Raging out of control

Deadly fires in and around Los Angeles continue to force residents from their homes as firefighters struggle to bring several blazes under control. Almost 180,000 people have been told to evacuate, up from 100,000 yesterday. The death toll stands at five but was widely expected to rise given the massive scale of the destruction. Though one of the conflagrations, the Sunset Fire near Hollywood, is contained, and winds diminished somewhat during the day, at least four others are still burning—three of which remain out of control. Though not a novel concept, the seemingly unprecedented devastation in such a densely populated area illustrates the hazards of living in the so-called wildland-urban interface. When more people flock to the edges of a flammable wilderness amid accelerating global warming, the chances of catastrophe tend to rise. Pacific Palisades, hardest hit by the fires, is a prime example. What began as a brushfire Tuesday became a major blaze destroying at least 1,000 structures in and around the tony neighborhood. And yet, even as climate change brings more intense events, Americans are still moving into danger zones, quite literally throwing caution to the wind. —Jordan Parker Erb

What You Need to Know Today

Venezuela’s opposition leader was arrested—and then freed—following a protest against sitting President Nicolás Maduro. María Corina Machado’s brief detention came after she emerged from months of hiding to join thousands of Venezuelans protesting Maduro’s planned inauguration, after what they and some in the international community contend was a fraudulent reelection. Venezuela’s government has detained around two dozen people since the start of the year.

Private equity firms are hitting the brakes on liquidity loans. For years, buyout firms used the controversial net-asset-value loans, backed by their equity stakes, to juice up returns in their funds. But the loans have come under scrutiny, especially when buyout firms use them to fund distributions rather than growth. As criticism mounts, including from some of the same investors the practice was supposed to benefit, some firms are pulling back.

Mortgage rates keep ticking upwards. Rates rose for the fourth straight week, bringing the average for 30-year loans to 6.93%, up from 6.91% last week, Freddie Mac said on Thursday. The consistent rise reflects a jump in yields for 10-year Treasuries as traders eye the potential impact of sticky inflation and incoming President Donald Trump’s economic agenda. High borrowing costs and home prices are deterring would-be buyers.

China’s consumer inflation weakened even further toward zero, decelerating for a fourth straight month. The persistence of deflationary pressures in China is in stark contrast to other major economies, with elevated inflation risks flagged by US Federal Reserve officials and euro-area price growth accelerating last month. The slowdown is a setback for government efforts to stamp out deflation and revive demand with economic stimulus. The worry for Beijing is that an entrenched cycle of price decreases threatens to hold back household spending for longer and damages corporate revenues so much that it stifles investment and leads to further salary cuts and layoffs.

As the war in Gaza continues, the Associated Press reported that more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict. With Israel’s war in Lebanon now suspended under a tenuous truce with Hezbollah, Lebanon’s parliament elected a new president, US-backed Joseph Aoun, after two years without a leader in office. More than two-thirds of politicians voted for Aoun to begin a six-year term, signaling the end of a lengthy power vacuum.

In Mozambique, an opposition leader’s return was met with gunfire. The 51-year-old Venâncio Mondlane has directed the biggest protests the southeast African nation has seen after official results showed he lost the Oct. 9 presidential elections to ruling-party candidate Daniel Chapo. The result has triggered widespread allegations of electoral fraud. Mondlane, who returned after almost three months in exile, reiterated a readiness to talk. Soon after, police—who have killed scores of citizens demonstrating against the government—shot dead three more among thousands who had gone to meet him. Meanwhile, across the continent in Chad, government officials said they averted a “destabilization attempt.”

The British pound fell to the lowest level in over a year on concern the government will struggle to keep the deficit in check as borrowing costs surge. Investors have been irked by the UK’s escalating debt burden and persistently high inflation. When a global selloff gathered pace this week, UK assets quickly took the lead. The UK still has lower debt than the US, France, Italy and Japan, but investors say the selloff in British assets is a culmination of the worst-case scenarios right now: persistent price pressures, a ballooning government debt pile and tepid economic growth.

What You’ll Need to Know Tomorrow

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