| Mid-August is traditionally the slowest news period of the year in France, with politicians, financiers, business executives and most readers on vacation. So writing about the weather may seem like an obvious move, particularly with a heat wave gripping much of Europe. And yet, Gravelines in France’s far north is not where somebody might look first for examples of the effects of rising temperatures. Summer heat waves regularly force Électricité de France to take some of its reactors offline or reduce their output, out of concern that their operations could elevate water temperatures to levels that threaten wildlife. My colleague Eamon Akil Farhat recently wrote up a study which found that weather-related nuclear outages — mainly caused by hotter cooling water — increased threefold across Europe from 2010 to 2019 compared with the two decades prior. This week, EDF warned of cuts to multiple reactors in southeastern and southwestern France. But the stoppage that grabbed my attention was the one in Gravelines, hard up against the English Channel, where a “massive and unforeseen” swarm of jellyfish clogged up filter drums and forced four reactors to be shut down. Jellyfish populations can “bloom” when water temperatures rise, which appears to be the case here.  Residents try to keep cool in a fountain in the Parc Andre Citroen during a heat wave in Paris on July 1, 2025. Photographer: Anita Pouchard Serra/Bloomberg It isn’t the first time rogue marine life has forced nuclear reactors offline— fish clogged up filters at another French site in 2021 and a reactor in Sweden was shut down in 2013 after a swarm of jellyfish blocked the cooling water inlet. But it is a reminder that with the intensity and length of heat waves expected to increase over the coming decades, there will be more surprising and disruptive impacts. A European rocket critical to Europe’s goal of reducing its reliance on Elon Musk’s SpaceX thundered off a launchpad and delivered a satellite into space. Arianespace declared its third-ever mission an “absolute success.” France’s economy is set to grow in the third quarter at a pace similar to the previous three months, driven by manufacturing and services, the country’s central bank said in its monthly business survey on Monday. MARA Holdings agreed to pay Électricité de France about $168 million in cash to acquire a majority stake in Exaion. The largest Bitcoin miner is looking to become an infrastructure provider for artificial intelligence. BNP Paribas is in advanced talks to acquire Mercedes-Benz Group’s leasing unit Athlon, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal could value the business at about €1 billion, one of the people said. Leaders from France, Germany and the United Kingdom threatened to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran if the Islamic State does not reach a nuclear deal by the end of August. Sunday: French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in Bormes-les-Mimosas to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the town’s liberation from the Nazis. Thursday: Preliminary PMI data for August Friday: Business and manufacturing confidence for August Luxury hotel spas are no longer the exclusive purview of adults, with some — including the Le Barthélemy hotel in St. Barths — now offering wellness experiences tailored to children.  Spagoers at the South Bank in Turks and Caicos Photographer: Anna Shackleford/South Bank | 
