Environment

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Investigators walk into an Oxon Hill home where bodies were found. Five people are dead of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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This computer-generated image provided by Planetary Resources, a group of high-tech tycoons that wants to mine nearby asteroids, shows a conceptual rendering of satellites prospecting a water-rich, near-Earth asteroid. (Associated Press/Planetary Resources)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS Actor Sean Penn (left) was in Haiti helping the displaced find shelter shortly after the massive 2010 earthquake that destroyed much of the country. He since has become a major figure in the effort to rebuild. Among his contributions is a clinic for women (above) at the Petionville Golf Club in Port-au-Prince set up by Mr. Penn's J/P Haitian Relief Organization.

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Mr. Penn, with Haitian President Michel Martelly, was named ambassador-at-large for Haiti in recognition of his humanitarian work since the earthquake. "My job is to help people get the future they want to have," Mr. Penn says.

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Afghan officials watch in June 2007 as opium products are burned on Kabul's outskirts. Afghanistan is the world's top heroin producer, and poppies are a $1.4 billion cash crop, but a program to encourage other crops has had significant success. (Associated Press)

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An Afghan National Army solider destroys poppies in Nangarhar province in 2007. Since then, opium production has decreased significantly as farmers are encouraged to grow alternative cash crops. (Associated Press)

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A giant goldfish is released back into the Anacostia River. The goldfish is one of the non-native species of fish found in the river. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

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Umbrellas were everywhere in New York's Times Square on Sunday as a spring nor'easter brought consistent rain to a rain-starved East Coast. (Associated Press)

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Vehicles transporting North Korean missiles on display over the weekend were made or designed by China, analysts say. Meanwhile, a propaganda billboard in Pyongyang translates as "Let's raise the spirits of winners and build a strong and prosperous nation!" North Korea has yet to launch a multistage missile successfully. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** New homes are seen March 23, 2012, under construction in a development in Atlanta. (Associated Press)

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The NASA Space Shuttle Discovery sits on a road prior to a welcoming ceremony at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum annex in Chantilly, Va., on April 19, 2012. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)