The northeastern United States sweltered this week in a scorching summer heat wave, complete with stagnant, sticky air and no winds for relief, forecasters said. Even in a summer already filled with stretches of very hot weather, this week will be stubbornly brutal, with no relief in sight until the weekend brings thunderstorms to the region, they said. "Plain and simple, this week may feel the worst of any week for this summer in the Northeast," said Accuweather.com meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. (Reuters)

One of four Acehnese teen gets whipped for spending time in close proximity with her boyfriend who is not her husband, which is against Sharia law, in Aceh on April 18, 2017. Aceh on Sumatra island began implementing Sharia law after being granted special autonomy in 2001, an attempt by the central government in Jakarta to quell a long-running separatist insurgency. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

A stranded cat swims through flood water searching for dry land June 16, 2008 in Oakville, Iowa. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In this Thursday, April 11, 2013 photo, an Afghan woman peers through the the eye slit of her burqa as she waits to try on a new burqa in shop in the old town of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by Anja Niedringhaus/AP Photo)

Members of the Russian Red Army Choir perform at Water Front Theatre in Beirut September 13, 2014. (Photo by Jamal Saidi/Reuters)

A participant jumps trying to control a bull during the annual bull taming “Jallikattu” festival in Palamedu village on the outskirts of Madurai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu on January 16, 2020. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

A girl walks past destroyed houses at Basara refugee camp in Sittwe on May 16, 2023, after cyclone Mocha made a landfall. The death toll in cyclone-hit Myanmar's Rakhine state rose to at least 41 on May 16, 2023, local leaders told AFP. (Photo by Sai Aung Main/AFP Photo)

Indian students with face painted pose for a photo during an inter-college face painting competition at the Government Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Polytechnic College in Bhopal, India, 17 February 2020. Over fifty people participated in the event and made face paintings on various issues including the coronavirus or COVID-19. (Photo by Sanjeev Gupta/EPA/EFE)