JOGGER UNDER NEW YORK SUN, 1999-07-30 (photo)

A jogger crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in New York July 30 is silhouetted against the early morning sun. The temperature in the city has topped 90 degrees (32 C) for 16 days in July and is expected to reach 94 (34 C) degrees today. Searing temperatures of around 100 degrees (38 C) combined with suffocating humidity baked much of the country and lifted the death toll from the summer's heat wave in the United States to more than 50 people, officials said on July 29. Forecasters predicted that this weekend will bring a break in the heat, which has buckled pavements, caused water and electricity shortages, parched crops and lawns, and killed thousands of livestock and fish. PM/JP