News Porto.

Christmas lightings in Porto will be switched on 1 December at 5.30 pm. As usual, the occasion will be marked in Avenida dos Aliados, when the Christmas tree will be lit at General Humberto Delgado Square, in front of Town Hall and thus the holidays officially begin. As in the last two years, the City Hall marks this date with an open celebration at Avenida dos Aliados.

"Orlando", a novel by Virginia Woolf is revisited in the monologue "Grande Vaga de Frio" [wave of cold weather] which will be on stage at Carlos Alberto Theatre, from 10 November to 19 November. A drama by Luísa Costa Gomes, directed by Carlos Pimenta and interpreted by Emília Silvestre, this play marks a meeting with the adventures of a poet who changes sex from man to woman and lives for centuries, meeting the key figures of English literary history in a satiric form.

The Bea World Festival will gather in Porto over 500 people from all around the world. These awards don't come with a golden statue but rather with an elephant as a reference symbol. The Oscars of the events, the Bea Awards will be held, for the first time ever, in Portugal, in the city of Porto, from 15 to 18 November.

Francis Kéré from Burkina Faso was the first African to design the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, and talks about architecture as a social act, the guiding principle is doing "more with less". He talks about architecture as a social act that engages communities and serves humanity, under the Forum of the Future, at Rivoli, at 9.30 pm, 8 November.

The airliner Iberia will strengthen the daily flights between Porto and Madrid, with two more daily frequencies offered and increase the number of seats available, announced today the company manager Célia Muñoz, at a press conference. As of 25 March 2018, Iberia will fly on the Porto-Madrid route 50 times a week using A319 aircrafts, with bigger passenger capacity (up to 141 passengers, 41 more than at present).

A Portuguese Delegation that promotes the relocation of the European Medicines Agency in Porto is visiting Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In countries where no cities are applying to host EMA, the Portuguese Delegation proceeds an intense diplomatic work based on the arguments that not only is Porto the city that meets all the criteria to host EMA but also with the aim of generating opportunities in the field of bilateral relations regarding the medicinal and Healthcare sector.

According to Ryanair, Porto Airport will become the third hub to provide the airliner connecting traffic flows after Roma Fiumicino and Milão Bergamo airports in Italy. Flight efficiency, advantageous geographical location and important dimension are the main reasons why Porto airport was selected as Ryanair's new hub.

Porto Conference Centre (Old Customs House) was for three times considered the best in Europe by winning the "Best Meetings & Conference Center in Europe 2017" prize, granted by the Business Destinations magazine. Porto Conference Centre had already been awarded this prize in 2014 and 2015.

The Municipal Theatre of Porto under the context of its Parallel Programme, features the newest show of Praga Theatre "Romeo and Juliet - an excellent and sad dessert", 17 and 18 November at the IAC, in Rivoli.

The starting point to this year's edition of The Forum of the Future was the communication by American sociologist Richard Sennett who emphasised the need for a new approach regarding cities; this same sociologist recognises cities as open and complex systems. The topic of the Forum of The Future 2017 is "Electric Earth". The Forum will run until 11 November.