SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ??" Much of California is on the brink of sweeping new restrictions on businesses and activities, a desperate attempt to slow the frighteningly rapid escalation of coronavirus cases that threatens to overwhelm hospitals. Five San Francisco Bay Area counties imposed a new stay-at-home order for their residents that will take effect Sunday. Southern California and a large swath of the central portion of the state could join this weekend. Those two regions have seen their care...

ATLANTA (AP) ??" The Georgia U. S. Senate runoffs don't take place until Jan. 5. But there are already some clear winners. At the state's most influential television station, Atlanta's WSB, an ad that cost candidates $8,000 in July now goes for about $18,000. In the smaller market of Savannah, ad rates have soared nearly twentyfold. With control of the Senate, and the scope of President-elect Joe Biden's agenda in the balance, the millions in political spending verges on something close to an...

TOKYO (AP) ??" Japan's space agency said the Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully separated a capsule and sent it toward Earth to deliver samples from a distant asteroid that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on our planet. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the capsule successfully detached Saturday afternoon from 220,000 kilometers (136,700 miles) away in a challenging operation that required precision control. The capsule is now descending to land in a of...