News has leaked about the possible Star Wars actors who will come to Dubrovnik to film in the eighth episode of the Star Wars franchise. According to reports on the Croatian Star Wars website MOS Croatia two big name stars are on their way to the city.

Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker, and Daisy Ridley, who stars as Rey, are rumoured to be coming to Dubrovnik. Filming of Star Wars in Dubrovnik begins on the 9th of March and will last seven days until the 16th of March. Mark Hamill plays the father of Ridley in the popular movie franchise.

“We have already speculated that Dubrovnik will be the planet of Luke Skywalker, and now this has been unofficially confirmed by sources close to the production,” commented MOS Croatia on their website.

MOS Croatia has also announced that the eighth episode of Star Wars will be called "The Order of the Dark Side."

The iconic British band Simply Red will be performing a concert in Croatia this year. The popular group have announced that they will be performing in the capital, Zagreb, on the 22nd of June as part of the Zagreb Calling Festival. 

Mick Hucknall and his group, have already played twice in Croatia before, will perform some of their most popular hits at the festival including, Holding Back the Years, Stars, A New Flame and Its Only Love. Simply Red have sold more than 50 million albums since the mid eighties when they burst onto the scene. In 2010 the group split up, however in 2015 Simply Red was reactivated in 2015, and continues to record and tour.

This will be the second year that the Zagreb Calling Festival has been held and the first year featured British rocker Billy Idol. This year’s festival will be held from the 22nd to the 23rd of June in the Šalata stadium in Zagreb.

The City of Dubrovnik has given the production company that is filming the eighth episode of Star Wars in the city permission for a temporary regulation of movement inside the historic centre. The production team is currently constructing the set for the filming which is due to start on the 9th of March. And as the set is on the busiest street in the Old City, the Stradun, the production team had asked for this street to be closed during the actual filming. This request has been granted by the City of Dubrovnik.

The first restriction comes into force tomorrow, the 2nd of March, when the main street will be closed from 8pm until midnight so that film rehearsals can be carried out. The city administration has asked all citizens to adhere to the temporary rules and to use other streets.

When filming starts on the 9th of March until the 16th of March the main street will be closed again and special regulations will be in force.

The largest shopping mall in Dalmatia will open on the 3rd of March, the Mall of Split. With six floors, over 60,000 square metres of shopping space and brand name shops the Mall of Split will be a magnet for shopaholics from all over the region.

There will be 220 shops inside the mall, a nine screen cinema, ten restaurants, ten-pin bowling centre, casino and numerous other entertainment facilities in this mega 177 million Euro investment. Many new brands have found their home in the new mall, including the British department store Debenhams, as well as a Lego shop, Mohito, Gap and Mango.

Every day from 9am to 10pm shoppers will be able to visit the massive new shopping centre in Split. And if you were worried about not finding a parking space, don’t be, the Mall of Split has 2,320 parking spaces in underground parking. And the list of shops goes on and on...Nike, Desiqual, Zara, Office, Buzz, Converse, Adidas and an Interspar.

In the new exhibition space of the St. Klara Monastery in the heart of the Old City of Dubrovnik there were be an exhibition of a collection of ceramics by Pablo Picasso in late March. "The Lake Collection of Picasso Ceramics", which is managed by the collector and the owner of Slovenian gallery Deva Puri, David Razjanjcev, consists of over a hundred original ceramic works by Picasso.

In addition to the ceramics there will also be thirty original graphic works and posters by the artist.

The exhibition is currently in Germany and then it will travel onto Dubrovnik at the end of March.

Motorbike chases around the old city harbour, chases over rooftops and stunning stunts...this is Dubrovnik as you have never seen it before. Amazing action scenes are played out in the heart of the Old City of Dubrovnik in the next Bollywood blockbuster to hit the screens on the 15th of April this year. The official trailer of the next Bollywood blockbuster FAN is out and Dubrovnik features as a backdrop.

The new teaser trailer for the movie featuring the biggest name in Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, was released today on social media and Dubrovnik looks stunning. There is a good chance that FAN will outshine all of the international film productions that have been filmed in Dubrovnik such as the Game of Thrones, Star Wars and the possibility of the next James Bond. In a little under an hour already over 200,000 people had watched this latest teaser trailer for FAN. FAN is the story of Gaurav (Shah Rukh Khan) a young man, whose world revolves around the mega movie star Aryan Khanna (Shah Rukh Khan) or God as he refers to him.

Shah Rukh Khan is by far the most popular Bollywood actor and is reported to have a net worth of $600 million. He has a huge following on social media, with almost 18 million Facebook likes and over 18 million Twitter followers.

His latest movie FAN was partially recorded in Dubrovnik in May last year.

Check out the teaser trailer after 1.45 minutes to see some amazing Dubrovnik scenes.

Dubrovnik will have direct flights to Istanbul for this summer season. The Board of Directors of Turkish Airlines today decided to establish a direct air route between Istanbul and Dubrovnik. The Mayor of Dubrovnik, Andro Vlahusic, and the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Croatia have confirmed that these new flights will be operated in 2016.

Turkish Airlines is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world and Istanbul and Dubrovnik will be connected during the summer season with several flights a week. The full details on the frequency and the prices of the tickets have yet to be announced.

Mayor Vlahusic particularly emphasized the role of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, and the present Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose personal involvement in this project was of great importance.

The south wind blew and storms came to Dubrovnik today. Heavy seas, rain and driving rain in Dubrovnik brought an end to the recent warmer and sunnier weather. Low cloud has come down and the mountains above the city are hidden from view. The high seas crashed up the Banje Beach and even reached the second floor of the Hotel Excelsior on the coastline.

Check out our video and photo gallery from today.