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Ukrainian forces were charging through an expanding area of previously Russian-held territory in the east on Friday after bursting through the frontline in a surprise breakthrough that could mark a major turning point in the war. After keeping silent for a day, Moscow effectively acknowledged that a section of its frontline had crumbled southeast of Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv. "The very fact of a breach of our defences is already a substantial victory for the Ukrainian armed forces," the head of the Moscow-installed administration for occupied areas in Kharkiv province, Vitaly Ganchev, said on Russian state TV.

Food shortages were reported to be spiking across the country Tuesday as President Joe Biden struggles to resolve the supply chain crises crippling the nation. “People are hoarding [food],” CEO and founder of Saffron Road, a producer of frozen and shelf-stable meals, Adnan Durrani told the Seattle Times. “What I think you’ll see over the next six months, all prices will go higher.”

With all of the spotlights on the high-stakes debt maneuverings by President Obama and Speaker John Boehner the last few days, few people noticed what Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders said: "I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition." This is political treason 469 days before a presidential election. Now, comes a new ABC News/Washington Post poll with a whole harvest of revelations, among them, strong indications that Obama's liberal base is starting to crumble. Among the nuggets: Despite those hundreds of billions of blown stimulus dollars and almost as many upturn promises from...

HARARE (AFP) - Doctors have been on strike for weeks, teachers are boycotting classes and now civil servants are threatening to stay away from their offices in another sign of the general collapse of the Zimbabwean state. President Robert Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, has found his position largely unchallenged in recent times given splits in opposition ranks. But analysts believe the recent wave of industrial unrest, with workers desperate for pay hikes to keep up pace with the skyrocketing cost of living, could soon boil over and culminate in spontaneous anti-government protests. Mugabe may have dismissed his...

Big Breakup: That's the way the comet crumbles Ron Cowen Scores of telescopes are watching a comet fall apart, and the main show may be only beginning. The comet has already fragmented into at least 59 pieces and may continue to break up as it reaches its position closest to the sun on June 6. In mid-May, the chunks will venture within 11.7 million kilometers of Earth—the closest any comet has come to our planet in 20 years—and the largest fragments should be visible with binoculars. Called Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, this body passes near the sun every 5.4 years and...

<p>LONDON, England -- When cookie-lovers open packages of their favorite snacks, some of the biscuits are often in bits.</p> <p>Now scientists say they know why -- and it has little to do with the way cookies are packaged and transported.</p>

THE surrender of former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, now in US custody, quickens the pace at which Saddam Hussein's regime is being obliterated. Now that the military campaign is over, the work of installing a new administration committed to freedom needs to progress smoothly. And a pivotal element of the task is the demolition and destruction of the old order, pillar by pillar. Tariq Aziz, because of his high visibility and his perceived proximity to Saddam, was an important member of the old order and his surrender may prove significant. Though he was not officially a part of...