By Lisandra Paraguassu and Manuela Andreoni RIO DE JANEIRO -Leaders of the growing BRICS group of developing nations met in Brazil on Sunday, calling for reform of traditional Western institutions while presenting the bloc as a defender of multilateral diplomacy in an increasingly fractured world.

Brazil plays host to a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies Sunday and Monday during which pressing topics like Israel’s attack on Iran, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and trade tariffs imposed by U.