Reconstruction work in São Brás de Alportel started this Monday as the Largo de São Sebastião starts to be turned into a modern space designed to be 'less confusing for traffic and pedestrians.'

As reported yesterday in algarvedailynews, (http://algarvedailynews.com/news/10424-sao-bras-de-alportel-s-main-square-to-be-modernised-in-315-000-contract) mayor Vítor Guerreiro has decided that the square should be ‘facing the future’ and is spending €315,000 on redeveloping the area with promises of "green spaces, fountains that can be turned on and off so that people walk around the space freely, scenic lighting to enhance the heritage that exists, not only the statue of Bernardo Passos but the interesting buildings from a heritage point of view such as the old pharmacy building."

The 41st anniversary of the death of General Francisco Franco on Sunday motivated some 200 people to offer the fascist salute when they gathered in Madrid’s Plaza Oriente.

Under the flag which represented the country under the dictatorship, those assembled sang the anthem song of the Falange party, the only legal party at the time, and held up posters with slogans such as “Make Spain Great Again”.

A major survey commissioned by Turismo do Algarve, ‘The profile of the tourist who visits the Algarve’ concludes that tourists visiting the Algarve are the region’s best ambassadors.

The University of Algarve study aimed to quantify not only the numbers but also the feelings and attitudes of visitors, what they liked and did not like and whether they would recommend the Algarve to friends.

São Brás de Alportel’s main square, the Largo de São Sebastião is ‘facing the future’, according to the council which is to spend €315,000 on redeveloping the area.

Within five months, the Largo de São Sebastião, will be unrecognisable as the council's contractor has transformed it with fountains, scenic lighting and ambient music.

Portugal is to have a new research centre. The Multidisciplinary Research Center for Excellence in Regenerative and Precision Medicine will be created following a national application under the HORIZONTE 2020 Programme.

The Research Center will focus on multidisciplinary research which will be translated into innovative methods to be applied in the prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases.

The owner of the world’s largest online poker site has announced that it soon may enter Portugal’s new online gaming market.

CEO Rafi Ashkenazi, the boss of Amaya which is the Canadian company that owns PokerStars, made the announcement to analysts, saying he was waiting for final regulatory approval to launch an online poker operation in Portugal.

Chinese company Fosun, already the owner of the previously Portuguese insurance company Fidelidade, is to become the largest shareholder in Portugal’s largest privately owned bank, Millennium BCP.

Fosun is led by the tycoon Guo Guanchang, known as ‘China’s Warren Buffett,’ and is but one deal that recently has seen significant acquisitions in Portuguese companies by Chinese groups which have bought in electricity generation, the national grid, insurance, hospitals and water supply.

A Indian coule died early on Sunday afternoon after their car crashed on the IC1 near Santana da Serra in the Ourique district of Beja.

Two of the wounded, 53-year-old Mannarath Dominic and his wife Betsy, were transported to the Emergency Service at Castro Verde Health Center (Beja), but died soon after admission.