Los Angeles on Fire, Palestinians Denounce Trump's Jerusalem Decision, and More: The VICE Morning Bulletin

Powerful Winds Worsen California Wildfires
The National Weather Service predicted “very rapid fire spread” in Ventura County and northwest Los Angeles County, warning powerful winds were set to “intensify” Thursday morning. Fire officials previously ordered the mandatory evacuation of around 200,000 people in the Los Angeles area Wednesday as the Skirball blaze reached Interstate 405.—NBC News

Palestinians Denounce Trump’s Jerusalem Decision
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, said recognizing the city as the Israeli capital and moving the US embassy was “tantamount to the United States abdicating its role as a peace mediator.” A leader of the militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, called for “an intifada"—or a Palestinian uprising—"in the face of the Zionist enemy.” Protests have taken place in Gaza.—Reuters

North Korea Says War Is Now Inevitable Pyongyang continued to criticize this week’s US-South Korea military exercises and suggest conflict was unavoidable. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said America's words and actions “have made an outbreak of war on the Korean peninsula an established fact. The remaining question now is: When will the war break out?”—AP

China Accuses India of ‘Violation’ Over Drone
A top Chinese military official said India had “violated China’s territorial sovereignty” after a crashed drone was discovered in an area of the Doklam plateau near the border with India’s Sikkim state. “We strongly express our dissatisfaction and opposition,” said the official. India blamed a technical fault, claiming the drone had been on a training exercise.—VICE News

Appeals Court Rejects Meek Mill's Bid for Bail
Pennsylvania’s Superior Court has turned down a second attempt at getting the imprisoned rapper released on bail. Mill was given a two to four year sentence in November for violating the terms of his probation.—AP

Pastor Denies Post Malone Claims About Justin Bieber
Carl Lentz, the pastor of Hillsong New York City, has responded to Post Malone’s claim that Bieber gave millions to the evangelical church. Criticizing the rapper’s “reckless” remarks, Lentz said: “Justin has not given our church $10 million, and we do not have gold ceilings.”—Rolling Stone

Saudi Prince Reported Buyer of Da Vinci Painting
Auction house documents showed Prince Bader Bin Abdullah was the purchaser of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi for a record-breaking $450 million. Louvre Abu Dhabi said the work was coming to the museum in the UAE.—The New York Times

N.E.R.D. Drops ‘1000’ Video
The clip for the group’s latest single features footage of recent political protests and an old interview with Mike Tyson talking about the best way to deal with fear. The collaboration with Future will be on the upcoming album No_One Ever Really Dies.—Noisey

Steam Will No Longer Accept Bitcoin T
he popular video game platform announced it has “become untenable to support Bitcoin as a payment option.” Steam blamed the extreme “volatility” of the digital currency, but said the matter would be looked at again “at a later date.”—Motherboard