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Europe's hit wave is breaking records and disrupting business.
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Bissi Adebayo.
We'll ask what extreme weather means for the economy and why one of Asia's biggest tech companies is heading to Wall Street, despite a recent sell-off in technology stocks.
Tens of thousands of people have been left without power in northern France as a blistering heat wave continues to grip much of Western Europe.
The altitudes are being blamed on a transformer fault linked to the extreme temperatures.
It comes after France recorded its hottest day on record on Tuesday, and read weather alerts remain in place across parts of France Italy, Spain and Britain.
Well, those people in London, though, had mixed views about the soaring temperatures.
I find it quite unbearable and I think it is a sign of climate change and I just think that London is not a city that's meant to be hot.
The weather's really hot but ultimately it's not good for a lot of people.
There's lots of people living in homes which are overheating, they've got health problems.
I mean I think we wait all year for some sun so we should stop complaining, right?
And for some businesses, the heat wave is proving to be a boost.
Emery runs an ice cream business in Gloucester in the west of England.
A lot more people wanting to get ice creams.
I mean, going around almost every street, there's people coming.
So yeah, it's just been good for money and stuff like that for the business.
And elsewhere.
The heat is creating challenges from construction sites to transport networks and offices.
I've been speaking to the BBC's Paris correspondent, Hughes Coffield, about the impact of the weather in France.
Millions of people are having to go to work and are suffering as a result.
Getting to work is bad enough, but for many people, the workplace will be very, very tough as well in this heat.
Officers will generally have air conditioning, but factories outside workers, tourist places, all this kind of activity is really badly hit by what's happening.
Yeah, let's talk more about the air conditioning, because it's not very common practice in Europe to have air conditioners in buildings or in homes or in, you know, maybe offices do.
But I mean, it's just generally not very common practice.
So we've now seen a shift.
You're right.
Compared to America, compared to Asia, Japan, Europe is low on air conditioning.
And in Europe, France is low on air conditioning.
Spain and Italy, for example, hotter countries will have a far greater take up of air conditioning.
In France, the take up in homes is like something like 25 percent.
And that will be mainly in the south.
The reasons are one.
The country has not traditionally been the place where you need it.
But the other reason is that there is a kind of institutional bias against air conditioning, very much influenced by the environmentalist movement, which has been anti-air conditioning for the solid reason that putting in air conditioning is addressing the effects but not the cause of climate change.
And the government here has been against it too as a result.
So all its plans for new build renovation have all been built based on new technologies, insulation and so on, but really with the aim of actually sort of ruling out air conditioning as an option in the future.
But things happen so quickly that they're having to kind of jump that and even the environmentalist movement is saying look, air conditioning will have to be part of the solution, at least in the immediate term, because lives are at threat and air conditioning is going to have to be introduced in a kind of measured way.
What about the impact on tourism?
This is not good for tourism.
This is not good for the economy, because in weather like this, people are just too exhausted and they will stay in their air-conditioned hotels or restaurants.
Some museums do have air conditioning and are therefore places that people could take refuge in.
But, for example, the Louvre.
No, they are actually reducing opening hours because a lot of the Louvre is overheating now in the afternoon.
So there they're shutting early.
And you know the idea of going out to say Disneyland Paris out in the eastern suburbs, I mean a lot of people who might have been planning that will say no, it's just not something I want to do.
I think the overall sort of figures for this week, when they come out for the tourist industry, as for lots of parts of industry, will be that it's been a slowdown.
Beautiful field there.
Ross Mould, Investment Director at AJ Bell has been listening.
Ross, you heard Hugh describing the disruption there in France.
So when extreme weather becomes more frequent, what does that mean for economies and businesses?
Hello, Busy.
I think for some businesses, it's good news.
Ice cream sales, air conditioners fans, barbecues if you manufacture or retail them, I'm sure that's helpful.
But for other industries I'm sure it is a problem and I'm sure people's productivity will dip a little bit when they're feeling tired.
But it is a more balanced picture.
And just looking back to the UK in 1976, when we had six weeks of this weather, GDP growth was 38 year on year in that three-month period.
Maybe we were a little bit more excited by it then or a little bit different.
Or maybe now there are more frequent episodes of this, so we're just fed up of it.
We'll see how it all pans out in 2026.
And in tech, Ross SK Hynix is planning to raise around 29 billion through a Nasdaq listing of American depository receipts.
But, given the recent swings in its share price and the broader tech sell-off we've seen this week, is this a bold move or a risky one?
Yeah, I mean, the shares are still up nearly 300% in this year, nearly 800% in the past year.
Memory chip sales are still very strong.
They're going to be talking about two-year backlogs, strong pricing, good visibility and huge demand from data centres that power artificial intelligence.
So it'll be a really good test, particularly as it's a big offering straight after Alphabet, straight after SpaceX and maybe with Anthropic and OpenAI still to come.
Ross Mould of A.J.
Bell, always a pleasure.
Get in here gamers, because one of this year's most hotly anticipated video games, Grand Theft Auto VI, opens for pre-orders at midnight local time.
And now gamers know how much they'll have to pay for the next installment of the Rockstar Games franchise.
The standard release will be priced at $80, while a premium version will cost $100.
And the physical version of the game won't include a disc, but a code for the digital download instead.
Anelit said Grand Theft Auto VI could be the most expensive game ever made by the time it's finally released in November.
Now let's talk about Ukraine, because it says it has struck one of Russia's most important energy facilities.
A drone attack on Wednesday reportedly knocked out a major gas processing plant in the Orenburg region, near the border with Uzbekistan.
The facility, owned by Gazprom, plays a key role in Russia's liquefied natural gas industry.
Meanwhile, strikes on energy infrastructure in Russian-occupied Crimea have left parts of Sevastopol without power.
At the weekend, authorities suspended fuel sales to the public because of supply shortages.
The BBC's Nick Beek reports from Kyiv.
In recent days we've seen suggestions that there could be a ban on the export of diesel from Russia itself, and some Russian newspapers talking about them having to import fuel.
So really this would be a huge change if the Russians are having to recalibrate the whole way they deal with fuel.
Nick Beek reporting.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has ordered urgent inspections of 16 Airbus A380 planes after cracks were found in a key wing component.
The planes affected are operated by Emirates and Qantas.
Airbus says it will inspect all the jets involved.
Here's Mete Sikrika.
EASA ordered the inspections after cracks appeared in a structural beam that runs along the wing and helps distribute the aerodynamic load during flight.
They were identified during routine maintenance.
Fifteen of the affected planes are operated by Emirates and one by Qantas.
Five of the Emirates' planes must undergo inspections immediately before they're allowed to fly again.
While the rest will be inspected later.
Now, if your smart watch keeps telling you to stand up and move, it turns out it may just have a point.
And that's because a large study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that taking a five minute walk every hour can improve mood and reduce fatigue without affecting productivity.
Researchers surveyed more than 11000 workers in the United States and found that regular movement snacks helped people feel better while getting just as much work done.
So stepping away from your desk for a few minutes might not be slack enough.
After all, it could be exactly what the doctor would recommend.
I'll be taking my break.
Just right after this.
And that's it from World Business Express.
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I am busy at Dubai.
Bye for now.
Hi, this is Nick Miles from the Global News Podcast.
We bring you the latest on Ukrainian attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea, which have left the city without power.
We look at the power of Ukrainian drones to destabilise Putin's war effort.
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