Questões de Inglês - Preposições | Prepositions para Concurso

*poll: the results of a set of questions people are asked to discover what they think about a subject. (dictionary.cambridge.org, 04/04/24)

(Available at: https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/the-top-10-happiest-countries-in-the-world – text specially adapted for this test).

London (CNN) — Brazil’s attorney general has called for social media platforms in the country to be regulated after Elon Musk threatened to disobey a court order banning certain accounts on X and lashed out against “aggressive censorship.”

In a post on X Sunday, Attorney General Jorge Messias wrote: “It is urgent to regulate social networks. We cannot live in a society in which billionaires domiciled abroad have control of social networks and put themselves in a position to violate the rule of law, failing to comply with court orders and threatening our authorities.”

In a statement, Brazil’s Supreme Court described Musk’s defiance as a “flagrant” obstruction of justice and said he should be investigated by the police. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes announced Sunday that he would open an inquiry into the billionaire businessman who owns X.

The standoff is the latest clash between authorities around the world and Musk – a self-declared “free speech absolutist” who has relaxed X’s content moderation policies and reinstated a number of previously blocked accounts after buying the company, formerly known as Twitter, in 2022.

Orlando Silva, a Brazilian lawmaker aligned with the country’s leftwing government, said he would propose a “responsibilities regime for these digital platforms.” “We have reached the limit!” he posted on X, adding that Musk had disrespected the judiciary. On Saturday, X’s global government affairs team posted that it had been “forced by court decisions to block certain popular accounts in Brazil” and threatened with “daily fines” for non-compliance. “We do not know which posts are alleged to violate the law. We are prohibited from saying which court or judge issued the order, or on what grounds,” they wrote. They do not believe the orders are constitutional and will challenge them legally where possible, they added.

The Supreme Court had ordered that the accounts be blocked as part of its ongoing investigation into “digital militias,” which, among other things, is looking into the spread of misinformation and incitement of crime under the government of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

Social media platforms have been widely viewed as a catalyst for riots in Brazil that took place on January 8 last year, when hundreds of protesters broke into federal government buildings in the capital Brasilia, in scenes reminiscent of the January 6, 2021, insurrection in the United States.

Musk suggested that Moraes was behind the ban, writing Sunday on X that the judge had “brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached.”

In a separate post Saturday, he called the court’s decision to block the accounts “aggressive censorship” that “appears to violate the law and will of the people of Brazil.” He said X would defy the court’s order and lift all restrictions.

“As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there. But principles matter more than profit,” he noted.

X has faced criticism for accommodating government censorship demands in the past, with Musk saying the company has no choice but to comply. For example, it blocked some X accounts in Turkey at the behest of the government ahead of the country’s elections last year, while at the same time contesting the orders in court.

(Internet: < https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/08/tech/elon-musk-brazilinvestigation/index.html> )

Some years ago, a devastating earthquake struck the Italian town of L’Aquila. More than 300 people lost their lives, over 1,500 people were injured, and many buildings were destroyed. Two years later, seven earthquake experts were involved in a court case: Did they adequately warn the public after the initial tremors began? At the heart of the debate is whether they could have predicted a disaster like this.

Although a lot of scientists are working to improve our ability to predict natural disasters, so far no one has come up with a reliable method to forecast earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, days or weeks beforehand. Most of the research focuses on the areas most likely to experience seismic activity – but even our knowledge about where these areas are, is very limited. One reason for this is that human beings have only been around for a very small part of the Earth’s history. In geological terms, we all arrived on the scene very recently. Records from the past 2,000 years are incomplete, and the biggest earthquakes nearly always happen in areas where there have been no earthquakes in recorded history.

So, is there any hope for improving our ability to predict disasters? A solution may come from an unexpected source. Four years ago, a team of US physicists at Rutgers University in New Jersey were studying why pharmaceutical powders stick together. They observed that the powder stuck together when placed in a spinning cylinder, but then developed cracks and collapsed. Just before the cracks developed, an electric signal, like a small bolt of lightning, was created. The scientists repeated the experiment with a wide range of different materials, and they got similar results every time.

This phenomenon might also exist in nature. Some scientists believe that rocks may become electrically charged under unusual pressure, such as before an earthquake. This electric charge then causes changes in the surrounding air or water, which animals may be able to sense before humans do. For example, while biologists were studying a colony of frogs in a pond near L’Aquila, they noticed that nearly all the animals left the water days before the earthquake. A similar thing happened in China, when snakes were hibernating for the winter in caves, but escaped just before a large earthquake. The same kind of electric charge, like the small bolt of lightning felt in the experiment at Rutgers, may have been responsible.

At the moment, there is no reliable way ............ using such findings to predict earthquakes, and further studies may be necessary to give us a better understanding of the interactions involved, but one day, the technology may be used ............ predict future catastrophes. For example, two science institutions in Russia and Britain are already developing a new micro-satellite, which could detect these electric signals and help rescue people ................ natural disasters in time. Scientists are planning to launch the first of these satellites ............... space. Will these satellites be the solution? Only time will tell. For the time being, the best defense is to be prepared.

(Available at: www.hillstreetgrocer.com – text especially adapted for this test).