عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Entertainment

Music Superstar Dua Lipa Granted Albanian Citizenship

English singer Dua Lipa arrives for the “Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium,” the last US performance by the British singer during his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour," in Los Angeles on November 20, 2022. (AFP)
English singer Dua Lipa arrives for the “Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium,” the last US performance by the British singer during his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour," in Los Angeles on November 20, 2022. (AFP)
TT
TT

Music Superstar Dua Lipa Granted Albanian Citizenship

English singer Dua Lipa arrives for the “Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium,” the last US performance by the British singer during his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour," in Los Angeles on November 20, 2022. (AFP)
English singer Dua Lipa arrives for the “Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium,” the last US performance by the British singer during his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour," in Los Angeles on November 20, 2022. (AFP)

Albania’s president on Sunday granted citizenship to British pop star of Albanian origin Dua Lipa for what he said was the artist’s role in spreading Albanians’ fame internationally through her music.

President Bajram Begaj said Lipa was granted citizenship ahead of Albania’s 110th anniversary of independence from the Ottoman Empire. Begaj said he considered it an honor to do so because Lipa has made Albanians famous throughout the world.

“I will be an Albanian with papers too,” Lipa said before taking her citizenship oath at Tirana city hall.

Lipa was born in London in 1995 to immigrant Albanian parents Anesa and Dukagjin Lipa from Kosovo.

Lipa, who started singing at five years old, was musically influenced by her father, a former singer and guitarist of a rock band. She started to post her songs in YouTube when she was 14. Her first debut studio album was released in 2017. In 2019 she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

Together with her father, she co-founded the Sunny Hill Foundation in 2016 to raise funds with annual concerts held in her native Kosovo to help people experiencing financial difficulties.

“It is an indescribable great joy with such acceptance, love and everything,” said Lipa. The artist then took a passport photo, was fingerprinted and signed an application form for an identity hard and passport.

Lipa will wrap up her annual concert tour in Tirana’s main Skanderbeg Square on Monday to commemorate Independence Day.

Most Viewed

 
 
Entertainment

'Gladiator 3' Already in Works, Say Director And Star

Paul Mescal says he would be "massively down" to appear in Gladiator III. Photo: AP PHOTO
Paul Mescal says he would be "massively down" to appear in Gladiator III. Photo: AP PHOTO
TT
TT

'Gladiator 3' Already in Works, Say Director And Star

Paul Mescal says he would be "massively down" to appear in Gladiator III. Photo: AP PHOTO
Paul Mescal says he would be "massively down" to appear in Gladiator III. Photo: AP PHOTO

Ridley Scott's long-awaited "Gladiator" sequel has not even hit US theaters yet, but the veteran director is already hard at work on a third installment.
"Gladiator II," which arrives in North American cinemas Friday, stars Irish actor Paul Mescal ("Normal People") as Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe's Maximus from the multiple Oscar-winning original, AFP said.
A bloody, blockbuster epic of revenge, treachery and -- yes -- gladiators, it has drawn positive reviews and already hauled in a muscular $87 million at the global box office since opening in several countries last week.
"Given the performance in the rest of the world that we've seen yesterday, there's certainly going to be a 'Gladiator III,'" said Scott, in Los Angeles on Monday for the movie's glitzy US premiere.
"Because it also becomes financial, and you'd be insane not to consider a third version," said the British director of seminal films such as "Blade Runner" and "Thelma & Louise."
The plot of "Gladiator II" was also "planned to leave it wide open to a sequel," added Scott, a famously prolific filmmaker who is still directing roughly a film per year at the age of 86.
The second film opens with Lucius -- sent into exile by his mother to avoid certain death in Rome -- battling in vain to defend his adopted North African home city from the arrival of seemingly unstoppable Roman soldiers.
Captured as a prisoner of war, he is brought back to the imperial metropolis, where he must prove his worth in the Colosseum in order to exact revenge on invading general Marcus Acacius, played by Pedro Pascal.
Danish actress Connie Nielsen reprises her role as Lucilla from the 2000 original, while Denzel Washington is already earning Oscar buzz for his conniving, mercurial and highly flamboyant ringmaster, Macrinus.
"Jewelry, sandals and everything -- I just looked like a Roman pimp... I couldn't put on enough rings," joked Washington on Monday.
'Political'
Mescal -- whose character battles bloodthirsty baboons, rhinos and sharks in addition to humans in "Gladiator II" -- also expressed excitement about returning for another film.
But he said Scott had discussed a new direction for the plot that would not simply "go back to the arena as we know it."
"The last time I spoke to (Scott) he said he had nine pages. Yesterday, he said he had 14," Mescal told journalists.
"I would be excited for it to go into a more political sphere," with Lucius thrust into a world of court intrigue that he does not want to inhabit, like Michael Corleone in "The Godfather," added Mescal.
Asked how the second film's themes tackled power and politics differently, some 24 years after the original Scott said: "They're exactly the same."
"A super-rich man thinks he can take over the Empire. Is that familiar?" he said, just days after billionaire Donald Trump's re-election as US president.
"We don't learn anything historically. We keep repeating the same mistakes. We're going through exactly the same thing right now in several parts of the planet," he added.