Environment

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In this photo taken Monday, April 23, 2012, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at Consol Energy Research and Development Facility in South Park Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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The Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, is privately owned. A second bridge has been proposed to ease mounting traffic flow. (Associated Press)

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Planetary Resources Inc. mechanical engineer Peter Illsley puts finishing touches on a full-size prototype model of a low-orbit spacecraft before a news conference announcing a plan to mine nearby asteroids in Seattle on Tuesday. One of the company founders predicts they could have their version of a space-based gas station up and running by 2020. (Associated Press)

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This computer-generated image shows a conceptual rendering of a spacecraft preparing to capture a water-rich, near-Earth asteroid. The plan is to use commercially built robotic ships to squeeze rocket fuel and valuable minerals such as platinum and gold out of the lifeless rocks that routinely whiz by Earth. (Associated Press)

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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)