World News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California is imposing an overnight curfew on most residents as the most populous state tries to head off a surge in coronavirus cases that it fears could tax its health care system, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.

BRUSSELS — As if the Brexit trade negotiations were not tortuous enough, the coronavirus added a twist at a crucial stage on Thursday when top-level talks had to be suspended because an EU negotiator tested positive for COVID-19.

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday he will not to extend several emergency loan programs set up with the Federal Reserve to support the economy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

DETROIT — General Motors says a pending breakthrough in battery chemistry will cut the price of its electric vehicles so they equal those powered by gasoline within five years.

LONDON — Scottish writer Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize for fiction Thursday for “Shuggie Bain,” a novel about a boy’s turbulent coming of age in hardscrabble 1980s Glasgow that was turned down by 32 publishers before being picked up.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The National Science Foundation announced Thursday that it will close the huge telescope at the renowned Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico in a blow to scientists worldwide who depend on it to search for planets, asteroids an

LOS ANGELES — Bobby Brown Jr., the son of singer Bobby Brown, was found dead at a Los Angeles home Wednesday. He was 28. Los Angeles Police spokesman Officer Jeff Lee said officers were responding to a medical emergency when they found Brown Jr.

LONDON — The EU's efforts to rein in the power of big tech companies such as Google and Facebook through antitrust investigations have taken too long, dulling their effectiveness, a report said Thursday.

NEW YORK — The publishing world has a new pet project: A picture book about the Biden family dogs, the German shepherds Champ and Major. Dial Books for Young Readers announced Thursday that “Champ and Major: First Dogs” will be published Jan.

NAIROBI, Kenya — Africa has surpassed 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases as the continent's top public health official warned Thursday that “we are inevitably edging toward a second wave” of infections.