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A massive meltdown at Amazon Internet Services takes down huge parts of the Internet.
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Sarah Rogers.
We're also in China, where is economic futures being decided?
And in India, how the surge in gold prices is being felt by those celebrating Diwali.
But first, how many times a day do you hear at least one of these sounds?
Yes, app notifications there, including Slack and Ring.
But maybe today Alexa gave you the silent treatment or you couldn't pay a bill online.
It's all because of a major outage at Amazon Web Services.
BBC technology reporter Shona McCallum can explain.
Popular websites, including Snapchat, gaming platforms Roblox and Fortnite, and a number of banking apps, have all been down.
Also affected are Amazon services including Alexa, Ring and Amazon Prime Video.
The issue appears to be with Amazon Web Services.
It offers companies a virtual backbone, giving them access to servers, databases and storage without them having to build their own infrastructure.
Well, AWS says it's fixed the issue, which had to do with some servers in the US, but businesses relying on it say they've already lost money.
Mario Sanchev, director of Archer's Pest Control in London, says it's cost him up to $4,000.
We had the massive outrage of our software, which have caused a major disruption in how we do our businesses.
At the same time we also lost profit one to three thousand pounds and lost opportunities, because we continue to advertise and people were calling us.
Well, I have Rachel Winter with me today, who is partner and investment manager at Killick & Co.
Rachel, now, it's a subsidiary of Amazon, isn't it, that people might not be familiar with.
How big is it?
It's really big.
So often we think of Amazon as an online retailer, but actually most of its profit comes from Amazon Web Services, which is the cloud computing division.
Over 50% of Amazon's profit comes from this subsidiary.
It does go to show though, as well, doesn't it?
Just how much of our lives are online, and it's just a small number of platforms that hold quite a lot of power.
Exactly.
So people do become quite worried about the reliance on the so-called big tech companies in the US, and Amazon is certainly one of those.
So, as we heard in the clip just there, a number of big other companies went down today because they are reliant on Amazon's web services.
And what about the financial impact?
We heard from one smaller business, but even just for a few hours, will there be an impact?
There certainly will be some.
But interestingly, the share prices of Amazon and also a number of the big companies that were impacted, such as Zoom Snapchat, Lloyds Bank all of those share prices are up this afternoon.
So at the moment, it doesn't appear that investors are concerned about a lasting financial impact.
OK, Rachel, thank you very much.
Stay there.
We'll come back to you.
But now we're going to head to China, where leaders are gathering to decide on the country's economic goals for the rest of the decade.
The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is convening for what's known as a plenum to form China's next five-year plan.
It comes as figures reveal that growth has slowed, though.
Han Lin is the China country director at the Asia Group, based in Shanghai.
I think the overarching theme is that China wants to secure high quality development through technological self-reliance.
So you're going to hear a couple of terms bantered around.
Number one is new productive forces, which is a bit of a buzzword to focus on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotech and other frontier technologies.
You're going to also hear mention about trying to manage the debt crisis, specifically stabilizing the property market.
And I think you'll also hear more about the common prosperity idea, which is to try to boost household incomes through job creation in high-tech sectors.
And that self-reliance.
There is that key in terms of what's been happening with trade wars with the US.
?
I think very much so.
The idea of self-reliance is very much dependent on what's been happening in the external environment, such as US-China relations, but it also looks at not only the US but Europe, the rest of the global south and other markets.
But there is figures out today showing a slowing growth in the economy, people not spending money.
Today, the third quarter GDP number came out at 4.8%.
It is less than the second quarter's 52, but it might be enough for China to hit its roughly 5 growth target for this year.
The challenge is this.
There may be GDP growth numerically, but it doesn't quite feel like it because there's still very weak domestic demand and a property sector that's still acting as a drag.
But Beijing at this point in time, they don't think the economy is in a crisis.
So therefore, we don't expect a lot of stimulus, at least towards the year end.
Hanlin from the Asia Group.
Now in France, Gucci owner Kering is selling its beauty division to L'Oreal.
Rachel Winter, partner and investment manager at Killik & Co is back.
It's been struggling, hasn't it?
It has.
So Kering shares are down about 40% in five years.
That just shows you how much the business has been struggling.
But they do have a new manager who is looking to shake things up.
And they have decided to sell the beauty business to L'Oreal for about $4 billion.
That news has been well received by the market.
So Kering shares are up about 4% today.
And shares in L'Oreal are up as well.
Thank you very much, Rachel Winter.
Yes, it's all about getting back to the fashion, isn't it?
The new president of Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz, has said he will end fuel shortages and address the country's economic problems.
In his victory speech, Paz said he would open up Bolivia to a wider international market.
And we end in India, where the Hindu festival of Diwali has begun.
Gold is often bought for luck.
But with prices hitting $4,300 an ounce, is that still the case?
The BBC's Davina Gupta has been to one of the world's biggest gold markets in Delhi to find out.
I'm at a jewellery store.
There are shelves with intricate pieces and it's packed with customers.
Because it's a festive season and traditionally families buy gold for weddings and for good luck at this time.
But the price jump globally for gold is hard to miss.
So are customers ready to pay more or cutting back?
We've come up for a shopping for the wedding of our daughter, you know.
We have to think of the price ultimately, you know.
But we have no option.
So some things have to be compromised.
I bought a ring for my wife.
My budget this time was low.
This time I purchased for platinum, which is comparatively cheaper.
I'm holding a gold necklace.
This would have cost around $5,000 last year, but now it's 50% more expensive.
And that's why big jewelry brands are now finding creative ways to draw customers in.
The idea is to unlock the access for consumers.
Shalini Gupta is the regional head of Tanishq, a jewellery brand owned by the Tata Group in Delhi.
So we are doing a gold exchange.
And the amount of sale that is coming on the back of gold exchange has also gone up.
But some shoppers are switching to alternatives like silver.
So this is the coin that we're doing for the baby boy.
A neat jeweler Shobhit Verma in Delhi who's rolling out new gifting options like silver coins.
Silver will be a part of every jewellery store now.
Earlier it wasn't like that.
Away from the showrooms, there are also investors who are betting big on digital gold through exchange-traded funds or ETFs.
According to the World Gold Council, gold ETFs in India saw their biggest ever investments in September.
These are essentially stocks backed by physical gold.
One of them is Akshay Khatri in Delhi.
You can invest at the push of a button, you can redeem at the push of a button.
But India imports billions of dollars worth of gold every year.
And experts warn, because of gold prices going up, this could widen the trade deficit and push up inflation, potentially dimming the shine on the world's fastest growing major economy.
That was the BBC's Davina Gupta in Delhi.
And that's it from World Business Express with me, Sarah Rogers.
Do subscribe to us though, just search for World Business Express and thank you for your company.
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