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High-voltage power lines and an electricity pylon are pictured at dusk outside Madrid, Spain, on Sep 29, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Susana Vera) - 

Spain plans to introduce "additional measures" to a newly approved Bill, opposed by some firms and investors, which reclaims some power company profits in a bid to protect consumers from sky-high energy prices, Prime Minster Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday (Oct 14).

"We will achieve (reasonable prices) with the measures we've taken and others we could yet take," Sanchez said, adding utilities which do not derive extraordinary profits linked to gas prices will be spared from the decree ratified on Thursday.

The idea of a centralised buying process in which European countries negotiate and acquire gas reserves jointly is gaining ground in Brussels, Sanchez said in a TV interview, noting that the process was "unfortunately still slow."

Sanchez's comments regarding possible additional measures to be adopted in the future echoed those of his Energy and Environment Minister Teresa Ribera earlier on Thursday.

Companies including wind energy leader Iberdrola have complained to the European Union about the decree, part of Spain's response to a global spike in power prices caused in part by high demand from economies recovering from COVID-19, and low gas stocks.

"Gas supplies from Algeria are guaranteed - although we do have a geopolitical conflict," Sanchez said. "It would be more guaranteed if we had a strategic European reserve."

The claw-back bill originally envisaged skimming some 2.6 billion euros off the companies' earnings, but the cost is now likely to be higher because it is linked to gas prices that have climbed even further since it was introduced.

Ribera told lawmakers she hoped to come up with "additional measures" in the coming weeks, adding on Twitter that these would give "reasonable prices to industry and more protection to vulnerable consumers".

She gave no further details on what the additional measures could be but shares in the most-affected companies nonetheless recovered some of the ground they had lost since the decree was unveiled.

Iberdrola shares traded up more than 2 per cent, having previously shed 7.5 per cent of their market value since mid-September. Enel unit Endesa, which unlike Iberdrola operates only in Spain, climbed more than 3per cent, having previously lost more than 10 per cent.

"It is a positive message to give regulatory security and speed up the energy transition, but my question is whether the approved regulation could bring about precisely the opposite," said Fernando Garcia, director of European utilities equity research at RBC Capital Markets.

After a heated debate, Congress ratified the decree with 182 votes in favour and 150 against, although the regulation was technically already in vigour//CNA

General view of Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, on Oct 8, 2019. (Photo: REUTERS/Stephane Mahe) - 

The capital of Canada's Arctic territory has ordered its 7,000 residents not to drink the city's water due to suspected fuel contamination.

Iqaluit, the capital of Canada's northernmost territory Nunavut, which borders Greenland, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday night, telling residents to stop using city water for drinking and cooking.

Residents reported fuel odours in the water over the weekend, but the source was not clear. The water would not be safe even after boiling, the city said.

Investigators found potential hydrocarbon contamination at a water treatment plant. Analysis of samples sent out of the territory were due back in five business days.

Some people in Iqaluit normally receive piped water and others get truck delivery. During the water emergency, the city is sending treated water by truck, but that water should still be boiled for at least one minute, the city said. Other residents could get water in jugs at a pickup point in Iqaluit.

Although Canada has 20 per cent of the world's fresh water within its borders, 45 indigenous communities across the country currently have boil-water advisories. Nunavut's population is 86 per cent indigenous.

Canada's indigenous people experience the country's highest rates of poverty, with 25 per cent estimated to be living in poverty, according to the Canadian Poverty Institute.

Water is a contentious issue for Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was first elected in 2015 with a promise to end all boil-water advisories within five years.

Groceries - including bottled water - are extremely expensive in Canada's North, due in part to high shipping costs.

Iqaluit has had two different boil-water advisories since August due to repairs to water infrastructure//CNA

French President Emmanuel Macron visited construction sites for the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Photo: AFP) - 

President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday (Oct 14) he hoped the 2024 Paris Olympics would give a huge boost to participation in sport in France.

"The aim is not simply to get medals, it will be to put sport at the heart of the nation," Macron said, as he visited Olympic building sites and existing sports facilities in northern Paris.

Macron said €200 million (US$232 million) of funding would be made available to create up to 5,000 new sports facilities for public use by the time of the Games.

Macron, who is widely expected to seek re-election next year, was criticised for comments he made after this year's Tokyo Olympics when he urged French competitors to win "many more" medals in 2024 than the 33 they won in Japan.

That haul, which included 10 gold medals, was nine medals fewer than France won at the 2016 Rio Games.

The president says France should aim to finish among the top five nations in the medals' table at the Paris Olympics - in Tokyo they were eighth in terms of gold medals but tenth when ranked by total medals won.

He said: "We took stock and went again. That is what every coach does every day with their team, it's what high-level sport is all about. I didn't see many athletes shaken by what I said."

Accompanied by now-retired French NBA star Tony Parker, Macron also visited the construction site for the Olympic Athletes' Village in Saint-Ouen in northern Paris and was expected to take part in a football match later in the day.

"I will try to make a good showing," said the 43-year-old president//CNA

FILE PHOTO: The logo for AstraZeneca is seen outside its North America headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., March 22, 2021. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski - 

Europe's drug watchdog said Thursday (Oct 14) it has started evaluating AstraZeneca's anti-Covid cocktail called Evusheld, which could eventually lead to the authorisation of its use in the EU.

The move comes after AstraZeneca this week said trials showed that the drug, made from a combination of two monoclonal antibodies, reduced severe Covid-19 symptoms and deaths.

The decision to start the rolling review "is based on preliminary results from clinical studies, which suggest that the medicine may help protect against the disease," the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said.

It can take several months between the start of a rolling review by the EMA and any eventual green light.

Monoclonal antibodies - which recognise a specific molecule of the target virus or bacteria - are synthetic versions of natural antibodies.

They are administered to people already infected, to make up for deficiencies in the immune system.

This is different from a vaccine, which stimulates the body to produce its own immune response.

AstraZeneca's separate Covid vaccine is one of the four jabs currently approved for the EU.

The company said on Monday that it had seen "positive results" from the new drug, also known as AZD7442, with a "statistically significant reduction in severe COVID-19 or death" in non-hospitalised patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms.

The trial involved 903 participants and 90 per cent of them were people at high risk of progression to severe COVID-19.

Evusheld is yet another tool in the arsenal to fight COVID-19, which has now killed at least 4.8 million people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019.

Swiss pharma giant Roche applied to the EMA on Monday to authorise its anti-COVID cocktail called Ronapreve, while the agency last week said it could soon start reviewing Merck's new COVID-19 pill//CNA