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The head of the International Energy Agency has warned that Russia may stop supplying gas to Europe this winter, BBC reported.

Fatih Birol says he believes a complete shutdown is not the most likely scenario but that Europe needs to work on contingency plans just in case.

In recent weeks, several European countries said they received significantly less Russian gas than they expected. 

Russian officials deny it's deliberate and have blamed technical issues. 

Before the invasion of Ukraine, Europe imported about 40% of its natural gas from Russia but that figure has now fallen to about 20%.

'Strategic' reductions

Mr Birol says he believes that recent Russian reductions in gas supply are "strategic". The falls are making it harder for European countries to fill up their gas storage and increasing Russia's leverage this winter. 

"I wouldn't rule out Russia continuing to find different issues here and there, and continuing to find excuses to further reduce gas deliveries to Europe and maybe even cut it off completely," Mr Birol told BBC News. 

Last week the flow of natural gas through Nord Stream 1, one of the main pipelines from Russia to Europe, was just 40% of capacity. Many experts are sceptical of the Russian explanation that this was caused by "technical issues". 

Across Europe, shortfalls in gas supply continue to be reported. On Friday the Italian firm energy firm Eni said that it had only received half of the gas that it was expecting from the Russian state-controlled gas giant Gazprom, while Slovakia and Austria have also reported falls. 

France says it has received no Russian gas from Germany since 15 June while Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands have had their Russian gas deliveries suspended after they refused a demand to pay in Russian roubles, according to BBC.

Last month European countries agreed to try to protect themselves from the volatility of gas prices by filling up their storage facilities. They jointly committed to reaching at least 80% capacity by November, with the latest data suggesting they are at about 55%.

Mr Birol said the ongoing gas crisis now justified emergency short-term measures to reduce demand, such as increasing the use of coal-fired power stations, and if possible prolonging the life of nuclear power plants. If there was a complete shutdown of Russian gas supply, he says drastic measures may be needed. 

"I don't exclude the possibility that Europe will need a planned and orderly rationing of gas," Mr Birol says. 

"I don't say this is the base scenario, but looking at the last several months, if not several years, the experiences we have had with Russia as an energy partner, this is a scenario we cannot afford to exclude for the time being."

Ukraine is set to be approved as an EU candidate at a Brussels summit on Thursday, after the European Commission gave the green light, BBC reported.

Ukraine applied days after the Russian invasion in February, and the process has since moved at a record speed.

Its ambassador to the EU told the BBC it would be a psychological boost for Ukrainians. 

But Vsevolod Chentsov admitted "real integration" could only start when the war was over. 

Candidate status is the first official step towards EU membership and France said this week there was "total consensus" on Ukraine. But it can take many years to join and there's no guarantee of success, according to BBC.

The Western Balkan countries of Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia have been candidate countries for years; in some cases for over a decade. Bosnia and Herzegovina applied for candidacy in 2016 but has still not succeeded. 

EU leaders also meet their Western Balkan counterparts on Thursday morning, ahead of the main summit, to "build on the existing close ties", but discussions are expected to be difficult. 

Some members states are pushing for Bosnia to be given candidate status, although that is not expected to happen. However, there are hopes North Macedonia and Albania may make progress, BBC reported.

The leaders of the Brics group of nations are meeting this year amid major shifts in the geopolitical order, BBC reported.

The group, which owes its name to the initials of its five member states - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - is holding its annual summit on Thursday, but without much fanfare or huge expectations.

Talks will also be held in a virtual format, for the third consecutive year. The last two were held during the Covid pandemic, but it's not clear why the leaders chose to skip face-to-face meetings this year.

It's in stark contrast to the Quad - which groups India with Australia, Japan and the US - whose leaders met in person in Japan last month amid the global media glare.

Some analysts say that this is also partly due to the fact that the Brics hasn't really lived up to expectations over the years. When it was formed in 2009, the group was expected to reshape the global economy and create a new financial order to help the developing world.

Its success can be described at best as moderate, but its importance can't be overstated. Brics nations have a combined population of 3.23 billion and their combined GDP is more than $23tn.

"The Brics may seem irrelevant because it hasn't really moved the needle forward on its long-standing efforts to usher in viable global economic alternatives to the US-led existing system," says Michael Kugelman, deputy director at the Wilson Center think-tank in Washington, according to BBC.

But he adds that writing the Brics off will be a mistake because of its collective economic might, "even though it often tends to punch below its weight".

The economy has always been at the heart of the Brics but the Ukraine war is likely to loom large over the summit on Thursday. 

The nations may not overtly mention the war, but it will definitely be discussed when Indian PM Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro talk to each other.

Pratyush Rao, director for South Asia at the Control Risks consultancy, says Ukraine, without a doubt, will be the elephant in the room.

"A lot of people will be keeping an eye on the summit, especially on the dynamics between Russia and China over Ukraine," he says.

While China has been more open about its support for Russia, India, South Africa and Brazil have tried to walk the diplomatic tightrope over the war. They haven't openly criticised Russia but have advocated talks to end the war, BBC reported.

But a lot has changed since the war started. The economic impact of the war and the West-led sanctions is showing across the world - inflation is up in many countries, global supply chains have been disrupted and there are fears of food shortages.

Russian commentators have been talking about the importance of the Brics nations in blunting the impact of the sanctions. 

Mr Rao says some pushback against Western sanctions can be expected at the summit, and that will be comforting for Russia.

"But it should not be interpreted as an endorsement of Russia's actions," he adds.

The CPN (Unified Socialist) piled pressure on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to reshuffle the ministers as per the decision of the party immediately.

A Secretariat meeting of the party held on Wednesday decided to mount pressure on the Prime Minister to implement the decision to reshuffle the ministers promptly, party senior leader Jhalanath Khanal said.

The party had decided to recall ministers Ram Kumari Jhankri, Birodh Khatiwada, Prem Ale and Krishna Kumar Shrestha and send Jeevan Ram Shrestha, Metmani Chaudhary, Sher Bahadur Kunwar and Hira KC to the Cabinet.

Similarly, the party had decided to make State Minister for Health Bhawani Khapung as the Health Minister.