(Reuters) - Major emerging powers stood ready on Friday to pledge money to bolster the International Monetary Fund's crisis-fighting war chest, though Brazil was holding out for promises that their voting power at the global lender would increase.

Russia said that G20 advanced and emerging countries were ready at a meeting on Friday to commit enough new funds to fulfill IMF chief Christine Lagarde's request for at least $400 billion to draw a line under the euro-zone crisis. Russia itself, he said, would offer $10 billion.

REUTERS - Serbian President Boris Tadic said on Wednesday he was resigning 10 months before the end of his mandate, clearing the way for joint parliamentary and presidential elections in May when he will seek a new five-year term.

Analysts say Tadic’s Democratic Party is banking on the president’s personal popularity to boost the party’s vote in the parliamentary election already set for May 6.

From VOA News

Vladimir Putin has claimed victory in Russia’s presidential election, putting him on track to rule Russia through 2018.

With only one third of the votes counted in Russia's Presidential election, Vladimir Putin bounded up the steps of a stage in front of the Kremlin and faced a sea of Russian flags and a massive crowd estimated by police at 110,000 people. "We won," he said.