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WASHINGTON – Heeding conservative demands to shore up the southern U.S. border to prevent illegal immigrants from freely crossing into the country, the Senate voted Wednesday to build 370 miles of triple-layered fence Senators voted 83-16 to add fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers along the southern border. Click …

NEW YORK – The family TV drama “7th Heaven” is getting a second life. It’s included in the first schedule released by the fledgling network known as CW, which will combine programming from the WB and UPN. Before the CW was created, the WB announced last fall that the drama …

ROME – Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the longest-serving leader in postwar Italy, resigned Tuesday to make way for a center-left government led by Romano Prodi that must re-energize a moribund economy. President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi asked Berlusconi to remain on as caretaker prime minister during their 30-minute meeting at the …

This is a partial transcript from “Hannity & Colmes,” May 2, 2006, that has been edited for clarity. SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: The race has been called in Durham, North Carolina, and District Attorney Mike Nifong has, indeed, won re-election. Now, this was the Democratic primary. And because there were no …

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A lawyer for Saddam Hussein said one of his witnesses had been killed and complained of restrictions on the case. The defense did not identify the slain witness or give details on how or when he was killed, but it said the death illustrated the difficulties undermining …

With spring sliding towards summer, parents are weighing in on the summer health risks they see for their adolescent children. Sunburn, bee stings, and heat strokes made the list. So did concerns such as online safety and knowing how to handle an unsafe situation. That’s according to an online survey …

TEHRAN, Iran – An Iranian lawmaker Wednesday said the U.S. offer for direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program must be conducted without preconditions, Iran‘s Student News Agency reported. Lawmaker Kazem Jalali, spokesman for Parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, said the U.S. move might be viewed positively …

TOKYO – The ozone hole over the Antarctic is likely to begin contracting in the future and may disappear by 2050 because of a reduction in the release of chlorofluorocarbons and other ozone-depleting gases, according to a team of Japanese scientists. The findings are based on a series of numerical …

MIAMI – The next Atlantic hurricane season could produce up to 16 named storms, six of them major hurricanes, suggesting another active year but not the record pounding of 2005, scientists said Monday. Some parts of the Gulf Coast are only starting to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina, the worst of …

BURBANK, Calif. – Paul Gleason, who played the go-to bad guy in “Trading Places” and the angry high school principal in “The Breakfast Club,” has died. He was 62. Gleason died at a local hospital Saturday of mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer linked to asbestos, said his wife, …