Disaster-prone China takes heed of global warming

BEIJING (Reuters) - Storms, floods, heat and drought that have killed more than 2,000 people in China this year are a prelude to weather patterns likely to become more extreme due to global warming, the head of the Beijing Climate Center said. CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA on Sunday clung to plans for a Tuesday launch of space shuttle Atlantis even as it prepared to scrub the liftoff and pull the ship indoors to ride out approaching Tropical Storm Ernesto. HAVANA (Reuters) - Hurricane Ernesto weakened to a tropical storm as it pounded Haiti with torrential rains on Sunday, but forecasters said it could regain hurricane strength over open sea before barreling across eastern Cuba on track for the Florida Keys.