A look at the headlines today:
1. Dutch king, queen to arrive in India today for state visit
Netherlands King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will arrive in India today for a five-day visit during which they will hold meetings with the top Indian leadership to boost bilateral economic and political cooperation. King Willem-Alexander's trip would be his first state visit to India, following his ascension to the throne in 2013. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Mxima will arrive here on Sunday night for the visit at the invitation of President Ram Nath Kovind, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. The King and Queen will visit New Delhi, Mumbai, and Kerala during their visit. On Monday, the Dutch royals will meet President Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will call on them.
2. Rahul hits campaign trail in Maharashtra, with rally in Dharavi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will campaign for the party in poll-bound Maharashtra and Haryana from today. Gandhi is slated to address poll rallies for the October 21 assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana. He will address the first of these three poll rallies in Maharashtra on Sunday. This is the first time the Gandhi will campaign for the Congress in assembly elections after the party suffered a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha election. The former Congress president has faced flak for going abroad ahead of the assembly polls. He will campaign in favour of Basavaraj Madhavrao Patil in Ausa in Latur district, Naseem Khan in Chandivali in Mumbai suburban and in favour of Varsha Gaikwad in Dharavi, Mumbai. Gandhi will campaign for the party candidates in Haryana on October 14, where he will address a few poll rallies and then again go to Maharashtra for election campaign.
3. Pope Francis to declare Indian nun a saint
Pope Francis will declare Indian nun Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan a saint, today at the Vatican City. Mariam Thresia, the foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family (CHF), will be raised to the glory of the altar during a solemn Eucharistic Celebration in Rome's St Peter's Square today, Vatican News said. The nun from Kerala will be canonised along with English Cardinal John Henry Newman, Swiss laywoman Marguerite Bays, Brazilian Sister Dulce Lopes and Italian Sister Giuseppina Vannini. Mariam Thresia was called during the first half of her life simply Thresia, the name given to her at baptism on May 3, 1876. Since 1904, she wanted to be called Mariam Thresia as she believed that she was asked to add "Mariam" to her name by the Blessed Virgin Mary in a vision. Sister Thresia died on June 8, 1926 at the age of 50 and was declared Blessed by Pope Saint John Paul II on April 9, 2000.
4. President Kovind set to meet PM Modi's mother
President Ram Nath Kovind is on a two-day visit to Gujarat during which he is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nonagenarian mother Heeraben at her Gandhinagar residence today. Kovind will, today morning, go to Raisan village near Gandhinagar to meet Heeraben, who lives with PM Modi's younger brother Pankaj Modi, an official said. Kovind will then head to Koba village near Raisan to seek blessings of Acharya Shri Padmasagarsuriji of 'Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra, Koba', according to the official.
5. Chinese President Xi visits Nepal after informal summit with PM Modi
Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with his Nepalese counterpart Bidya Devi Bhandari on Saturday as he began his two-day state visit, becoming the first head of the Communist nation to visit Nepal in 23 years during which the two countries are expected to sign a number of agreements, including an extradition treaty. Xi, who arrived here after a two-day informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was received by President Bhandari and Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli at the Kathmandu International Airport and was offered a ceremonial guard of honour by the Nepal Army. Xi held talks with Bhandari at the Nepalese president's official residence Shital Niwas. They discussed matters relating to the friendly relations between the two countries, mutual interests and various other issues of concern, according a statement issued by the president's office.
6. Lakshya enters final of Dutch Open; Medvedev-Zverev clash in Shanghai Masters; debutant Manju Rani the lone Indian wrestler to enter world finals
Dutch Open: Rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen stormed into the men's singles final with a straight-game win over Felix Burestedt of Sweden at the Dutch Open Super 100 tournament on Saturday. The 18-year-old Indian, who had clinched the Belgian Open last month, beat Felix 21-12 21-9 in a lop-sided semifinal contest that lasted 33 minutes. Lakshya had earlier sailed into the men's singles semifinals with a 21-9 21-16 win over compatriot B M Rahul Bharadwaj on Friday night. Lakshya, who had won the Asian Junior champion, a silver at Youth Olympic Games and a bronze medal at World Junior Championships last year, will now take on Yusuke Onodera of Japan in the summit clash on Sunday. In the semifinal, it was neck-and-neck between Lakshya and Felix till the first six points before the Indian pocketed five straight points to surge ahead 11-6. Felix clawed his way back to reduce the margin to 10-12 before Lakshya upped his game to pocket the first game.
Shanghai Masters: Dominant Daniil Medvedev reached a staggering sixth final in a row but will need to beat Alexander Zverev for the first time to win the Shanghai Masters on Sunday. The US Open finalist defeated fellow rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 7-6 (7/5), 7-5. In the other semi-final on Saturday, Germany's Zverev eased past Matteo Berrettini of Italy 6-3, 6-4 in a showdown between two more budding talents. With Roger Federer and world number one Novak Djokovic ousted in the quarter-finals on Friday, the next generation of men's tennis stars has made its mark in China. The 23-year-old Russian Medvedev embellished his fast-growing reputation with a fifth victory in as many matches against Tsitsipas, 21. In contrast, he is yet to overcome the 22-year-old Zverev in four attempts.
Mary Kom: Six-time champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) on Saturday settled for a bronze medal in the World Women's Boxing Championships after losing to Turkey's Busenaz Cakiroglu in an intense semifinal bout. Debutant Manju Rani (48kg) was the lone Indian to enter the final. Mary Kom, seeded third, lost 1-4 to second seed Cakiroglu, who is the reigning European Championships and European Games gold-medallist. But, she asserted that she was "proud" of her world championship campaign and it strengthened her belief of winning a second Olympic medal, come next year.
