Environment

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Sand and rubble sit where the boardwalk used to be in Seaside Heights, N.J. Seaside Heights, like many other coastal towns, is racing to rebuild its boardwalk from Superstorm Sandy’s damage in time for next summer’s tourism season. Boardwalks are a major economic engine for shoreline communities. (Associated Press)

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Farmers at the Yvy Pyta settlement near Curuguaty, Paraguay, create a banner with pictures of landless farmers, some of whom were arrested in clashes with police over land reform, as they get ready last month to march to demand the jailed farmers’ release. Yvy Pyta is a community of wooden shacks surrounded by vast, privately owned industrial agriculture. The area’s poor residents have long claimed that one such operation is on land stolen from the state. (Associated Press)

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President Obama watches a worker during a Dec. 10, 2012, visit to the heavy duty engines line at the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, Mich. (Associated Press)

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Audience members, including workers, cheer as President Obama speaks Dec. 10, 2012, about the economy during a visit to the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, Mich. (Associated Press)

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President Obama smiles as he arrives Dec. 10, 2012, to speak to workers during a visit to the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, Mich. (Associated Press)

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President Obama speaks to workers about the economy during a Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, visit to the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, Mich. (Associated Press)

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President Obama watches workers during a Dec. 10, 2012, visit to the heavy duty engines line at the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, Mich. (Associated Press)

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President Obama speaks Dec. 10, 2012, about the economy to an audience comprised of workers and guests during a visit to the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, Mich. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** North Korea's Unha-3 rocket stands April 8, 2012, at Sohae Satellite Station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea. (Associated Press/David Guttenfelder, File)

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**FILE** This satellite image taken by GeoEye and annotated and distributed by North Korea Tech and 38 North shows the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea, on Dec. 4, 2012. This image was shared with the AP by the 38 North and North Korea Tech websites, which collaborate on analysis of the satellite imagery. (Associated Press/GeoEye via North Korea Tech and 38 North)

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**FILE** A North Korean soldier salutes in front of the country's Unha-3 rocket, slated for liftoff between April 12-16, at Sohae Satellite Station in Tongchang-ri, North Korea, on April 8, 2012. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** Sand and rubble sit Nov. 29, 2012, where the boardwalk used to be in Seaside Heights N.J. Seaside Heights, like many other coastal towns, is racing to rebuild its boardwalk from Superstorm Sandy's damage in time for next summer's tourism season. (Associated Press)

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“Why is it that we don’t have a farm bill? It isn’t just the differences of policy. It’s the fact that rural America with a shrinking population is becoming less and less relevant to the politics of this country, and we had better recognize that and we better begin to reverse it.” - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (Associated Press)