With the Russian and Chinese leaders absent, the president hopes to get others to align with him on a variety of matters, including Ukraine and curbing Beijing’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.
For New Delhi, monkeys are a minor problem compared with poverty and pollution, but the government doesn’t want them stealing the spotlight when world leaders arrive.
Xi Jinping has never missed the annual Group of 20 gathering since taking power in 2012. Beijing would not explain his apparent decision to forgo the event.
More than 20 people died over the weekend amid unusually heavy downpours that have pummeled the northern part of the country and caused widespread damage.