Environment

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A billboard with a mannequin dangling from a hangman's noose near the Strip in Las Vegas. Authorities said calls began coming in early Aug. 8, 2012, from drivers worried the dummy along Interstate 15 near was a real person. A Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman said the sign is a publicity stunt done in bad taste. (Associated Press/KVVU)

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associated press Taoufik Makhloufi celebrates his gold medal in the 1,500 meters Tuesday. The Algerian had been kicked out of the Olympics for not trying hard enough in another event, but he was reinstated when a doctor said he was injured.

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Smoke and flames shoot up Monday from a crude oil unit at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, Calif. The facility makes high-quality products that include gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel and lubricants, as well as chemicals used in manufacturing. (Associated Press)

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Learn about the characters and creatures of Truffula Valley and Thneedville, and even plant a Truffula Tree seedling in the Blu-ray release of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.

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United States' LaShawn Merritt places ice onto his injured hamstring following his heat of the men's 400 meters during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

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**FILE** Smoke rises March 15, 2011, from the badly damaged Unit 3 reactor (left), next to the Unit 4 reactor covered by an outer wall at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Okuma, Japan. The emergency command center at Japan's stricken nuclear plant shook violently when hydrogen exploded at Unit 3 and the plant chief reacted by shouting, "This is serious, this is serious," reveal videos of the crisis as it happened. (Associated Press/Tokyo Electric Power Co., File)

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Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity team member Miguel San Martin (left), chief engineer, Guidance, Navigation, and Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, celebrates Aug. 5, 2012, with Adam Steltzner, MSL entry, descent and landing of the Mars Science Laboratory, after the successful landing of Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars at the NASA laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. (Associated Press)

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A home burns during a large wildfire Friday, Aug. 3, 2012, in Luther, Okla. A wildfire whipped by gusty, southerly winds swept through rural woodlands north and south of Oklahoma City on Friday, burning several homes as firefighters struggled to contain it in 113-degree heat. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Bryan Terry)

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Arnold Schwarzenegger, former governor of California, has established a state and global policy institute at the University of Southern California. (Associated Press)

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A motorist who got out of her car argues with a demonstrator as civil servants blocked traffic during a protest against government cuts in Madrid on Monday. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been introducing successive rounds of austerity measures aimed at preventing the country from being forced into a public finance bailout. (Associated Press)

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Massive waves break ahead of the arrival of the approaching Saola, a deadly storm, on the coast of Badoutze, northeastern Taiwan on Wednesday. Saola weakened from a typhoon to a tropical storm by late afternoon on Thursday. (Associated Press)