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)

A young protester takes part in a protest near Tahrir Square to call for the fall of Islamist President on January 24, 2012 in Cairo. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP Photo via The Atlantic)

A pro-Russian rebel guards a captured former Ukrainian Army checkpoint outside Vuhlehirsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, February 5, 2015. The rebels have closed in around the town in a strategy they triumphantly refer to as the Debaltseve cauldron. Separatists recently burst through government lines in the rural settlement of Vuhlehirsk. (Photo by Vadim Braydov/AP Photo)

This photo provided by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office shows a man who was possibly trying to burglarize an abandoned Chinese restaurant in San Lorenzo, Calif., trapped in a grease vent before he was rescued Wednesday, December 12, 2018. Officials say he had been trapped for two days. Deputies and firefighters were called to the vacant building on Wednesday after someone heard cries for help. The sheriff tweeted that the man was trespassing and possibly trying to burglarize the empty restaurant. (Photo by Alameda County Sheriff's Office via AP Photo)

Inflatable pools were set up by volunteer youth to cool children living in tents in Khan Yunis city of Gaza under Israeli attacks, on July 18, 2024. (Photo by Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Belgium's Crown Princess Elisabeth poses with dancers and youth after a ceremony on the occasion of her 18th birthday, outside the Royal Palace in Brussels, Belgium on October 25, 2019. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

Relatives of the victims, died in the Israeli airstrikes, mourn as they take the bodies from the morgue of Nasser Hospital for the funeral ceremony as the Israeli army attacks continue in Khan Yunis, Gaza on November 14, 2023. (Photo by Belal Khaled/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Several soldiers from the Spanish Air Force observe a Eurofighter EF-2000 fighter aircraft of the Spanish Air Force, as it flies during the Ocean Sky 2023 Military Exercise for advanced air-to-air training in the southern airspace of the Canary Islands, Spain on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Borja Suarez/Reuters)