President Donald Trump is promoting new legislation to overhaul the US immigration system, drastically cutting the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country and implementing a "merit-based" visa scheme. If passed, the Raise Act would cut the number of immigrants allowed into the United States by 50 per cent over the next 10 years. It would eliminate diversity lottery visas and crack down on so-called "chain immigration" – visas provided based on family connections, rather than jobs skills. He claimed it would "reduce poverty, increase wages, and save taxpayers billions and billions of dollars". "This competitive application system will favor applicants who can speak English, financially support themselves and their families, and demonstrate skills that can contribute to the US economy", Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump frequently spoke out against illegal immigration during his campaign, accusing immigrants of stealing jobs from American workers and bringing crime into the country. As President, he has pushed for the construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border, and implemented a travel ban on six Muslim-majority countries.

To Kamal Essaheb, director of policy and advocacy for the National Immigration Law Center, these policies are an attempt to shift the blame for Mr Trump's legislative failures onto the immigrant community. "We’ve seen this during the campaign and we’re now seeing this, unfortunately, in his policies", Mr Essaheb said. "This is a President who has found his scapegoat."

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The Secret life of pets

Taking place in a Manhattan apartment building, Max’s life as a favorite pet is turned upside down, when his owner brings home a sloppy mongrel named Duke. They have to put their quarrels behind when they find out that an adorable white bunny named Snowball is building an army of lost pets determined to take revenge.
Fonte: www.imdb.com/title/tt2709768 GLOSSARY:
Mongrel: a dog that is a mixture of different breeds.

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Weight-related deaths can affect non-obese too

You don’t have to be diagnosed as obese to be at risk of dying from illnesses related to excess weight, a global study suggests. Of the 4 million deaths attributed to being overweight in 2015, nearly 40% were not considered clinically obese. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, said the findings highlighted “a growing and disturbing global public health crisis.”

“People who shrug off weight gain do so at their own risk – risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and other life- -threatening conditions,” said Dr Christopher Murray, author of the study and director of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. “Those half- -serious New Year’s resolutions to lose weight should become year-round commitments to lose weight and prevent future weight gain.”

The study, which looked at 195 countries and territories over a period of 35 years, from 1980 to 2015, has revealed that 30% of the world’s population – 2.2 billion children and adults – are affected by excess weight.

Obesity has been increasing around the globe since 1980, doubling in more than 70 countries. The United States has the highest level of obesity among adults and children, at nearly 13% of the population. Egypt topped the list for adult obesity, at about 35%.

The report also found that the rate of obesity is increasing faster among children than adults. “The problem is not simply a function of income or wealth,” cites the report. “Increased availability, accessibility and affordability of energy-dense foods, along with intense marketing could explain weight gain in different populations.”

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Can plants hear?

Flora may be able to detect the sounds of flowing water or munching insects

Pseudoscientific claims that music helps plants grow have been made for decades, despite evidence that is shaky at best. Yet new research suggests some flora may be capable of sensing sounds, such as the gurgle of water through a pipe or the buzzing of insects.

In a recent study, Monica Gagliano, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Western Australia, and her colleagues placed pea seedlings in pots shaped like an upside-down Y. One arm of each pot was placed in either a tray of water or a coiled plastic tube through which water flowed; the other arm had dry soil. The roots grew toward the arm of the pipe with the fluid, regardless of whether it was easily accessible or hidden inside the tubing. “They just knew the water was there, even if the only thing to detect was the sound of it flowing inside the pipe,” Gagliano says. Yet when the seedlings were given a choice between the water tube and some moistened soil, their roots favored the latter. She hypothesizes that these plants use sound waves to detect water at a distance but follow moisture gradients to home in on their target when it is closer.

The research, reported earlier this year in Oecologia, is not the first to suggest flora can detect and interpret sounds. A 2014 study showed the rock cress Arabidopsis can distinguish between caterpillar chewing sounds and wind vibrations – the plant produced more chemical toxins after “hearing” a recording of feeding insects. “We tend to underestimate plants because their responses are usually less visible to us. But leaves turn out to be extremely sensitive vibration detectors,” says lead study author Heidi M. Appel, an environmental scientist now at the University of Toledo.

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A French art expert believes a charcoal drawing kept in a collection for more than 150 years may be a preparatory sketch made by Leonardo da Vinci of the Mona Lisa.

The black-and-white drawing of a woman, nude from the waist up, known as the Monna Vanna, was previously attributed to Leonardo’s studio, suggesting it was done in his style by a pupil or follower, not by the master himself.

But after preliminary tests at the Louvre Museum, experts believe the sketch may well have been drawn by Leonardo.

Among the signs, according to curator Mathieu Deldicque, are the fact the drawing was made during the same period as the Mona Lisa, the paper is from the same region of Italy, and the technique is very similar to that of the Mona Lisa.

“We know the drawing was made during the lifetime of Leonardo da Vinci, we know that the paper was made in Italy, between Venice and Florence, and the third discovery is the high quality of this drawing in the face of the Monna Vanna and in her arms,” Deldicque told reporters.

“That’s very interesting because the arms are the same as the Mona Lisa‘s.”

Leonardo, who lived from 1452 to 1519, was an engineer, scientist, inventor and sculptor, as well as one of the finest artists of the Italian Renaissance.

He painted the Mona Lisa, also known as La Gioconda and regarded as the world’s most valuable artwork, at the beginning of the 16th century. It is believed to depict Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a successful merchant.

EXCITING

The charcoal portrait, in which the woman is holding a similar pose to the Mona Lisa but with her body more side-on and her head turned further over her left shoulder, has been held in a collection at the Conde Museum at the Palace of Chantilly, north of Paris, since 1862.

The Mona Lisa and Monna Vanna hold their hands in very similar ways, the right hand across the left and resting on the forearm, the fingers gently extended.

Deldicque said that while it was exciting to think the charcoal drawing was created by Leonardo, there were more tests to be done.

“We have one more month of analysis and then a very slow process of history of art with a collection of analysts and advice by specialists,” he said.

It is possible that process will determine that the authorship is the same. But it may also be inconclusive, he said, adding: “Maybe the mystery will remain.”

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