China lead smelter poisons 2,000

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Two thousand Chinese villagers are being treated in hospital for lead poisoning which they say was caused by a local smelting plant, the South China Morning Post said on Wednesday. CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The weather looked favorable for Wednesday's launch of the space shuttle Atlantis on a mission to resume construction of the International Space Station for the first time since 2003, NASA officials said on Tuesday. BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Huge tracts of Brazil's Amazon rainforest were cleared legally and illegally in the past year, but the rate of deforestation slowed, the country's environment minister said on Tuesday.