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)

Passengers from the ferry sinking off South Korea's southern coast are rescued by the South Korean Coast guard in the water off the southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul, on April 16, 2014. Almost 300 people were missing after a ferry sank off South Korea on Wednesday, the coastguard said, in what could be the country's biggest peacetime disaster in nearly 20 years. (Photo by AP Photo)

This July 2014 image provided by the Bureau of Land Management shows the interior of the Natural Trap Cave in north-central Wyoming. The cave holds the remains of tens of thousands of animals, including many now-extinct species, from the late Pleistocene period tens of thousands of years ago. Scientists have resumed digging for the first time in more than 30 years. (Photo by AP Photo/Bureau of Land Management)

Nightmare: New York”, staged in a Lower East Side building, depicts the ugliest, scariest vision of 1970s- and '80s-era Gotham. Subways are awash in graffiti, creeps and crime. Here: In this October 2, 2014 photo, an actor performs during “Nightmare: New York”, a haunted house attraction in New York. (Photo by Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)

Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed residential building in Makongeni estate in Nairobi December 17, 2014. Three more bodies were recovered on Wednesday night from the building that collapsed in Makongeni estate in Nairobi, raising the death toll to four, Kenya Red Cross has reported. The residential building whose sixth floor was still under construction had allegedly not been cleared for occupation by the Nairobi City County and its owner has been missing since it collapsed. A search and rescue and rescue operation is ongoing for the unknown number of people still trapped under the rubble, Kenya Red Cross also reported. (Photo by Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)

A man takes a selfie in front of a fire from oil that has been set ablaze in the Qayyarah area, some 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Mosul, on October 19, 2016, during an operation by Iraqi forces against Islamic State (IS) group jihadists to retake the main hub city. In the biggest Iraqi military operation in years, forces have retaken dozens of villages, mostly south and east of Mosul, and are planning multiple assaults for October 20. (Photo by Yasin Akgul/AFP Photo)

A boat is stranded on Poyang Lake in Lushan City, China during low-water season on November 3, 2016. (Photo by Xinhua/Barcroft Images)

Kendall Jenner seen at Universal, NBC, Focus Features, E! Entertainment Golden Globes After Party Sponsored by Chrysler on Sunday, January 8, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Focus Features/AP Images)