Firstly, it is important to realize that covid-19 is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Most people who get it have mild to moderate symptoms and recover without needing special treatment. However, some become seriously ill and require medical assistance.  

The virus can spread from an infected person's mouth or nose through tiny liquid particles that the person emits when they cough, sneeze, speak or breathe.  Anyone can become infected by breathing in the virus if they are close
to someone with COVID-19 or touching a contaminated surface and then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. It spreads more easily in closed and crowded spaces.  

This information will probably be further elaborated and explained in one of the released episodes, making possible doubts from the audience clear. However, making a documentary series at this time is both a risk and a
creative challenge, as there is still certain information that needs to bebetter supported and explored by science.  

To conclude, I find it quite interesting that RTP1 shares with the viewer these three episodes that contextualize us on the subject of the moment and that anticipate the future of the pandemic, since they can clarify many doubts that society may have and thus avoid the spreading of fake news.  
Ana Miguel, nº2, 10ºE

 

I chose the news “Vice-president of Lego: “We can all be creative in solving problems”, as this was the one that most caught my attention for the simple fact that Julia Goldin and I share the same opinion. In her interview she mentions that adults have a lot to learn from children because they are not afraid of making mistakes and try again. 

I found this topic very interesting, as it primarily talks about very frequent topics at the moment, one of them being telework. During this pandemic, Julia Goldin has intended to unlock and develop the crucial capacity of creativity throughout her company. She says that creativity is not just based on painting, drawing and music, but also on problem solving, resilience, presenting ideas and improving those ideas, and I couldn't agree more with her words. An example she gave in the interview was: at Lego they have a day called “Play Day” where all the Lego employees get together and are asked to be creative and build some kind of structure out of Lego bricks, which I thought was a brilliant idea. 

Basically what I want to convey with this text is that everyone should try to adopt Julia Goldin's way of thinking and try to be more creative in their daily lives, whether it's simply by using a new word or drawing a small picture on a piece of paper. 

All small actions count! 

Maria Silva, nº 20, 10º E.

I chose to comment on the news article “Porto researchers will use shrimp shells to create sustainable products” (January 5, 2022). The project led by the Faculty of Science of the University of Porto (FCUP) wants to explore the waste of shrimp shells in the production of drugs, plastics and detergents. In my opinion, regarding this topic, the current project is very important, because it helps us to know better how waste that usually goes to landfills can be used in the production of products that are considered essential for human beings, to know also how to fight waste, so that this information can be reported to everyone.

As I mentioned, this project is very important, as it will allow us to obtain various types of amines (chemical compounds derived from ammonia), in a sustainable way, in this case from shrimp shells that are rich in nitrogen, so that we stop using produce from oil. This will also improve the use of sustainable methods. In this sense, the researchers have tried several processes of extraction and conversion of one of the constituents of shrimp shells (chitin) into bio-derived amines in the laboratories of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at FCUP.

In conclusion, the project called “Shell4bioA” which has the motto “not to waste”, but “to reuse and enhance”, intends to take advantage of a raw material that would otherwise be wasted in order to avoid the use of fossil fuels. In my point of view, and reflecting on what I have written, I hope that more studies like these will be carried out and that we will try to leave the world a little better than we found it.

A formal crime complaint was sent to the police that investigated the event by the company. They believe the attack was carried out by a group of columbians and a spanish citizen that call themselves Lapsus$. The authorities recommended that if the criminals tried to comunicate with the firm thety delete every evidence to avoid another attack and warn the police emmediately.

A lot of questions are still on the air like “How and why did they acked AWS?”, “Why didn´t they ask for ransom demand since it is their modus operandi?”. However, an anonimous source said to the press that this was all initiated when a worker clicked on a link, without wanting to, thinking it was sent internally.

The occurrence was controled by the company´s computer technicians, that blocked all the accounts and checked computer by computer to prevent an repetition.

An incident like this one is catastrophic since a big percentage of the population relies on this type of media to be informed. Beyond that, writing is a form of expressing ourselves and not allowing someone to do it is a violation of a simple human right: freedom of expression.

In my opinion, this article is very well written and transmites a very importante message: to be very carefull with what we click on. The internet is a dangerous place and I´m glad there are news like this one that warn people and educate them.
Maria Covinha, nº18, 10ºE

Climate change is a current issue that we’re confronted in our daily basis. So, one of the steps to reduce the consequences that this has caused or that it may cause is the adoption of renewable energies, because as the name suggests, these renew themselves and promote a sustainable development.

The European Commission’s proposal to define the norms for supporting the financing of sustainable energy in the EU suggests a system that intends to classify what’s a sustainable energy and, in certain circumstances, the nuclear energy and gas can be part of the investment plans. However, Germany is against the proposal and the German Minister, Robert Habeck, says that “the European Commission’s proposal dilutes the good label of sustainability”. On the other hand, France insisted that the nuclear energy should be present in the European Commission’s proposal, as without this type of energy this country won’t be able to achieve the energy transition objectives.

Nuclear Energy isn’t a sustainable type of energy, as its waste has a major impact on the environment and the maintenance of nuclear power stations is very costly. Nevertheless, I think it’s possible to find an agreement to make the energy transitions possible to France, just as for the other countries that insisted that this type of energy should be included in this proposal. So, I consider that this type of energy should be included in the EU proposal, but only under specific conditions and not as a part of the sustainable energies.  

In this quest for sustainable development, teamwork is required between the various members of the European Union in order to find a solution to this major problem, but with goals that every country in the European Union can accomplish.

Lara Carvalho nº13 10^th E

The news article I chose was "Another independent news site closes its doors in Hong Kong".

I considered this news item relevant because all the countries that are part of the Chinese regime are increasingly suffering from an increasing suppression of freedom of expression.

As we know, since 1997 Hong Kong has been under Chinese governance. Before that, when Hong Kong was a British colony, it always had a free pressenterprise, with a strong and competitive market economy in a democratic society. From the moment it passed on to the Chinese regime all this changed. All opinions that do not agree with the regime, are completely censored, this news revealing exactly that, because the site " Citizen News " was accused of "deceiving" its readers, which led them to close doors. This has all become worse since the student revolution in 2014, where they took revenge because they did not want to be dominated by the totalitarian Chinese regime and the police arrested most of the students.

Over the years, it has become even more difficult with collective sacking of professionals from both newspapers as well as other media in general,especially in the last decade everything related to the digital company (websites, blogs, podcasts...).

With this, I conclude that unfortunately, once again, a means of communication that has existed since Hong Kong times as a British colony of free press ended because China is destroying everything that is unbiased communication, being Hong Kong another administrative region of greater China in which there is no freedom of the press, choice, voting or activecitizenship.

Benedita Maciel nº3 10ºE  

While I was reading this news: "Man attacks ex-girlfriend with an axe", I see that there are more and more cases of violence, which are naturally expressed in different ways (physical, verbal...) and that should, for good of everything, have an end!

According to the news, we can see that before the couple ended the relationship, there were already some episodes of domestic violence. I think this topic is very important and should be discussed and debated by the population, as it results from an imbalance of power between men and women and leads to serious discrimination against the latter, both in society and in the family. With that, Igor Nave devalues the female gender through a kind of “domestic terrorism” that seriously undermines Human Rights, limiting the autonomy and freedom of the victim. 

After the separation, the aggressor, when attacking his ex-girlfriend with an ax in front of his 17-year-old son demonstrates, in my opinion, a mental and emotional lack of control and a kind of hatred and anger caused by the rejection imposed by the victim.

In my opinion, we need to take measures and create strategies that help to avoid this type of situation. Complaints must be valued and gender stereotypes and zero tolerance for impunity must be broken, in order to prevent not only this woman, but all others, from suffering any type of “aggression”.

Respecting society, Human Rights and Women's Rights, who despite their its great achievements, still suffer a lot today, is essential to live in a safe, rigorous, fair country, where women and men are equal, with the same rights and duties!                                                                                   

Hugo Pescadinha Lomba n⁰ 7 10⁰E; retirado do Correio da Manhã

The news article titled “Profissionais de saúde exaustos: "Temos

enfermeiros a questionar se fizeram tudo para salvar os doentes”,  of January 2, deserved my attention because it deals with a topic that currently worries me: the overload and exhaustion of health professionals.

One of my biggest concerns is the fact that doctors and nurses across the country are exhausted and alert to the lack of human resources in patient care. In addition to the existing work, these professionals began to have an additional burden with patients with covid-19 and, consequently, began to work longer hours and with more effort. From my point of view, nurses and doctors should be hired exclusively to take care of patients related to this pandemic. With this hiring, health workers would be more relieved, improving the quality of the care provided to the other patients. On the other hand, there is an expectation of the vaccine to reduce the lines of ambulances outside the emergency room, helping people with different pathologies to re-appear at the hospital. Yet today, individuals continue to die without the opportunity to see and say goodbye to their families, and when that possibility exists, a nurse has to decide who can visit you.

Finally, I just want to mention that, in my opinion, no one should be subjected to these situations, both hospitalized patients and nurses and doctors themselves.
Juliana Morais, n.º12, 10.ºE

The Council of Ministers decided the schools reopening on the 10^th December and in my opinion, it’s a great idea, because us students just want to go on with our lives as normal as possible. Every year, on the transition from the first to the second term there used to be a two-week-period of vacations and although we, students, love vacations, their extent is just one more proof that things are getting worst and not coming back to normal. It’s for these reasons that I think the government should open the school as soon as possible.

As the confinement is concerned, I agree that it doesn’t affect the all class, just the people who live in the same household as the infected student, since these are the people who are in contact with him daily. I also think that the people who are closer to the student like close friends and boyfriends should stay at home too.

About the school testing that the government intends to impose, in my point of view it should be done before the beginning of the second term, so that all students, teachers and government employees feel safer.

For last, I’m in agreement with the question of the vaccination campaign for teaching and non-teaching staff, on an open-house basis, since it has been proved that vaccination is the best way to prevent serious disease.

 
Alice Vitorino, nº1, 10ºE