ahead this is bbc news. i m luxmy gopal and these are the latest headlines. mourners pay their respects to the last soviet leader, mikhail gorbachev who is now being buried in moscow. moscow blames maintenance problems for failing to resume the main pipeline that transports gas from russia to europe after a three day closure. it is going to be harder to fill up gas storage, it will raise the risk of energy shortages this winter and it sharpens the dilemma for european politicians as they plan for what will be a very difficult situation over the next few months. ready for lift off.again. nasa prepares to make a second attempt later to launch its most powerful rocket to the moon five days after technical problems
full storage will not last all winter at the normal rate of gas consumption. it s the flow that matters as well as the stockpiles. it will help in the first few months of winter but the danger is, as we get to the second half of the winter, and though stockpiles are being run down, especially if it is cold, with no gas or little gas coming from russia, it s going to be very hard for europe to meet all of its demands. the long term picture here is that europe will have learnt to do without russian gas. after the events of this year it will no longer want or be able to rely on russian gas supply. it will have to go elsewhere stop the problem is, how do you get through this winter, subsequent winters, while we make that adjustment in replacing gas supplies with supplies perhaps in the us and other thought sources of energy like wind power. what has happened here is that russia is looking for ways to maximise its leveraged in the short term while we still have that dependency. britain s ne