Environment

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Photograph provided by Roger LIn The Passive House in South Arlington features a modular scheme the uses shallow square trays of plants.

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China reportedly has told North Korea’s Kim Jong-un not to provoke South Korea militarily until after China’s leadership change this fall. (Associated Press)

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Protesters hold anti-Japan placards outside the Japanese Consulate General in Hong Kong on Wednesday. A dispute with China and South Korea over islands has long been a source of tension in the region and have threatened to boil over in recent weeks. The placards read: “Overturn Japanese militarism.” (Associated Press)

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Britain's Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, attends the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics on Friday, July 27, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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Uotsuri Island, one of the East China Sea islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, is claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)

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The shell of a burnt-out car is seen Aug. 14, 2012, in a neighborhood of Amiens, France. Dozens of young men rioted in a troubled district in northern France after weeks of tensions, pulling drivers from their cars and stealing the vehicles, and burning a school and a youth center. (Associated Press)

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“I’m told Gov. Romney’s new running mate might be around Iowa these next few days, and he’s one of those leaders of Congress standing in the way” of a farm bill. (Associated Press)

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associated press A North Korean man cooks at a makeshift shelter set up in a riverbed in Songchon County, North Korea, on Monday. He and others from his village are working to rebuild the road and riverbank that was destroyed by July flooding. Floods killed at least 169 North Koreans nationwide and destroyed tens of thousands of homes. Corn, rice and soybean plants lay withered and stunted a month before harvesting season is set to begin.