Hospitality_Recreation

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Brandon Lutzow of Waldorf, Md., helps scrub the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, along with other members of Rolling Thunder's Maryland Chapter 1 on May 13 as one way of honoring the sacrifices of those who died in the war. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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**FILE** Al Hodgson, a volunteer guide at the Willow Creek-China Flat Musuem, holds up a plaster cast of a Bigfoot imprint displayed at the museum's new "Bigfoot Wing" in Willow Creek, Calif., on June 5, 2000. (Associated Press)

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Maryland House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell says “this deal was cut” regarding a second special session for a Prince George's County casino proposal. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

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Lard covered shirts are strewn about as first year Naval Academy plebes finish the traditional Herndon Monument climb in two hours and ten minutes, Annapolis, Md., Tuesday, May 22, 2012. The tradition, dating back to 1940, is the culmination of the first year in the Naval Academy where the plebe class has to help each other climb the obelisk covered in lard, remove the "dixie cup" hat at the top and replace it with an upperclassman's hat. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

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**FILE** American pop singer and songwriter Lady Gaga poses May 19, 2012, before the media upon her arrival in a hotel in Manila's financial district of Makati, Philippines. (Associated Press)

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Jay-Z talks about plans for a benefit music festival he is putting together in Philadelphia over Labor Day weekend. (Associated Press)

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A man walks walk past the Cafe Lympic in Stratford, east London, on April 27, 2012. One day, the small espresso shop near the site of the London Games was the "Olympic" cafe. The next day, it was the "Lympic." So where did the "O" go? The manager won't say. (Associated Press)

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Oriano Caretti looks at the overturned shelves with Parmesan wheels in his cheese factory in San Giovanni in Persiceto, Italy, on Monday. (Associated Press)

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A French prosecutor on Monday opened a preliminary investigation into allegations of rape in a Washington hotel by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former International Monetary Fund chief and one-time French presidential hopeful. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** A pair of French tourists view the Horseshoe Falls from Table Rock in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, on Feb. 1, 1996. (Associated Press)

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The famous Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugar Loaf mountain (center) are big tourist attractions in Rio de Janeiro. But the upcoming Rio+20 conference, billed as a "historic opportunity" to build a greener future, appears to be headed for failure. President Obama won't be there, the leaders of Britain and Germany have bowed out and entire delegations have canceled. (Associated Press)

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Tourists cool off at a hotel in Rio de Janeiro. The host city for the U.N.-sponsored Rio+20 conference is woefully lacking in accommodations for the green summit, with a total of 33,000 beds. Before cancellations, more than 50,000 diplomats and staffers were expected to come to Brazil for the June 20-22 summit. (Associated Press)