Islamic political and military movement in Gaza, called for a new intifada. Throughout the day, the West Bank and Gaza saw protests against the U.S. President and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had enthusiastically endorsed Mr. Trump's momentous shift in diplomatic policy – no other country recognizes Jerusalem as the capital and none has its embassy there.

U.S. Senator Al Franken is resigning over sexual misconduct allegations

The former Saturday Night Live star, who was first elected senator in 2008, has been accused of groping and kissing women without their consent. He had initially refused to step down but reversed course after a number of Democrats called for his resignation.

His exit follows that of fellow Democrat John Conyers, who was also accused of sexual misconduct. Their departures underscore the different approaches Democrats and Republicans are taking on the issue: GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore has been accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls as young as 14. But the Republican National Committee reversed its earlier decision to withdraw support after Moore was endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump (who has also been accused of sexual harassment).

Go here to read our list of high-profile men who have been accused of sexual misconduct since the #MeToo movement began.

Quebec City can keep waiting. The NHL is looking at Seattle for its 32nd franchise

League Commissioner Gary Bettman says the league will consider a pitch from the Oak View Group, whose CEO is former Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment head Tim Leiweke. If approved, Oak View would have to pay an expansion fee of $650-million (U.S.), up from the $500-million paid by the Las Vegas Golden Knights, the league's latest entrant. The news comes the same week renovation plans for Seattle's Key Arena were approved. Quebec lost the Nordiques when they moved to Colorado in 1995.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Veterans face a much higher suicide rate than civilians

A new study has found 1,486 former military members ended their lives from 1976 to 2012 – and a third of those since 2002, when Canada went to war in Afghanistan. The suicide rate among male and female vets was 1.4 times and 1.8 times higher, respectively, than the general population. Forty per cent of the male vets who died by suicide were below the age of 25. And while the suicide rate among male civilians went down 29 per cent in that time, the rate among male veterans actually rose 10 per cent.

MORNING MARKETS

A breakthrough in Brexit negotiations pushed the pound to a six-month high against the euro on Friday and added momentum to an upswing in world stocks underpinned by strong economic news from China and Japan. Tokyo's Nikkei gained 1.4 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.2 per cent, and the Shanghai composite 0.6 per cent. In Europe, London's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were up by between 0.2 and 1.1 per cent by about 4:45 a.m. ET. New York futures were also up. The Canadian dollar, in turn, was down to just above 77.5 cents (U.S.). Oil is heading for a second weekly loss.

FYI: The Globe now provides all users access to real-time stock quotes for both Canadian and U.S. markets. Go here to find out about the major changes to our Globe Investor site.

WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT

While many fixate on swastikas, insidious hatred is increasingly normalized

"What we must keep in mind amid the resurgence of hate crimes and overt displays of racism is that ugly posters celebrating white supremacy and swastikas in our public spaces are only the most obvious examples of a much subtler and troubling shift. The most organized groups employing fascist messaging are in fact moving toward a more cautious use of direct references to Nazi-era fascism. Across Europe and North America, nationalist groups seek to gain respectability in mainstream politics and media. French politician Marine Le Pen sacked her father and founder of the Front National from the party after he described the Holocaust as a "mere detail" in history. Similarly, organizers of the Unite the Right march in Charlottesville, Va. – or Germany's new party, the Alternative for Germany – carefully avoid conspicuous references to Hitler's regime." – Oliver Schmidtke, director of the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria

How B.C. became a gangster's paradise

"In his first briefing about the degree to which organized crime had infiltrated British Columbia's casinos, Attorney-General David Eby was warned: 'Get ready … we are going to blow your mind.' A while later, it was mission accomplished: Mind blown. Of all the files on Eby's desk, nothing has jarred him like this one. Imagine, hockey bags stuffed with $100,000 in $20 bills being dropped off at casinos late at night to be laundered at blackjack and poker tables. That has, until now, been a regular occurrence on the West Coast and an offshoot of what appears to be a sophisticated and substantial money-laundering operation that, in turn, has links to an international underground banking network. It is the stuff of a James Bond movie." – Gary Mason

HEALTH PRIMER

Flu cases are showing up earlier than usual. That could signal a bad season

Australia had more than 93,000 cases of the H3N2 strain by the end of its flu season, more than double last year's figures. That doesn't mean the situation will be replicated in Canada, but there has been a noticeable uptick in a different flu strain here. "We're having about five times the amount of influenza B pickup during the autumn period in British Columbia than we typically have," said Dr. Danuta Skowronski of the BC Centre for Disease Control. "We don't normally see this kind of influenza B uptick until February, so this is quite unusual."

MOMENT IN TIME

In Flanders Fields published for first time

Dec. 8, 1915: The most famous Canadian poem of all time was first published anonymously, in the bottom right-hand corner of a page in a satirical magazine underneath a tongue-in-cheek article titled Seasonable (?) Novelties. And this was only after it was rejected by The Spectator. In Flanders Fields, by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae – a doctor, soldier and poet from Guelph, Ont., who had witnessed the horrors of battle first in the Boer War and then on the scorched fields of Europe – was written earlier that year after the death of a friend in the brutal battle of Ypres. The circumstances surrounding its writing are in dispute – some say McCrae wrote it right after the burial, in a fit of inspiration; others suggest it was written the following day, as he looked out at a sea of poppies growing, and blowing, among the graves. McCrae died in January, 1918, before the poem's legacy was cemented. – Mark Medley

Morning Update is written by Arik Ligeti.

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