By Jan Strupczewski and Balazs Koranyi

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Euro zone inflation surged more than expected in October, data showed on Monday, fuelling expectations that the European Central Bank will press on with big interest rate hikes despite economic growth slowing.

Inflation in the 19 countries sharing the euro accelerated to 10.7% in October from 9.9% a month earlier according to Eurostat data, beating expectations in a Reuters poll for 10.2% and way higher than the ECB’s 2% inflation target.

Eurostat also estimated that the euro zone’s gross domestic product, while slowing sharply from the previous quarter, rose 0.2% quarter-on-quarter for a 2.1% year-on-year rise.

Some economists saw that continued growth as creating space for the central bank to keep taking strong inflation-fighting steps.

“Today’s data increase the likelihood that the ECB will raise its key interest rates again by 75 basis points in December,” Commerzbank said in a research note to clients.

The growth is important because many economists believe the ECB would not want to keep raising rates during an expected euro zone recession, heralded by the growth slow-down in the July-September compared with the 0.8% quarterly and 4.3% year-on-year growth in the April-June period.

Some did not exclude that idea, however.

“We continue to forecast a round of 50 bp rate hikes in December, followed by further 25 bp hikes at the subsequent meeting in February,” said Ken Wattret, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The ECB has raised rates a combined 200 basis points in the past three months and promised more hikes as soon as December.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have both expressed concerns that such tightening policies could intensify the region’s downturn.

After the October data, policymakers are likely to be concerned that underlying price growth, which filters out volatile food and fuel prices, continued to accelerate, pointing to broadening price pressures, which raises the risk that high inflation will get entrenched.

Indeed, inflation excluding unprocessed food and energy accelerated to 6.4% from 6.0%, while an even narrower measure that filters out alcohol and tobacco rose to 5.0% from 4.8%.

The surging inflation and slowing growth are mainly the result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent disruption of Russian gas deliveries to Europe. That has driven up energy prices and broader inflation, triggered rate rises and lead to a slowing of economic activity and falling confidence.

Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, bucked the wider growth trend in the third quarter with a slight acceleration of quarterly growth to 0.3% from 0.1% in the second quarter, though its economy still decelerated in year-on-year terms.

Belgium, Latvia and Austria all already recorded a quarterly fall in GDP in the July-September period.

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski and Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Mark John and Hugh Lawson)

By Valentina Za and Federico Maccioni

MILAN (Reuters) -UniCredit said it expected a 400 million euro ($396 million) contribution from European Central Bank’s longer-term funds this year under their new terms, while it no longer saw any potential benefits next year.

The ECB has moved to stop banks from booking a risk-free profit on these funds, known as Targeted Longer-term Refinancing Operations (TLTRO), as it keeps raising interest rates.

Last week it increased their cost in a bid to incentivise early repayments.

Italy’s second-biggest bank, which had reported third-quarter results a day before the ECB set the new TLTRO terms, detailed their impact on its net interest income.

By factoring in the 400 million euro full-year boost UniCredit said it now expected a net interest income of more than 9.7 billion euros in 2022. The bank’s guidance excludes its Russian business.

UniCredit last week had forecast a 2022 net interest income of more than 9.6 billion euros without taking into account the TLTRO effects. That improved the previous guidance of around 9.2 billion euros to reflect higher official rates.

Net interest income, or margin, measures how much a bank earns on loans net of deposit costs.

UniCredit has 106.8 billion euros in TLTRO funds and Mediobanca Securities analysts say it adopts the most conservative accounting methodology among euro zone banks for them, retroactively adjusting their contribution.

This accounting method led UniCredit to suffer a 313 million euro hit to its net interest margin in the third quarter.

For 2023, UniCredit stuck to a forecast of a net interest income of at least 10.1 billion euros, which excludes any TLTRO impact.

UniCredit had said that depending on the ECB’s decision on the TLTRO terms it could have reaped an additional benefit of up to 1 billion euros on net interest income in 2023, a possibility it no longer envisages.

“There is no positive effect of TLTRO to UniCredit’s financial results from 2023 onwards,” it said.

UniCredit kept its 2023 guidance for an annualised boost to net interest income of around 500 million euros for every percentage point of increase in the ECB’s deposit rate.

Shares in UniCredit rose more than 2.6% by 1450 GMT, outperforming a 1.4 rise in Italy’s banking index. ($1 = 1.0059 euros)

(Editing by David Goodman and Jane Merriman)

By Valerie Volcovici

(Reuters) – An international climate summit starting next week in Egypt will test the resolve of nations to combat global warming, even as many of the biggest players are distracted by urgent crises ranging from war in Europe to rampant consumer inflation.

More than 30,000 delegates, including representatives from some 200 countries, will gather Nov. 6-18 in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to hash out details around how to slow climate change and help those already feeling its impacts.

But with nations dealing with the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with soaring food and fuel prices and stuttering economic growth, questions loom over whether they will act quickly and ambitiously enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

The chill in relations this year between top greenhouse gas emitters China and the United States does not bode well, experts say.

A United Nations report released last week showed most countries are lagging on their existing commitments to cut carbon output, with global greenhouse gas emissions on track to rise 10.6% by 2030 compared with 2010 levels.

Scientists say emissions must drop 43% by that time to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit)above pre-industrial temperatures – the threshold above which climate change risks spinning out of control.

Only 24 of the nearly 200 countries attending the COP27 talks have submitted new or updated emissions-cutting plans since last year’s U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, even though all had committed to doing so, according to the U.N. climate agency.

A few countries, including Chile, Mexico and Turkey, are expected to release new plans during the Egypt conference, but it is unclear if any major developing economies like China and India will be among them.

“The chance for China to make another major move ahead of COP27 is low,” said Li Shuo, a China climate expert at environmental group Greenpeace, who is familiar with the government’s thinking.

Alden Meyer, international climate policy expert at E3G, said the fraying of diplomatic ties between Washington and Beijing over issues including Taiwan and the war in Ukraine were a headwind for global climate progress, noting past collaboration between the two had helped boost climate talks.

“Is it possible to make progress without the U.S. and China collaborating? Yes, it is, but it’s not easier,” he said.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has been urging U.S. and international oil and gas drillers to ramp up production to address tight global markets, lower consumer prices and offset supply disruptions linked to Russia’s war on Ukraine – showing how the energy crunch has changed the policy priorities of a president who had campaigned on a promise to quickly put an end to the fossil fuel era.

The U.S. delegation to the U.N. conference is likely to tout Biden’s legislative victories on climate change, including passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included billions of dollars in subsidies for wind and solar power and electric vehicles.

LOSS AND DAMAGE

The two-week U.N. negotiations in Egypt follow a year of wild weather disruptions around the world, as global warming takes a toll – from the devastating floods in Pakistan, South Africa and Nigeria, to heatwaves in the Arctic and across Europe and record-setting droughts in the American West and France.

The talks are likely to address how these and other nations affected by climate change could be compensated by rich countries believed to have caused it. Other topics will include how international financial institutions like the World Bank could be reformed to speed the transition away from fossil fuels.

The issue of mobilizing new funding to compensate for climate-driven destruction is a contentious one, with rich nations, including the United States and European Union members, having opposed past proposals for a “loss and damage” fund over concerns about their liabilities.

U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change John Kerry said last week the United States supports a serious dialogue on the topic at COP27, but said the issue was tricky given upcoming Congressional elections that could swing the legislative body toward Republican control.

He also pointed out that the United States is the biggest donor of global humanitarian aid and will focus on ramping up spending on climate adaptation.

That message rings hollow for some.

“I don’t want to hear political rhetoric about loss and damage. I don’t want to hear what countries are already doing in terms of disaster relief, because it’s not enough,” said Aminath Shauna, climate minister for the Maldives, a low-lying Indian Ocean island chain facing future inundation with sea-level rise.

The talks received a boost from Brazil’s election on Sunday of leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose team has decried deforestation while calling for an international summit on the fate of the Amazon.

The talks could also highlight natural gas, given its importance to the host continent. African nations with petroleum riches argue they have a right to develop their resources, especially as Europe is scrambling to find new suppliers to replace Russia.

“African nations are going to call out the hypocrisy of Europe securing gas deals in the name of energy security while telling African nations not to develop their resources for baseload energy,” said Lily Odarno, director of the Clean Air Task Force’s Africa climate program.

Egypt’s lead climate negotiator, Mohamed Nasr, has said the summit’s success would be measured by whether countries deliver a package of agreements that keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C alive, while ensuring poorer nations are treated fairly and receive the support that rich countries have promised.

“Climate change is not giving us any space to breathe,” Nasr said. “Science is telling us we are not on track on anything.” 

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Richard Valdmanis, Katy Daigle and Janet Lawrence)

By Liz Hampton

(Reuters) -Some of the largest U.S. oil producers on Friday signaled productivity and volume gains in the top U.S. shale oil field are slowing, citing disappointing well results and output that is no longer topping their forecasts.

U.S. shale oil producer Pioneer Natural Resources on Friday told investors it will reshuffle its drilling portfolio next year to target wells with potentially higher returns, a move to boost lagging productivity levels.

Chevron and Exxon Mobil also offered cautious notes on their Permian oil and gas volumes. Chevron’s full-year output will be near the lower end of the 700,000 to 750,000 barrels of oil and gas per day (boed) it has targeted while Exxon lowered its forecast to a gain of 20% from last year from its earlier estimate of 25%.

“Productivity came in a little less than we anticipated and we wanted to rectify that,” Pioneer President Richard Dealy said of the changes during an investor call on Friday.

The company’s third-quarter oil production fell about 9% from a year earlier to 354,000 barrels per day (bpd). Quarterly output was at the upper end of its forecast, which called for output between 345,000 bpd and 360,000 bpd.

Pioneer shares fell 2.4% to $259.45 shortly after midday while Chevron and Exxon shares rose after the companies disclosed sharply higher profits.

Permian oil output was 5.4 million bpd in October, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, shy of a prior forecast. Output is expected to grow by 50,000 bpd in November to 5.45 million bpd, the smallest monthly gain this year.

Pioneer said its revised drilling should deliver well productivity – the volume of oil per well – to exceed 2021 levels.

“We’re really just reshuffling the portfolio and bringing forward higher return wells and deferring some of the wells” that are not as productive, Dealy told analysts.

(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver; Editing by David Gregorio)

By Renju Jose and Lewis Jackson

SYDNEY (Reuters) -The United States is planning to deploy up to six nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to an air base in northern Australia, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday, amid heightened tensions with China.

Dedicated facilities for the bombers will be set up at the Royal Australian Air Force’s remote Tindal base, about 300 km (190 miles) south of Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory, said the source, who declined to be identified because they are not authorised to speak publicly on the issue.

The development was first reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corp’s Four Corners programme, citing U.S. documents.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia engages with the United States on defence alliances “from time to time”.

“There are visits, of course, to Australia, including in Darwin, that has U.S. Marines, of course, on a rotating basis stationed there,” Albanese said during a media conference.

Australia’s Northern Territory is already host to frequent military collaborations with the United States. Thousands of U.S. Marines rotate through the territory annually for training and joint exercises, started under President Barack Obama.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles’ office declined to comment.

When asked for a comment at a regular briefing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said defence and security cooperation between countries should not target third parties.

“The relevant practices of the U.S. side have increased tensions in the region, seriously undermined regional peace and stability, and may trigger an arms race in the region,” Zhao said.

“China urges the parties concerned to abandon the old Cold War zero-sum mentality and narrow geopolitical concepts, and do more to contribute to regional peace and stability and to enhance mutual trust.”

The United States has drawn up detailed plans for what it calls a “squadron operations facility” for use during the Northern Territory dry season, an adjoining maintenance centre and a parking area for the B-52s, the ABC report said.

The ability to deploy the long-range bombers to Australia sends a strong message to adversaries about Washington’s ability to project air power, the U.S. Air Force was quoted as saying in the report.

Last year, the United States, Britain and Australia created a security deal that will provide Australia with the technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines, riling China.

Putting B-52s, which have a combat range of about 14,000 km, in Australia will be a warning to Beijing, as fears grow about an assault on Taiwan, Becca Wasser, senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Centre for a New American Security, told the ABC.

This year, the U.S. deployed four B-52s to its Andersen Air Force base in Guam, a U.S. island territory in the Western Pacific.

(Reporting by Renju Jose and Lewis Jackson; Additional reporting by Martin Quin Pollard in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Gerry Doyle and Nick Macfie)

(Reuters) – Pandemic-related disruptions to global supply chains and the knock-on effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine have driven up prices of energy, commodities and basic necessities.

Below is a list of actions taken by governments to try to help hard-hit consumers and companies:

AMERICAS:

* The United States is tapping its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to boost oil supply and lower prices. The administration has also offered debt relief to former students, besides the $430 billion “Inflation Reduction Act”.

* Canada’s competition watchdog said it would examine whether more competition in the grocery sector could help lower consumer costs. In September, the government announced a C$4.5 billion ($3.29 billion) package.

* Brazil’s oil giant Petrobras will cut natural gas prices for distributors in the country from November. It has already cut fuel prices multiple times this year, and in July the government raised welfare payments.

* Argentina will from November raise the income tax threshold.

* Mexico reached a deal with foodmakers and retailers to waive some regulatory requirements to halt rising food prices. The president also said the size of a planned minimum wage hike in 2023 would depend on inflation.

* Chile in July announced a $1.2 billion aid plan.

EUROPE:

* European Union leaders backed proposals to launch an alternative price benchmark for liquefied natural gas and voluntary joint gas buying. The EU’s energy chief said the bloc could introduce a gas price cap this winter, but only if countries give Brussels a mandate to propose the measure.

* Germany’s expert gas commission presented proposals to the government for a gas price cap. The government has set out a 200-billion-euro ($197.86 billion) “defensive shield” and agreed to nationalise gas importer Uniper.

* Slovakia will cap energy prices for companies in the first quarter of next year.

* One million employees in Belgium are expected to receive an automatic pay raise of 11.59% on Jan. 1, an HR services provider said.

* Malta will maintain a price freeze on energy and fuel prices in 2023.

* Hungary could extend the scope of price caps on fuel and some basic food over coming weeks.

* France is fully nationalising nuclear energy group EDF. The government will cap household power and gas price increases at 15% next year, and help struggling small and mid-sized companies.

* Belarus banned consumer price rises from Oct. 6.

* Poland will cap electricity prices for small businesses, hospitals and households in 2023, and raise the minimum wage twice.

* Portugal’s regulator will limit electricity price rises to 2.8% next year for hundreds of thousands of households and small businesses.

* Ireland dipped into its surplus budget to fund an ease in energy costs.

* Denmark in September agreed on a 5.05 billion Danish crowns ($671.33 million) package.

* Britain is capping wholesale electricity and gas costs for businesses, and helping households.

* Norway provided loans and subsidies to businesses, and is supporting households with electricity bills.

* Italy in September approved a package worth some 14 billion euros.

* Spain cut VAT on gas from October, and introduced a package to help vulnerable households.

* Croatia has capped electricity prices until March.

* Finland and Sweden offered liquidity guarantees to power companies.

ASIA:

* Japan will spend $200 billion on a package including electricity and gasoline bill subsidies. It had already announced a record minimum wage hike and a $103 billion relief bill.

* India said it will sell wheat in the open market if “needed” to control prices. In September it restricted exports of rice to boost supply and calm local prices.

* The Philippines plans to start selling refined sugar to consumers at a fixed price.

* Thailand in September extended a diesel tax cut and energy subsidies and raised the minimum wage.

* Indonesia’s government on Sept.14 ordered regional heads to keep food inflation below 5%.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST:

* Tunisia’s government has signed a deal with a major labour union to raise public sector pay and the minimum wage.

* Botswana in July cut VAT by 2% for six months.

* Turkey in July raised its minimum wage by about 30%, adding to the 50% rise seen at the end of last year.

* Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in July raised social welfare spending.

($1 = 1.3662 Canadian dollars)

($1 = 1.0108 euros)

($1 = 7.5224 Danish crowns)

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; compiled by Olivier Sorgho; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Barbara Lewis)

By Ludwig Burger and Riham Alkousaa

(Reuters) – German healthcare group Fresenius has cut its 2022 guidance for the second time on persistent cost inflation and staff shortages with its new CEO pledging a review of all its diversified businesses.

The company’s shares gained 5.7% on Monday, bouncing back from a drop on Friday, on hopes that a new leadership team will right the ship.

In a statement on Sunday, the drugmaker and healthcare services company said its adjusted net income would likely fall 10% this year, excluding foreign exchange effects, having previously indicated a decline in a “single-digit percentage range” at worst.

Efforts to stem ballooning costs and ease a staff shortage at Fresenius Medical Care (FMC), a U.S. focused kidney dialysis provider, would take longer than expected, the company said.

But other businesses, in particular hospital project developer Vamed, were hit by cost inflation, staff shortages and supply chain disruptions, it added.

FMC now expects net income to decline in the high-teens to mid-20s percentage range this year, down from its previous outlook of a high-teens percentage drop.

The new chief executive at parent Fresenius, Michael Sen, who started this month, said he had embarked on a “top-to-bottom” review of all business activities, with a focus on profitability.

“This will not happen overnight, but we will move at a faster pace and more decisively than ever before,” said Sen.

His initial attention would be on cutting costs and activities that do not contribute to the group’s focus on return on capital would be stopped or divested, he said in an analyst call.

JPMorgan analysts said in a note this indicated “greater scope for strategic change” which is likely to be viewed positively.

Investors had braced for bad news as shares in FMC’s closest U.S. rival DaVita plunged 27% on Friday. It cut its 2022 guidance, predicting adjusted operating income of $1.375-$1.45 billion, a decline of as much as 23% from 2021.

FMC and Fresenius shares had fallen 8.9% and 3.2% on Friday, respectively.

Activist investor Elliott has taken a stake in Fresenius, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters this month, sparking speculation it might push for a break-up.

Elliott declined to comment.

Dialysis provider FMC is also under new leadership, with CEO Carla Kriwet pledging to improve performance and accountability.

“There is also a clear urgency to turnaround our operational performance with bold interventions,” she said.

The dialysis company was also hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with about 24,600 COVID-related deaths among its patients since the start of the pandemic.

($1 = 1.0037 euros)

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Riham Alkousaa, Editing by Angus MacSwan, Kirsten Donovan)

By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider whether colleges may continue to use race as a factor in student admissions in two cases that give its conservative majority a chance to ban policies often employed to boost Black and Hispanic enrollment and perhaps overturn its own precedents allowing such practices.

The justices, confronting another contentious issue in U.S. American society, are scheduled to hear arguments on Monday in appeals by a group backed by a conservative activist of lower court rulings upholding affirmative action admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

Many U.S. colleges and universities place a premium on achieving a diverse student population not simply to remedy racial inequity and exclusion in American life but to bring a range of perspectives onto campuses with the goal of a richer educational experience for everyone. Critics argue that these policies themselves amount to unlawful racial discrimination.

According to Harvard, around 40% of U.S. colleges and universities consider race in some fashion in admissions.

The Supreme Court has been upheld such policies, most recently in a 2016 ruling involving a white woman who sued after the University of Texas rejected her. The court has shifted rightward since then. Its 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices who dissented in that 2016 decision and three appointed by Republican former President Donald Trump.

The Harvard and UNC lawsuits were filed in 2014 by a group called Students for Fair Admissions founded by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, who also backed the University of Texas plaintiff. Blum said he is not taking a ruling against the schools for granted, adding, “Trying to foretell what the court is going to do is a fool’s errand.”

Ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could require the court to overturn its 2016 ruling and earlier decisions.

The court in 1978 ruled in a case called Regents of the University of California v. Bakke that race could be considered as one of several admissions factors including academic and extracurricular criteria but barred racial quotas. It reaffirmed that in a 2003 ruling in a case called Grutter v. Bollinger.

The court’s conservative bloc has shown a willingness to abandon precedent, as illustrated in the June decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide.

‘DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION’

The lawsuits accused UNC of discriminating against white and Asian American applicants and Harvard of discriminating against Asian American applicants.

“These challenges are a part of a broader attack on the importance and value that the Constitution and that American society place on diversity and inclusion in the core institutions of our society,” said Sarah Hinger, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed briefs in the cases supporting the schools.

Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration is backing the schools.

Students for Fair Admissions cited Harvard data showing that Asian American applicants were less likely to gain admission than white, Black or Hispanic applicants with similar qualifications. It said UNC’s admissions data showed “stark” racial disparities in acceptance rates among similarly qualified applicants, with Black and Hispanic students preferred over white and Asian American ones.

Blum’s group has argued that Harvard’s policies ran afoul of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bars racial discrimination under any program receiving federal financial assistance, and that UNC’s violated the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.

The lower courts disagreed. For instance, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Harvard’s use of race was “meaningful” and not “impermissibly extensive” because it prevented diversity from plummeting.

Chief Justice John Roberts is seen as the conservative justice least inclined to overturn precedent. But he dissented in the 2016 ruling alongside fellow conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Thomas, one of the court’s two Black justices, has been outspoken against racial preferences.

“The Constitution abhors classifications based on race, not only because those classifications can harm favored races or are based on illegitimate motives, but also because every time the government places citizens on racial registers and makes race relevant to the provision of burdens or benefits, it demeans us all,” Thomas wrote in a Grutter v. Bollinger ruling dissent.

Michaele Turnage Young, a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which has filed briefs supporting the schools, said the court could rule more narrowly than its 6-3 ideological split might suggest, particularly after the political backlash from the abortion ruling.

“The court might be wary of overturning another longstanding federal line of precedent,” she said.

David Bernstein, a professor at George Mason University’s law school who has filed a brief supporting Blum’s group, said he would be watching to see if the three liberal justices can find “some escape hatch or limit” to allow some form of racial preferences to remain.

Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s other Black member, has recused herself from the Harvard case but is set to participate in the UNC one. Jackson, the newest justice, attended Harvard and previously served on its Board of Overseers.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Will Dunham)

By Sumit Khanna

MORBI, India (Reuters) – Indian police arrested nine people on Monday, including ticketing clerks and contractors, as they investigate the collapse of a foot bridge in which at least 134 people, including many children, were killed.

CCTV footage from just before the collapse showed a group of young men taking photos while others tried to rock the suspension bridge in Morbi from side to side, before they tumbled into the river below as the cables gave way.

The colonial-era bridge over the Machchhu River was packed with sightseers enjoying holiday festivities when it ruptured on Sunday evening, sending people plunging about 10 metres (33 feet) into the water.

Ashwin Mehra, who was undergoing treatment after sustaining leg and back injuries, said he and six others had reached the shore by holding onto the bridge’s metal railings and netting.

“There were about 15-20 boys aged between 20-25 years who were shaking the bridge,” he told Reuters TV partner ANI. “…We heard some sounds three times, and the sixth time the cable (of the bridge) suddenly snapped.”

A senior police official said nine people had been arrested, including managerial staff, ticketing clerks and three security guards, for failing to regulate crowds before the bridge crumpled.

Two people awarded a contact to repair the structure, originally built in 1877, were among those arrested, Ashok Kumar Yadav said. He said there were likely to be more arrests.

Shock and grief at the tragedy was mixed with anger from some of the loved ones of those killed and members of the opposition in the western state of Gujarat, where elections are due by early next year.

“Not just extremely sad on bridge collapse in Morbi but also very angry. Because it was a tragedy in waiting,” Gurdeep Singh Sappal, a member of the Congress party, wrote on Twitter.

“For some time now, bridge collapse, roads caving-in, dams breaching are happening quite often.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hails from the state where the disaster occurred, is due to visit the small industrial town on Tuesday, a lawmaker said.

Local officials told Reuters that Oreva, a company which makes clocks and electrical items that was in charge of the bridge, had not informed the authorities that it would be reopened last week after repairs, adding that no certificate that it was fit for public use had been issued.

An Oreva spokesperson did not answer calls and text messages from Reuters.

The Indian Express newspaper quoted an Oreva spokesperson as saying: “While we are waiting for more information, prima facie, the bridge collapsed as too many people in the mid-section of the bridge were trying to sway it from one way to the other.”

Graphic: Gujarat bridge collapse https://graphics.reuters.com/INDIA-ACCIDENT/BRIDGE/gdvzqrnxypw/graphic.jpg

‘HOUR OF GRIEF’

Some 400 people had bought tickets to get onto the bridge to celebrate the Diwali and Chhath Puja festivals.

About 35 victims were under 14, according to a list of the deceased seen by Reuters. About 170 people had been rescued by the morning.

“People were hanging from the bridge after the accident, but they slipped and fell into the river when it collapsed,” said Raju, an witness who gave only one name. “I could not sleep the entire night as I had helped in the rescue operation. I brought a lot of children to the hospital.”

Narendrasinh Jadeja, whose friend lost seven members of his family, including four children, said: “I cannot express how angry and helpless I am feeling.”

Senior government official N.K. Muchhar said the death toll had gone up to 134. Another official said at the site that the river’s muddy waters were hampering rescue work and that there might be people trapped under the remains of the bridge.

Oreva, a Gujarat-based company, had been in charge of maintaining the bridge for 15 years, said Sandeepsinh Zala, the chief officer of Morbi municipality.

“They did not give us any information that they were reopening the bridge,” Zala said. “We have not issued any fitness certificate to them.”

Jayrajsinh Jadeja, a local lawmaker from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, blamed Oreva for selling tickets without restrictions and said overcrowding led to the bridge collapse.

The bridge was previously maintained by the local municipality, which limited the number of people on the bridge at one time to 20, he said.

Modi, the former chief minister of Gujarat, expressed his condolences to the victims’ families.

“In this hour of grief, the government is with the bereaved families in every manner,” he said at an event in Gujarat.

The bridge is 1.25 metres (4 feet) wide and spans 233 metres (255 yards) and connected the Darbargadh Palace heritage hotel and the town.

(Writing by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Kim Coghill, Gerry Doyle, Edmund Klamann and Alison Williams)