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 woman mourns over the coffin of a relative after a deadly eruption of Mount Sinabung in Sukandebi village, Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia May 22, 2016, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. The volcano in western Indonesian unleashed hot clouds of ash on Saturday, killing several villagers, an official said. (Photo by Irsan Mulyadi/Reuters/Antara Foto)

A woman uses a tree branch to fight a fire on the road leading to the village of Parada, near Mortagua, northern Portugal, Thursday, August 11 2016. Firefighters in Portugal are battling multiple blazes fed by brush in a hot, dry summer for a sixth straight day. Major fires have also been raging in northwestern Spain and southern France. (Photo by Sergio Azenha/AP Photo)

Vogue Italia is hosting a series of shows in Milan exploring how the magazine seeks to engage with hot social and political issues and provoke debate through images by top photographers. The Photo Vogue festival in Milan is hosting three exhibitions. The first, Fashion and Politics in Vogue Italia, looks at the magazine’s ambition to be a catalyst for change – in subtle and playful ways. Here: David LaChapelle – October 2004. (Photo by David LaChapelle/The Guardian)

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Lake Natron is a salt lake located in northern Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border, in the eastern branch of the East African Rift. The lake is fed by the Southern Ewaso Ng'iro River and also by mineral-rich hot springs. It is quite shallow, less than three meters (10 feet) deep, and varies in width depending on its water level, which changes due to high levels of evaporation, leaving concentrations of salt and other minerals, notably sodium carbonate (natron).

A team from Woody's Ice Cream shop wrangle a large inflatable dinosaur down the street during the Independence Day Parade in Fairfax, Virginia July 4, 2015. Americans marched in star-spangled parades, ran relay races, gathered for fireworks shows and crowned a new world hot dog eating champion as they celebrated Independence Day in traditional style on Saturday. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

People release floating lanterns during the festival of Yee Peng in the northern capital of Chiang Mai, Thailand November 14, 2016. Yi Peng refers to the full moon day in the second month according to the Lanna lunar calendar (the twelfth month according to the Thai lunar calendar). Swarms of Lanna-style sky lanterns are launched into the air where they resemble large shoals of giant fluorescent jellyfish gracefully floating through the sky. The festival is meant as a time for tham bun, to make merit. Khom loi are made from a thin fabric, such as rice paper, stretched over a bamboo or wire frame, to which a candle or fuel cell is attached. When the fuel cell is lit, the resulting hot air is trapped inside the lantern and creates enough lift for the khom loi to float up into the sky. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

A photo made available on 14 March 2016 shows a Thai villager takes selfie photograph on drought parched land at the dried up Mae Chang reservoir in Lampang province, northern Thailand, 12 March 2016. The ruined village including ancient temple had been underwater for 34 years since the Mae Chang reservoir was built in 1982, the area has now re-emerged after water in the reservoir dried up caused by the severe drought. Thailand is facing the worst drought in decades hardest hit by El Nino phenomenon combined with seasonal hot weather. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)