Series: Star Wars Rebels

Director: Melchior Zwyer

Cast: Taylor Gray, Freddie Prinze Jr, Tiya Sircar, Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson and Sharmila Devar

Genre: Animated, Science-Fiction

Star Wars Rebels (SWR) returned after a three-week hiatus with Legacy of Mandalore, an episode which, as the title suggests, takes us back to arguably the most convoluted planetary system in the galaxy far, far away.

Sabine’s audacious (All of Mandalore has branded her a traitor, incase you had forgotten) attempt to sway house Wren to the Rebellion hits complications from the moment the she enters Mandalorian airspace.

With Fenn Rau, Ezra and Kanan providing auxiliary support , Sabine shines yet again with the spotlight firmly on her in the episode. Her taut verbal discussions with her stuck-up mother Ursa Wren are eye-opening as we get to know her true reasons behind House Wren’s allegiance to the Empire.

And once the detestable Gar Saxon making his return to SWR, one knows that any supposed deal is going to go south for sure, which mostly works for Legacy of Mandalore.

For the action is truly exhilarating as Mandalorians take on fellow Mandalorians, with the Jedi duo of Kanan and Ezra being sidelined in the final act, Sabine of course taking the cake and she goes toe-to-toe with Saxon. As the fight culminates on a stunning note with the Darksaber very prominent indeed (Perhaps not in the way you would have thought!.

The problem is that prior to the fight, almost everything is very predictable as we know Sabine’s mother is going to double cross and she in turn will be stabbed in the back by Saxon (figuratively).

A minor complaint as it is a fast-paced episode laced with plenty of action and largely delivers on expectations with some brilliant action-sequences and a massive reveal towards the end. 

It’s not until the fight is over and the dust has settled that Sabine makes a decision, one which is going to hamstring the Ghost crew and the Rebellion in the short term at least.

Ending on a very solid note indeed, Legacy of Mandalore doesn't finish in the manner as expected, as the Ghost crew return to base a little light in terms of personnel. 

Rahul Bose's upcoming biopic Poorna, which is based on the life of Poorna Malavath who scaled the Mount Everest at the age of 13, was screened specially for the Indian Cricket team.

Bose was keen to show his film to Indian Cricket captain Virat Kohli because he believed that Virat would identify with the core of the story.

"When I spoke to Virat, he suggested that I speak to Anil bhai (coach Anil Kumble) and ask him if all the boys could watch the film with him before their Test Match in Pune," Rahul said.

On Sunday,  Anil and Virat, along with Sanjay Bangar, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Karun Nair, K L Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, R Shridhar, Patrick Farhat, Anil Patel, Ravinder Jadeja and Jayant Yadav attended the special screening at a multiplex.

The real life Poorna, who couldn't make it to the screening, would be present at another preview show in Hyderabad ahead of the film's release.

Poorna is all set to hit theatres on March 31 and the trailer will be out on February 23.

Rahul Bose's upcoming biopic Poorna, which is based on the life of Poorna Malavath who scaled the Mount Everest at the age of 13, was screened specially for the Indian Cricket team.

Bose was keen to show his film to Indian Cricket captain Virat Kohli because he believed that Virat would identify with the core of the story.

"When I spoke to Virat, he suggested that I speak to Anil bhai (coach Anil Kumble) and ask him if all the boys could watch the film with him before their Test Match in Pune," Rahul said.

On Sunday,  Anil and Virat, along with Sanjay Bangar, R Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Karun Nair, K L Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, R Shridhar, Patrick Farhat, Anil Patel, Ravinder Jadeja and Jayant Yadav attended the special screening at a multiplex.

The real life Poorna, who couldn't make it to the screening, would be present at another preview show in Hyderabad ahead of the film's release.

Poorna is all set to hit theatres on March 31 and the trailer will be out on February 23.

A day after Pakistan listed Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) leader Hafiz Saeed under Anti-Terrorism Act, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Monday demanded ‘international effective action’ against the mastermind of Mumbai terror attacks.

“Effective action mandated internationally against Hafiz Saeed and his terror outfit is a logical first step in bringing them to justice,” the MEA said.

“Saeed is an international terrorist, responsible for unleashing a wave of terrorism against Pakistan's neighbours,” it added.

Pakistan’s Punjab government has included Saeed and one of his close aides, Qazi Kashif, in the fourth schedule of the Anti-terrorism Act (ATA) on Sunday.

Saeed and four other men of the JuD terror outfit, added to the fourth schedule of the ATA were placed under house arrest on January 30 in Lahore.

He was put under house arrest after his alleged role in Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 but was released by the court in 2009.

He is enlisted under the NIA most wanted list and India banned his organisation as terror outfit.

A day after Pakistan listed Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) leader Hafiz Saeed under Anti-Terrorism Act, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Monday demanded ‘international effective action’ against the mastermind of Mumbai terror attacks.

“Effective action mandated internationally against Hafiz Saeed and his terror outfit is a logical first step in bringing them to justice,” the MEA said.

“Saeed is an international terrorist, responsible for unleashing a wave of terrorism against Pakistan's neighbours,” it added.

Pakistan’s Punjab government has included Saeed and one of his close aides, Qazi Kashif, in the fourth schedule of the Anti-terrorism Act (ATA) on Sunday.

Saeed and four other men of the JuD terror outfit, added to the fourth schedule of the ATA were placed under house arrest on January 30 in Lahore.

He was put under house arrest after his alleged role in Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 but was released by the court in 2009.

He is enlisted under the NIA most wanted list and India banned his organisation as terror outfit.

Once a force to reckon within Manipur politics, the CPI and CPI(M) are fighting the assembly election to regain their lost ground in the state.

Manipur has a long history of Left movement, under the leadership of legendary Left leader like Hijam Irabot Singh commonly known as "jana neta Hijam" but this time the Left parties are fighting hard to make their presence felt in the state.

The ongoing insurgency and ethnic driven conflict seems to have taken a heavy toll on the communist parties of Manipur, which believe in the ideology of class struggle.

The CPI, CPI(M) along with other secular and like minded parties have formed a front called Left and Democratic Front (LDF).

It also has an electoral adjustment with National People's Party. Altogether they are fighting in 50 seats in the 60-member Manipur Assembly.

CPI, which is dominant among the Left forces, conceded that they are fighting to regain their lost ground and rebuild the once glorious Left movement in the state.

"Once we were quite a big force in the state. We had considerable number of seats and had played decisive role in state government formation. But those are things of past. We have to rebuild from the scratch. We are fighting to regain our lost ground in the state with the help of other secular and democratic forces," M Nara Singh, CPI state secretary and LDF convener said.

Nara's view was echoed by a senior state CPI(M) leader Santo, who feels that the Left had lost its ground as it could not build a movement in the state where politics is driven by ethnicity. He also blamed the role of money and muscle power as one of the biggest problems for the Left.

"We follow the principle of class struggle. And it was based on this that we had build our movement. But few wrong decisions and conflict driven by ethnic identity had taken a toll on us," Santo said.

Such was once the clout of the CPI, that with five seats in kitty it played a major role in the ascension of Congress to power in 2002 led by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh. The first Congress government in 2002 was known as a Congress-CPI coalition called Secular Progressive Front (SPF).

In 2007 again SPF came to power but the CPI's tally had come down to four.

Once a force to reckon within Manipur politics, the CPI and CPI(M) are fighting the assembly election to regain their lost ground in the state.

Manipur has a long history of Left movement, under the leadership of legendary Left leader like Hijam Irabot Singh commonly known as "jana neta Hijam" but this time the Left parties are fighting hard to make their presence felt in the state.

The ongoing insurgency and ethnic driven conflict seems to have taken a heavy toll on the communist parties of Manipur, which believe in the ideology of class struggle.

The CPI, CPI(M) along with other secular and like minded parties have formed a front called Left and Democratic Front (LDF).

It also has an electoral adjustment with National People's Party. Altogether they are fighting in 50 seats in the 60-member Manipur Assembly.

CPI, which is dominant among the Left forces, conceded that they are fighting to regain their lost ground and rebuild the once glorious Left movement in the state.

"Once we were quite a big force in the state. We had considerable number of seats and had played decisive role in state government formation. But those are things of past. We have to rebuild from the scratch. We are fighting to regain our lost ground in the state with the help of other secular and democratic forces," M Nara Singh, CPI state secretary and LDF convener said.

Nara's view was echoed by a senior state CPI(M) leader Santo, who feels that the Left had lost its ground as it could not build a movement in the state where politics is driven by ethnicity. He also blamed the role of money and muscle power as one of the biggest problems for the Left.

"We follow the principle of class struggle. And it was based on this that we had build our movement. But few wrong decisions and conflict driven by ethnic identity had taken a toll on us," Santo said.

Such was once the clout of the CPI, that with five seats in kitty it played a major role in the ascension of Congress to power in 2002 led by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh. The first Congress government in 2002 was known as a Congress-CPI coalition called Secular Progressive Front (SPF).

In 2007 again SPF came to power but the CPI's tally had come down to four.

The European Union on Monday pressed India to extend by six months its bilateral investment pacts with several EU-member countries which are expiring soon, saying absence of the treaties could adversely impact trade ties and FTA talks.

A high-level European Parliament delegation, here to gauge India's views about the Trump administration and discuss various key issues concerning India-EU ties, also expressed concern over situation in Jammu and Kashmir and called for improvement in ties between India and Pakistan.

Chair of the EU delegation for relations with India Geoffrey Van Orden said EU wants New Delhi to renew the investment deals first to take forward the stalled FTA talks.

"It will be helpful if trade and investment pacts can be extended for six months. The issue has become a problem for the FTA talks," he told reporters.

India's existing trade and investment pacts with The Netherlands have come to an end in November while while similar pacts with several other EU countries will expire in the coming months.

Orden said expiry of the pacts will make it difficult for the European countries to go for fresh investments in India, adding the EU want India to first give the extension to the pacts and then move ahead with the FTA which is known as EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA).

On Kashmir, he said EU is always sensitive about issues relating to human rights violations, adding certain forces do not want India-Pakistan relations to improve.

He said there ware "serious problem" of Pakistan containing terrorists and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had showed his resolve to improve ties with Islamabad.

Orden said the aim of the delegation is to understand India's views on the Trump administration, discuss issues relating to Pakistan and matters concerning India-EU ties.

The delegation is meeting Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh during which the issues are likely to be flagged.

The BTIA talks have been stalled since May, 2013, when both sides failed to bridge substantial gaps on crucial issues, including data security status for IT sector.

Launched in June 2007, negotiations for the proposed agreement have witnessed many hurdles as both the sides have major differences on crucial issues.

In the EU-India Summit in Brussels, the two sides had failed to make any announcement on resumption of the negotiations as many bottlenecks still remain.

The two sides are yet to iron out issues related to tariff and movement of professionals but the EU has shown an inclination to restart talks.

Besides demanding significant duty cuts in automobiles, the EU wants tax reduction in wines, spirits and dairy products, and a strong intellectual property regime.

On the other hand, India is asking for granting 'data secure nation' status to it by the EU. The country is among nations not considered data secure by the EU.

The matter is crucial as it will have a bearing on Indian IT companies wanting market access.

Malaysia on Monday summoned North Korea's ambassador Kang Chol to seek an explanation over a statement he made on the police probe of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of the Communist nation's top leader Kim Jong Un.

Kang in a statement on Friday accused the Malaysian government of having "something to conceal" in its probe, purposely delaying the release of the body and conducting the autopsy unilaterally, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Malaysia's Foreign Ministry, the government viewed the criticism as baseless.

Kim's death occurred on Malaysian soil under mysterious circumstances and it is the responsibility of the government to conduct an investigation to identify the cause of death, a Foreign Ministry statement said.

The government has been transparent, the statement said, noting that it takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish the country's reputation.

The Malaysian ambassador in Pyongyang has been recalled to Kuala Lumpur for consultations.

Malaysia's deputy national police chief Noor Rashid Ibrahim on Sunday said the police were following the Malaysian law and legal requirements.

"Every death in a suspicious manner must be investigated, in which we have to put a report and submit it to the court. In this case we are investigating a sudden and suspicious death," he said.

Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan says since Rangoon features Shahid Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan, the competition amongst the "stellar" trio will bring out their best performances.

In Rangoon, Saif will be seen playing a ruthless Parsi film producer, which marks his return to the negative character zone after portraying Langda Tyagi in Vishal Bharadwaj's Omkara.

Hailing Bhardwaj, with whom she worked in Omkara, Kareena said while the negative characters in his films are always striking, this time there will be a competition among all the three actors.

"In Vishal Bhardwaj's films, the negative character is very striking most of the times. But there are three stellar actors in the film, Shahid, Kangana and Saif. I like the competition, there should be competition between all three only then they'll give their best," Kareena told reporters.

"I expect nothing less from them. They are the best performers in the industry today, all three," she added.

The actress was speaking at a special screening of Rangoon last night.

Kareena said though she does not usually attend film trailers, she came for this one for producer Sajid Nadiadwala, Bharadwaj and her husband, for whom she is very excited.

"His (Saif's) character in the film is going to be very striking because for the first time he will be seen in a role like this. We are very excited.

"This film is special because it is by Sajid Nadiadwala.

Karishma did Judwaa with him and I did Kambakht Ishq. I normally don't go for trailers and Saif was surprised too. But I had to go because of Vishal, Sajid and Saif." 

The 36-year-old actress also spilled beans on her plans to shoot for her forthcoming Veere Di Wedding, post delivering a baby.

"We are starting the film in May. I am very excited.

It's an amazing story about four women. Normally there are hero heroine in films but I think this is the first time a film will be about four different women." 

Stocks face resistance at 5-month highs as prices rallied for the 5th week in a row on Monday and investors preferred to buy into beaten down blue chips rather than bet on shares that are already trading at fresh highs.

The Nifty rose 12 points to 8,833 points on the National Stock Exchange. This five-week rally has been the best since November 2014 and has wrong footed most traders and caught investors unawares.

Here are the major trading events of the day:

* Telecom rivals Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel led the gainers list with GAIL, Tata Steel and TCS making up the top five gainers on the Nifty. They were among 33 shares that gained on the Nifty.

* Hindalco, HDFC, Yes Bank, Bosch and Tech Mahindra lost 0.8-1.7 per cent and were among 15 losers on the Nifty.

* Jindal Steel & Power, Hindalco and Sun Pharma were the top traded shares by value.

* JP Associates, Jindal Steel & Power and Marksans Pharma were the most active shares by volume.

* The Nifty 100, 200 and 500 inched up in trade as bulls refused to let go of sentiment on Dalal Street. Gains on the small cap and mid cap benchmarks were on the higher side.

* The entire sectoral space was tinged with a mild shade of green. Strong gains were seen on metals and realty shares and mild upticks were observed on pharma and auto companies.

* The broader market remained in bull grip with 1,116 shares rising compared to just 460 that fell.

Strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway was closed on Monday for traffic due to multiple landslides in Ramban district in the Jammu region.

According to a traffic department official, the highway has been closed as heavy rains during the night triggered landslides at some places in the district.

Landslide clearance operations had began in the district.

"Intending travellers should not undertake the journey before contacting our control rooms in Jammu and Srinagar to know the latest status of the highway."

The dicey over 300 km long highway gets closed due to heavy rains or snowfall, causing disruption of essential supplies to the landlocked Kashmir valley.

All essentials to the valley are routed through this highway.

Closure of the highway also results in sky-rocketing of air travel fares between the valley and other parts of the country.

An aerial journey of barely 30 minutes between Srinagar and Jammu costs about Rs 14,000 during the closure of the highway.

Strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway was closed on Monday for traffic due to multiple landslides in Ramban district in the Jammu region.

According to a traffic department official, the highway has been closed as heavy rains during the night triggered landslides at some places in the district.

Landslide clearance operations had began in the district.

"Intending travellers should not undertake the journey before contacting our control rooms in Jammu and Srinagar to know the latest status of the highway."

The dicey over 300 km long highway gets closed due to heavy rains or snowfall, causing disruption of essential supplies to the landlocked Kashmir valley.

All essentials to the valley are routed through this highway.

Closure of the highway also results in sky-rocketing of air travel fares between the valley and other parts of the country.

An aerial journey of barely 30 minutes between Srinagar and Jammu costs about Rs 14,000 during the closure of the highway.

Websites that stream or host pirated material may find it harder to feature on the first pages of two leading search engines as Google and Microsoft, which uses Bing search engine, have agreed to a new code of conduct designed to demote such websites in Britain, media reported on Monday.

The code brokered by Britain's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) aims to stop search engines from driving traffic to illegal websites, the Telegraph reported.

Under the code, Google and Bing must demote websites that have repeatedly been served with copyright infringement notices so that they do not appear on the first page for common searches.

Although the code is voluntary, the copyright watchdog will monitor how Google and Bing respond over the next few months and depending on its assessment, tighter measures might be taken in the future.

How much the move will help the TV, film and music industries, however, is not immediately clear as Google has long argued that search engines are not a major source of traffic to piracy websites.

"Google has been an active partner for many years in the fight against piracy online. We remain committed to tackling this issue and look forward to further partnership with rights holders," a spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report.

President Donald Trump brought more contenders for national security adviser to his Palm Beach club for in-person interviews, hoping to fill the job in the coming days as he seeks to refocus his young administration.

Trump also drilled down on policy during his working weekend at Mar-a-Lago, attending a strategy session on how to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, with top aides including Health Secretary Tom Price and Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House budget office.

While in Florida, the president found time for a few holes of golf on Saturday and yesterday. And with his wife, Melania, he stopped by a fundraiser Saturday night at his private Palm Beach club, put on by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Trump also took to Twitter to explain a comment he made about violence in Sweden at a Saturday rally. He suggested that some kind of major incident had taken place in the country Friday night, but on Sunday he said he was referring to something he saw on Fox News.

That might have been a report Friday night about the influx of immigrants to Sweden. Trump also spoke to the leaders of Panama, Trinidad and Tobago.

After weeks of tumult in Washington, Trump returned to Florida and his private club for a third straight weekend.

High on Trump's to-do list is finding a replacement for ousted Michael Flynn as national security adviser.

Scheduled to discuss the job with the president at Mar-a-Lago were his acting adviser, retired Army Lt. Gen.

Keith Kellogg; John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations; Army Lt. Gen. H R McMaster and the superintendent of the US Military Academy at West Point, Lt.Gen. Robert Caslen.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump may interview more candidates and hopes to make the decision soon.

Trump pushed out Flynn last Monday after revelations that Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence about discussing sanctions with Russia's ambassador to the US during the presidential transition.

Trump said in a news conference Thursday that he was disappointed by how Flynn had treated Pence, but did not believe Flynn had done anything wrong by having the conversations.

Within three weeks of Budget announcement, the Finance Ministry on Monday started the process of listing three rail PSUs — IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON.

The government is considering divesting a portion of the paid-up equity share capital through an IPO and has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) from merchant bankers by March 16.

The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) is scouting for merchant bankers to manage the initial public offering (IPO) of the three PSUs, which is under the administrative control of the Rail Ministry.

The government currently holds 100 per cent stake in these three companies.

In his 2017-18 Budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government will put in place a revised mechanism and procedure to ensure time-bound listing of identified CPSEs on stock exchanges as the it will foster greater public accountability and unlock their true value.

"The shares of Railway public sector enterprises (PSEs) like IRCTC, IRFC and IRCON will be listed in the stock exchanges," Jaitley had said in his speech.

The government intends to raise Rs.72,500 crore through disinvestment of PSUs in the next fiscal.

Of this, Rs.46,500 crore would be raised through disinvestment of minority stake and Rs.11,000 crore through strategic sale.

Drake, who won two Grammys for best rap song and best rap/sung performance for Hotline Bling, said he does not understand why he won awards in that category as the hit pop number was not a rap song.

The 30-year-old appeared on an episode of OVO Sound radio show that highlighted his struggles to be taken seriously as a black Canadian artist covering multiple genres, reported People magazine.

The rapper was nominated in eight categories including a record of the year for his track 'Work' also featuring Rihanna and album of the year for 'Views' at the 59th annual Grammys.

Though he was a no-show at the ceremony, Drake is making his presence known to the Recording Academy outside the category they had initially placed him in.

"I ever feel like an outsider, it's usually because I'm not American. That's when I feel like people are against me. I guess maybe it has something to do with the fact that I have quite an eclectic makeup. I am mixed, I am Jewish… At the end of the day, when it comes to everything else, I'm black," he said.

Echoing racially-charged industry criticism of the Grammys, which intensified the February 12th night after Adele beat out Beyonce in the record, song and album of the year categories, Drake questioned the Recording Academy's decision to classify his gilded gramophone-winning hit Hotline Bling under the rap umbrella.

"I am referred to as a black artist, like last night at (the Grammys), I'm a black artist… I'm apparently a rapper, even though 'Hotline Bling' is not a rap song. The only category they can manage to fit me in is in a rap category, maybe because I've rapped in the past or because I'm black. I can't figure out why.

"I won two awards, but I don't even want them because it just feels weird for some reason.