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)

“The McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender is an air-to-air tanker aircraft in service with the United States Air Force derived from the civilian DC-10-30 airliner. The KC-10 was the second consecutive McDonnell Douglas transport aircraft to be selected by the US Air Force following the C-9 Nightingale. The similar KDC-10 is in service with the Royal Netherlands Air Force.”

Photo: A B-52G Stratofortress aircraft takes off with another B-52G close behind. Three cells of six B-52 and KC-10 Extender aircraft will takeoff seconds apart under combat conditions during the minimum interval takeoff exercise. The exercise is a part of an operational readiness inspection by the Strategic Air Command Inspector General Team. (Photo by USAF). 1998

Color dyed rabbits are seen in the markets of the Souq Waqif on January 12, 2011 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

A little girl holding her newborn sister waits for their turn in a queue during a vaccination campaign under the supervision of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) humanitarian nonprofit organization, in the besieged Syrian town of Douma, Syria, 23 May 2017. According to a statement from SARC, in the city of Douma some 12,809 children under the age of five were immunized in a vaccination campaign to prevent measles and poliomyelitis. The campaign was the first of its kind with the participation of 100 volunteers. SARC has been delivering vaccines to 17 health centers approved for vaccination campaigns in towns and villages in the Eastern Ghouta area. (Photo by Mohammed Badra/EPA)

Cheng Liping, whose husband Ju was onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which disappeared on March 8, 2014, shows a picture of she and her husband together and an old card with a message given by her husband, at a park near her house where she and her husband used to visit during an interview with Reuters in Beijing July 24, 2014. Cheng said her life has been totally changed since the incident. Their two little sons, who don't know about this incident, keep asking her when their dad is coming back. Six months after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, with 239 mostly Chinese people on board, disappeared about an hour into a routine journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing March 8, loved ones of missing passengers derive what comfort they can from what's left behind after the world's greatest aviation mystery. More than two dozen countries have been involved in the air, sea and underwater search for the Boeing 777 but months of sorties failed to turn up any trace – even after narrowing the search area to the southern Indian Ocean – long after batteries on the black box voice and data recorders had gone flat. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

A young worshipper holds a lotus flower as Buddhist monks gather at Wat Arun Buddhist temple during Asaha Bucha day in Bangkok on July 20, 2024. (Photo by Chanakarn Laosarakham/AFP Photo)

An Indian underprivileged bride gets her jewellery adjusted by a relative during a mass marriage ceremony in New Delhi, India, March 10, 2016. Fourteen underprivileged couples tied up the nuptial knot in the mass marriage ceremony organised by various social organisations. (Photo by Rajat Gupta/EPA)

A citizen rides in smog on December 20, 2016 in Jinan, Shandong Province of China. Air quality index (AQI) readings exceeded 400 and some schools have suspended classes in Jinan. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)