As U.S. election jitters hung over this week's meeting of global finance chiefs in Washington, a smiling Vladimir Putin was in the Russian city of Kazan welcoming leaders of countries that, together, make up nearly half the world's population.
The BRICS club of emerging economies may be a long way from rivaling the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or challenging U.S. dollar dominance.
But the first summit, with its new batch of members, showed clear signs of its growing weight.
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