Dutch artist Maxim Gazendam works on his sand sculpture during the third edition of the European Championship Sand Sculpting 2014 in Zandvoort aan Zee, The Netherlands, 08 August 2014. Eight sculptors from different European countries will each create an impressive sculpture on the main theme “Music and Dance”. (Photo by Remko De Waal/EPA)

The brutalist war memorials found throughout the former Yugoslavia were weird enough when they were built in the 1960s and 70s. Today, separated by the end of an architectural movement and the disintegration of the country, they seem almost alien. Belgian photographer Jan Kempenaers treats them purely as artistic objects in his book, “Spomenik”, named for the Serb-Croat word for monument. Known for photographing geographical oddities, Kempenaers was captivated by the spomenik after seeing them in an art encyclopedia. After hearing that many had been destroyed or abandoned, he set out to record what was left. (Photo by Jan Kempenaers)

A long exposure photograph shows a tree burning during the Kincade fire off Highway 128, east of Healdsburg, California on October 29, 2019. California braced on October 29 for the most powerful winds this season that threaten to spread destructive fires raging in the state and could spark new blazes. (Photo by Philip Pacheco/AFP Photo)

Fire photographer Tod Sudmeier gets hit with flying embers from strong winds at the Solimar brush fire that started early Saturday morning in Ventura County, California December 26, 2015. (Photo by Gene Blevins/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)

People dressed as characters from the computer game “World of Warcraft” walk across a field near the town of Kamyk nad Vltavou, Czech Republic, April 28, 2018. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

A member of the USA Knights team is seen wearing a face-like helmet shield during the International Medieval Combat championships at the castle of Belmonte, May 4, 2014, in Belmonte, Spain. The steel armor the knights wear can cost up to $10,000 and weigh 80 pounds. (Photo by Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images)

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)