Western wildfires, eggs found in Fla. python, candidates campaign and more in the day in photos

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Aug. 14, 2012

A plane drops retardant to create a fire break at the Sunlight Waters housing development near Cle Elum, Wash., as the Taylor Bridge wildfire advances. In rural central Washington, three blazes were sparked in just 90 minutes. Firefighters snuffed two quickly, but the third exploded across about 40 square miles of grassland, timber and sagebrush on the east slope of the Cascades.

Joshua Trujillo / Seattlepi.com via AP

Aug. 14, 2012

A trailer erupts in flames at the Sunlight Waters housing development near Cle Elum, Wash., as the Taylor Bridge wildfire advances. The blaze left authorities scrambling to evacuate hundreds of residents.

Joshua Trujillo / Seattlepi.com via AP

David Hoff flees the Sunlight Waters housing development with his cats, Marty and Bertha, as the Taylor Bridge wildfire approaches Cle Elum, Wash.

Joshua Trujillo / Seattlepi.com via AP

Aug. 14, 2012

Cows stand in a pasture as a wildfire burns down a hillside near Cle Elum, Wash. The fast-moving wildfire has burned 60 homes across about 40 square miles. No injuries have been reported, but more than 400 people have been forced to flee the area.

Elaine Thompson / AP

Aug. 14, 2012

Firefighters remove flammable material near homes at the Sunlight Waters housing development as the Taylor Bridge wildfire approaches Cle Elum, Wash.

Joshua Trujillo / Seattlepi.com via AP

Aug. 14, 2012

Animal skulls line a fence along the side of Justin Hammer’s home, near Elmore City, Okla. Hammer is charged with first-degree murder in the Aug. 7 death of Brandon Duran. According to court documents, Hammer told authorities he shot Duran after Duran forced his way into his home and threatened him. He said he panicked and cut up the body, which was placed in cement-filled buckets and thrown into a pond on his property. At a hearing Tuesday in Garvin County District Court, Hammer was denied bond.

Sue Ogrocki / AP

Aug. 10, 2012

Kenneth Krysko, the herpetology collection manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History, displays three of the 87 eggs found in the largest Burmese python discovered in the state to date. Museum researchers were examining the anatomy of the 17-foot, 7-inch snake. The snake will be mounted for display at the museum for about five years, then returned for exhibition at Everglades National Park. "This thing is monstrous. It's about a foot wide," Krysko said.

Kristen Grace / University of Florida/Florida Museum of Natural History via AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 10, 2012

From left, Rebecca Reichart, Leroy Nunez, Nicholas Coutu, Claudia Grant and Kenneth Krysko examine the 165-pound snake as part of a government research project into managing the pervasive effect of Burmese pythons in Florida. The giant snakes — native to Southeast Asia and first found in the Everglades in 1979 — prey on native birds, deer, bobcats, alligators and other large animals.

Kristen Grace / University of Florida/Florida Museum of Natural History via AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 14, 2012

Schoenbrunn Zoo Director Dagmar Schratter displays an ultrasonic image of a 4.2-inch elephant fetus during a news conference in Vienna. The mother, Tonga, was 141 days pregnant and was successfully inseminated with frozen sperm from a wild elephant bull in South Africa, the Austrian zoo said. It is the world’s first successful insemination of this kind.

Heinz-Peter Bader / Reuters

Aug. 14, 2012

Biologist Heidi Ross holds two Panamanian golden frogs during Golden Frog Day at El Nispero Zoo in El Valle de Anton, Panama. The golden frog is one of Panama's national symbols. There are only 10 frogs in the breeding program at the zoo, and the species is in danger of extinction in the country, according to biologist Edgardo Griffith.

Carlos Jasso / Reuters

Aug. 14, 2012

Protesters shout slogans and hold signs during a protest against austerity measures in a market in Barcelona, Spain. The country is in a double-dip recession.

Gustau Nacarino / Reuters

Aug. 14, 2012

Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), the Republican vice presidential candidate, waves to supporters at a campaign rally in Lakewood, Colo.

Jack Dempsey / AP

Aug. 14, 2012

Coal miners hold up signs in support of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney during a campaign event at American Energy in Beallsville, Ohio.

Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 14, 2012

From left, Sheila Austin (sitting), Portia Boulger, Stacey Skaggs and Ian Skaggs chant "Save Medicare!" with other protestors as GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney addresses supporters in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Melina Mara / The Washington Post

Aug. 14, 2012

President Obama visits with patrons at the Pump House, a pub and grill in Cedar Falls, during a three-day campaign bus tour through Iowa.

Carolyn Kaster / AP

Aug. 14, 2012

Audience members photograph President Obama after his campaign speech in Marshalltown, Iowa.

Charles Rex Arbogast / AP

Aug. 14, 2012

Isaac Richmond, with megaphone, the national director of the Commission on Religion and Racism, leads a protest march in front of Jonesboro, Ark., City Hall to protest the shooting death of Chavis Carter, 21, of Southaven, Miss. Carter died July 28 while sitting handcuffed in the back of a patrol car.

Keith Inman / Jonesboro, Ark., Sun via AP

Aug. 15, 2012

A police vehicle takes position as miners stage a sit-in close to a South African platinum mine in Rustenburg, 62 miles northwest of Johannesburg. Ten people were killed in clashes at the mine, which is run by leading producer Lonmin, between rival unions: the leading and decades-old National Union of Mineworkers and the smaller Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union. Eight Lonmin employees died, and two of the police officers sent to quell the unrest were hacked to death in two days of violence, which started as an illegal work stoppage called by one of the unions.

/ AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 15, 2012

Olympic marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich, center in suit, is greeted by his wife and relatives at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda. Kiprotich's win marks the African nation’s first Olympic gold medal since the Munich Games in 1972. Lawmakers are considering a motion that would declare Kiprotich a national hero, and his employer has promised to promote him at work.

Stephen Wandera / AP

Aug. 15, 2012

Girls perform in Jammu, India, on the 65th anniversary of India's independence from British rule.

Channi Anand / AP

Aug. 14, 2012

Children play in a mud bank at the mouth of Itaya River in Iquitos, Peru, while watching a festival inaugurating the Amazon River as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The Amazon made the list in a global contest conducted by the New 7 Wonders Foundation.

Enrique Castro-Mendivil / Reuters

Aug. 13, 2012

Morgue workers place a coffin containing an unidentified body into a grave at San Rafael Cemetery on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The bodies of 24 people, who were not claimed from the city morgue and many of whom were killed in drug-related incidents, were buried Monday, local media reported. The authorities also buried six fetuses, three human skeletons and a skull.

Jose Luis Gonzalez / Reuters

Aug. 14, 2012

A young Afghan refugee sits by the doorway of her home, in an alley of a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Aug. 15, 2012

Syrian soldiers investigate the scene after a bomb attached to a fuel truck exploded outside a hotel where U.N. observers are staying in Damascus, Syria. Several people were wounded, Syrian state TV reported.

Bassem Tellawi / AP

Aug. 14, 2012

A Free Syrian Army fighter reacts after hearing that his commander was killed by a tank shell in Aleppo.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Aug. 15, 2012

A wounded man arrives at a hospital after an explosion in Herat, Afghanistan. A bomb rigged as a bicycle was detonated in a bazaar, injuring up to 14 civilians, officials said. The explosion came a day after a series of bombings that killed up to 50 people across the war-torn country.

Aref Karimi / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 15, 2012

People take pictures of Pope Benedict XVI in the central square of Castel Gandolfo, Italy, after Assumption Day Mass.

Vincenzo Pinto / AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 14, 2012

A couple pick flowers on a warm and sunny day in a field, Dusseldorf, Germany. Temperatures in the country are likely to reach the low to mid-90s this weekend.

Frank Augstein / AP

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 13: Many seminary graduates are choosing not to become pastors. Rebecca J. Cole received her Master of Divinity and is becoming a community organizer on Capitol Hill. She hugs another graduate after the ceremony. The 2013 Commencement ceremony for Wesley Theological Seminary was held on May 13 at the Washington National Cathedral. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

Eager to minister, but not from the pulpit

An increasing number of divinity students who don’t plan to become pastors envision using their degrees to “minister” in a...

ARLINGTON, VA- MAY 17: Thousands of bike enthusiasts took to the streets Friday, May 17, 2013 in celebration of Bike to Work day. Bikers leave the Rosslyn Gateway Park pit stop on Friday morning. Commuter Connections and The Washington Area Bicyclist Association hosted cyclists at 70 pit stops across the metropolitan region. (Photo by Amanda Voisard/For the Washington Post)

Thousands participate in Bike to Work Day

More than 14,000 people registered for the area's annual celebration of commuting on two wheels.

epa03704474 A Muslim woman at the ThetKalPyin temporary relief camp near Sittwe in Rakhine State, Western Myanmar, 17 May 2013. A total of 13 people were confirmed dead in neighboring Bangladesh as people began to return home from shelters, a day after Cyclone Mahasen hit the coast, officials said 17 May. EPA/NYEIN CHAN NAING

Photos of the day

Cyclone Mahasen, Texas tornadoes, puffin census, melting Swiss glacier and more.

LOS ANGELES, CA - MAY 16: American Idol Season 12 Winner Candice Glover (C) is seen onstage during Fox's 'American Idol 2013' Finale Results Show at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on May 16, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Candice Glover wins 12th season of ‘American Idol’

The 23-year-old vocal powerhouse from St. Helena Island, S.C., tops competition in her third try.

US actress Claire Julien smiles on May 16, 2013 while posing during a photocall for the film 'The Bling Ring' at the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. Cannes, one of the world's top film festivals, opened on May 15 and will climax on May 26 with awards selected by a jury headed this year by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLI (Photo credit should read ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

Eye on entertainment

Claire Julien, David Hasselhoff, Freida Pinto, Candice Glover, Martin Short and more.

**LOC IMAGE** Geo. Hamilton, Assistant Superintendent, Cambria Iron Mills house, Johnstown Flood, May 31st, 1889. (Photo by Ernest Walter Histed / Library of Congress)

The Johnstown Flood of 1889

On May 31, 1889, the South Fork dam that held Lake Conemaugh failed, and 20 million tons of water descended upon Johnstown, Pa. The flood claimed the lives of 2,209 people and spurred...

HACIPASA, TURKEY - MAY 5: Syrian refugee Hala ponders her life on the run on Sunday, May 5, 2013, in Hacipasa, Turkey. Three times this morning, the sounds of aircrafts were followed by explosions that shook the ground. Hacipasa, which sits just across the river border from Syria, is home of several hundred Syrian refugees who have been displaced by their home country's conflict. For a year, Hala and her family have been displaced from their home village in Syria because of violent conflict. After bouncing from village to village, fleeing bombings that seemed to follow them, the family crossed into Turkey six weeks ago. Initially, the family was deported back into Syria, where they lived in camps for internally displaced Syrians. But when the camps were bombed, the family was allowed to cross into Turkey. Hala said, 'The blood of the people who died in Syria, the martyrs, is our sad song, but nobody is listening.' (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

Turkey faces a refugee crisis

More than 400,000 Syrians have crossed into Turkey seeking refuge from the conflict at home. Finding its resources stretched, Turkey is urgently appealing for international aid and...

(FILES) In this file picture taken on January 31, 2013 British football player David Beckham poses presenting his new jersey after a press conference at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. David Beckham is to retire from professional football at the end of the season, his representative announced on May 16, 2013. The 38-year-old midfielder has played for Manchester United, Real Madrid, Los Angeles Galaxy and AC Milan, as well as winning 115 caps for England, and recently won the French Ligue 1 championship with Paris Saint-Germain. AFP PHOTO / FRANCK FIFEFRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images

David Beckham announces his retirement

The 38-year-old British soccer superstar says he will retire when his French team’s season ends May 26.

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