The deadliest wildfire in Californian history may have been caused by a single broken steel hook that held up a high-voltage line on a nearly 100-year-old PG&E transmission tower. The Camp Fire, which is known to have killed at least 85 people, began at the base of the aging infrastructure installation. Footage captured by NBC Bay Area News shows loose and trailing wires, as a result of damage to a hook that fractured during high winds on the morning of Nov. 8. “PG&E failed to maintain the tower, and they have an obligation to do that, and it means they are liable for this disaster,’’ said attorney Dario de Ghetaldi, who is suing the utility over the fire. In 2012, five similar towers collapsed during a winter wind storm.

The Chinese workers who make one of Disney’s hit Christmas dolls, Princess Sing & Sparkle Ariel, are earning little more than a cent from each doll they manufacture, though the toy retails for close to $40.  An investigation by rights groups Solidar Suisse and China Labor Watch in conjunction with U.K. newspaper The Guardian, found evidence of excessive and illegal overtime, basic pay rates as low as $1.10 per hour, no holiday or sick pay, and high levels of exhaustion among the largely female workforce making toys for Disney, Mattel, and other international toy companies at large factories in the city of Heyuan. The investigation found that, when costs were broken down, each of the women on the production line was receiving the equivalent of just 1.25 cents for every doll produced. This figure represents the total monthly wages of the 36 women on the production line, working an average of 26 days a month, divided by the total number of dolls produced each month. Disney and Mattel are both members of an industry body that seeks to improve working conditions in toy factories, which promised to “work directly with factories to address any issues identified.”

A top White House appointee at the Department of Veterans Affairs ordered the agency’s chief diversity officer not to issue a forceful condemnation of racially charged violence at the August 2017 Charlottesville rally, which left one person dead. Diversity and race-relations expert Georgia Coffey clashed with John Ullyot, the VA’s chief communications official. Trump blamed “many sides” for the deadly clash in Charlottesville without singling out the white nationalists and neo-Nazis who rallied there. Coffey urged the VA to make a statement condemning the “repugnant display of hate and bigotry by white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan,” but Ullyot told Coffey not to post the statement, emails obtained by The Washington Post show. Ullyot was enforcing a directive from the White House, the Post says, but VA spokesman Curt Cashour said the agency received no such guidance from the White House. Coffey retired from VA shortly afterward.

Global greenhouse-gas emissions have been growing at an alarming rate in 2018, with scientists comparing the pace to a “speeding freight train,” The New York Times reports. Two studies published Wednesday warn that the rapid increase of carbon-dioxide emissions will likely bring about the most severe consequences of global warming sooner than expected. “We’ve seen oil use go up five years in a row,” Rob Jackson, a professor of earth system science at Stanford who authored one of the two studies, told the Times. “That’s really surprising.” The new research, published by the Global Carbon Project, predicts that carbon emissions worldwide will increase by 2.7 percent this year. Scientists also said the unexpected surge in oil consumption—which has offset progress made by the sale of electric vehicles—is partly to blame.

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Harvey Weinstein sent an email this week to several close friends in which he complained that he had “one hell of a year” and criticized police investigators involved in the sexual-assault case against him, The New York Times reports. Weinstein, who faces charges in Manhattan over allegations he raped one woman and performed an unwanted sex act on another, reportedly described the case against him as the “worst nightmare of my life.” The disgraced film producer went on to appeal to friends to read several news stories that he claimed would show that “the police have played a very difficult role in my investigation.” “The articles are self-explanatory, but I’d like to speak to you on the phone if you have some time. There is more to this story… I appreciate your confidentiality,” he was quoted as saying. The message drew outrage among the more than 80 women who have accused the one-time media mogul of harassment or assault and sparked concerns he may be waging a PR campaign to try to discredit both prosecutors and his accusers. Weinstein’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said the leaked email was not part of any legal strategy. “The emails from Harvey have to be viewed from the perspective of someone who is very distressed,” Brafman told the Times. “It’s him asking for help. This was not an aggressive move by Harvey Weinstein.” It wasn't immediately clear if Weinstein had sent multiple emails. He is free on $1 million bail and due back in court Dec. 20, the Associated Press reports.

One of Britain’s largest telecom-infrastructure firms, BT, has confirmed it is removing Huawei equipment from key areas of its 4G network as concerns grow globally about the Chinese firm’s presence in critical telecoms infrastructure. The move comes a day after Canada arrested Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver, where she is facing extradition to the U.S.  Meng Wanzhou is the daughter of the company founder Ren Zhengfei, a former officer in the People’s Liberation Army with deep links to the Chinese intel apparatus. Britain’s top spy, the head of MI6, Alex Younger, recently said the U.K. would have to make “some decisions” about involving firms like Huawei in critical infrastructure, saying: “We need to decide the extent to which we are going to be comfortable with Chinese ownership of these technologies and these platforms in an environment where some of our allies have taken a very definite position.”

Federal prosecutors in Virginia are reportedly probing a “secret Turkish lobbying effort” that previously involved former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was recently given a lenient sentencing recommendation by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office for his help in several unspecified “ongoing investigations.” The New York Times reports Mueller had been handling the case but referred it back at some point to a “veteran national-security prosecutor” who is now overseeing the case. A grand jury is also reportedly expected to “hear evidence” on the case. Mueller’s office referred to Flynn’s “substantial help” in several probes in a sentencing memo released Tuesday, which led to a recommendation for Flynn to receive a sentence that does “not impose a term of incarceration.” Prosecutors reportedly started investigating Flynn’s ties to Turkey after he posted an op-ed in The Hill attacking Fethullah Gulen, a cleric living in the U.S. who has been accused of starting a failed coup against the Turkish government. Flynn reportedly called Gulen a “radical Islamist” and a “shady Islamic mullah” in the piece. According to the Times, investigators later learned Flynn’s company was paid $530,000 to investigate Gulen by a businessman with ties to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Philippine immigration officials on Wednesday arrested an American Catholic priest who has been accused of sexually assaulting altar boys in the country. The Associated Press reports the Rev. Kenneth Bernard Hendricks, 77, was arrested in a church in the island province of Biliran after an Ohio court issued a warrant for his arrest. The U.S. criminal case reportedly stems from allegations that Hendricks molested at least seven Filipino children, mostly altar boys, during his 37-year stay in the country. The priest allegedly took baths with the boys and threatened them with jail time if they reported the “shocking and appalling” abuse, Bureau of Immigration spokeswoman Dana Sandoval told the AP. Authorities flew Hendricks to Manila, where he has been held at an immigration detention center. The U.S. Embassy is reportedly considering revoking his passport to help Philippine authorities deport him immediately.

Police in Costa Rica on Wednesday said the killing of 36-year-old Carla Stefaniak may have been “sexually motivated,” the Miami Herald reports. Walter Espinoza, director of Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Department, said at a press conference that Stefaniak’s autopsy results showed she died from injuries to her “neck, head, and extremities.” Espinoza also said those injuries appeared to come from a weapon. Marco Peraza, a criminal analyst with the OIJ, said the man detained in connection with the killing—Bismarck Espinosa Martinez—might soon face a murder charge. Martinez was reportedly working as a security guard at the apartment complex where Stefaniak was staying. Officials said they would continue to work with the FBI to confirm their theory that the murder was sexually motivated. Stefaniak arrived in Costa Rica on Nov. 22 and did not board her flight back to her home state of Florida on Nov. 27. Officials said Martinez became a prime suspect for the killing after he “presented many contradictions” when police questioned him. Stefaniak’s body was reportedly found partially nude and wrapped in plastic about 1,000 feet from where she was staying.