Heat, humidity and haze cloaked the start of China's long-awaited Olympic Games in a sultry blanket Friday.

Federal forecasters on Thursday upgraded their outlook for this Atlantic hurricane season to include two more named storms than previously predicted.

The National Hurricane Center said Friday that Hurricane Hernan had formed far off Mexico's Pacific coast but was expected to remain far from land.

The California Coastal Commission approved building the Western Hemisphere's largest desalination plant ? a move aimed at relieving water shortages in the nation's most populated state.

The Mediterranean nation of Cyprus is deep in drought, so deep that the flow of water, or lack of it, dictates daily lives. A Reuters correspondent describes that reality.