It's been over 15 years since 9/11, and though the attacks' perpetrator-in-chief has long been brought to task, nothing can truly compensate for all the strife, war, death and destruction that his actions sparked, that continue to this day in various forms including the morale-sapping terrorist ideology of suicide bombing. Also, elections draw ever-closer in India, Car Wars hot up, and the Spanish Talgo train makes a quick case!

Mariyappan Thangavelu and Varun Bhati have managed to win the Gold and Bronze medals respectively in the High Jump at the Paralympics at Rio, and hopefully they'll now get the same adoration and prize monies as India's other Olympic medalists! Also, this kicks off a super weekend of sports, including the Manchester derby, Vuelta a España, and the US Open! Before all that though, there's a whole lot of Business news to report...

The debate over whether the iPhone 7 is a gorgeous industry-defining piece of 'insanely great' hardware or whether it's a minor increment that Steve Jobs would have never approved can run for months, but what's truly disconcerting is that everything Apple was going to do was already known weeks beforehand, and that India as a country doesn't make any of Apple's lists. Also, some feisty tennis in New York, Surge pricing in the Railways, and even more Oil :/

It's over 9 years now since Apple's introduction of the iPhone heralded the Age of Smartphones, but even as we await the reveal of it's latest iteration and squabble over the virtues of the audio-jack, the real question is whether the geniuses at Cupertino have indeed eschewed the revolutionary and evolutionary, and instead chosen an incremental approach! Also, India wins in Kashmir by losing face, Sri Lanka wins in general while losing at Cricket, and everyone loses as the Paralympic Games don't manage to find a broadcaster...

There are many things to celebrate today, including Teachers' day and Ganesh Chathurthi, but then it's also the 19th death anniversary of (now) St. Teresa, and as we found out, even she was not without her critics. Also, the RBI says bye to Raghuram Rajan, Modi gives a warning to black-money holders, and Apple and Sony get ready to blow our minds!

It's hard to not see Mukesh Ambani's Jobs-esque unveil of Reliance Jio as a momentous occasion for India as a country, because not only do we now finally have a type of infrastructure that can truly be the envy of the world, but also, the self-assured completeness of Jio's vast offering, as well as it's sheer scope, may go a long way towards bringing good-old, organic 'Achhe din'!

India's June-quarter GDP growth of just 7.1% merited some sort of reaction from the opposition parties, especially since economic non-performance is utterly unacceptable under the Modi administration, but the Congress and AAP just can't get over their own endemic problems for long enough to make a case! Also, Mamata wins and Ratan Tata loses (again), the Cement cartel gets pulled up, the Cocaine cartel gets it's logistics wrong, and Lenovo re-invents the Book!

Things are getting hot and heavy very quickly between India and the US, and just like most neighbours who hear strange sounds from across the wall, Pakistan and China are also perhaps a little bit lost for words! Plus, Europe tries to get Apple to pay Ireland a lot of money that it doesn't want, Ranbir doesn't know what he wants, and stuff get strange for Archie and friends!

The events of the last 2 months may end up having far-reaching effects on the dynamics between India, Kashmir and Pakistan, and as things stand, Rajnath Singh may have to eat some pretty humble pie if he wants to safeguard the societal integrity of that part of the country. Also, Rahul Gandhi goes on a walkathon, the RSS decides to stop showing-off it's ankles, and Ranbir and Aishwariya snog! 

Sports has played a starring role this weekend, as between Football, Cricket, Formula 1, MSG, BMW and the Prime Minister, it's probably fair to say that the Olympics aren't being missed much! Also, a potentially debilitating day for Mumbai-kars, another big new IT park for Gurgaon, and a 145-year old man?!