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VIRTUAL REALITYThe Rise of

North Korea: Nazi-like Concentration Camps

The G20 Summit:Leaders’ Fortunes and Misfortunes

Treating Brain Injuries using STEM CELLS

Insider’s Report: THIMUN 2015

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2 The EYE

Featured in this Edition...

The Team

Sam Taylor Editor of Technology

Virginia Nizza Editor of International Politics, Conflict and Foreign Policy Analysis

Ekaterina Heim Editor of Science

Alice Huxley Editor of Current Affairs

Dina Fabbri Editor of Culture

Constance Paefgen Editor of Humanities

Raphaela Waschnig Editor-in-Chief

THIMUN 2015: Why Everybody Wants to Go Back to The Hague 13

The G20 Summit: Discussing Politics and... Petting Koalas?!

6 South Africa’s Failure to Provide “Power for the People”

From Mexico to China: This Month’s Hottest Places to Visit

Meet the Science Behind Cardiovascular Diseases

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10 Is Virtual Reality the Future of Technology?

Content

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The Team Says Thank You!

Julia Cournoyer and Heidi Berger have shown commitment and cooperation skills throughout their time serving as Editors-in-Chief for The Eye. It is with much regret that the team loses such mindful spirits.

Nonetheless, The Eye will continue to report on politics, business, travel and local events for the International School of Monaco. An overall restructuring will and has already taken place; in particular the layout has been changed.

As much as we regret Julia and Heidi leaving, we look forward to the future of the student newspa-per and wish them the best of luck!

North Korea: Torture and Death in Nazi-Like Concentration Camps

Exploring Space: The Rosetta Mission

Regenerating Brain Tissue Using Stem Cells

5 Tips to Make this Summer Unforgettable

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4 The EYE International

Only the wealthiest have the privilege to live in the capital Pyongyang. While the gov-

ernment recently blew some $645 million on luxury goods (Kim Jong-Un tried to import sports cars, high-end musical recording equipment and dozens of pianos on state costs), the average per capita income in North Korea is at a destitute $1 800, com-parable to that of Kenya or the Côte d’Ivoire. North Korea, while squander-ing its resources on weapons and lux-uries for the ruling elite, has allowed to let between 600 000 and 2 500 000 people starve to death.

The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea estimates that the nation’s system of concentration and detention camps currently holds 120 000 people. Over 400 000 people have already died in these camps- torture, starvation, disease and exe-cution are the most common causes of death.

The camps cover areas of up to 250 km² and can easily be detected on satellite images. In

2013, Amnesty International has re-ported the expansion of some camps.

The few existing witness accounts have emphasized the arbi-trary cruelty. Guards are instructed to regard prisoners as slaves. One security officer admitted to having ordered the execution of 31 people from five families in a col-lective punishment, only because one member of a family had attempted to escape the camp. Others have recounted seeing family members being raped and pris-oners having to dig their own graves.

Jee Heon, who was in a wom-en’s jail, watched a newborn being drowned:

“Inmates who were pregnant usually gave birth to dead babies, but there was one case when the baby was born alive. So we were watching this baby and we were so happy. But suddenly we heard footsteps. The security agent came in and this agent of the Bowibu [the secret po-lice] said that usually when a baby is born we would wash it in a bowl of water, but this agent told us to put the baby in the water upside down. The mother was begging . . . but this agent kept beating this woman. And the baby, since it was just born, was crying. And the mother, with her shaking hands picked up the baby

and she put the baby face-down in the water.The baby stopped crying and we saw this water bubble coming out of the mouth of the baby.And there was an old lady who helped with the labour, she picked up the baby’s dead body from the bowl of water and left the room quietly.”

Moreover, prisoners are fre-quently subject to human experimentation. They are

used to test suffocating gases or for inexperienced surgeons to perform unnecessary surgeries.

Millions are suffering- while the UN turns its back, shuts its eyes and decides to discuss developed coun-tries’ obesity issues.

Raphaela Waschnig

InternationalNorth Korea: Abject Poverty and Nazi-Like Concentration CampsThere is no way out. Roughly 25 million people are living under the extremely oppressive regime of Kim Jong-Un, facing utmost poverty and fearing severe punishments on a daily basis. North Korea is estimated to hold as many as 120 000 people in its tremendous system of concentration camps.

Photo: 80 people were killed at this public execution in 2013 “for viewing South Korean movies and owning Bibles”

“Over 400,000 people have already died in these camps- torture, starvation, disease and execution are the most common causes of death.”

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The G20 Summit: Leaders’ Fortunes and MisfortunesThe leaders’ high aspirations and Putin, the “verbal punching bag”...

Held on the 15th and 16th of November in Brisbane, Queensland, the summit

allowed for world leaders to discuss a wide range of global economic issues and to use their collective power to find solutions to widespread issues.

The summit’s conclusions were concise and powerful. It was stated that raising global growth to deliver better living standards and quality jobs for people across the world was the leaders’ highest priority. They based their conclusions upon acting together to lift growth and create jobs, building a stronger, more resil-ient global economy and strengthen-ing global institutions.

The “verbal punching bag”

Vladimir Putin rushed off to his private jet before the conclusions of the summit were even declared – he certainly did not have a very nice couple of days. Putin became a “verbal punching bag” for many of the G20 leaders, whom criticized him for recent occurrences in Ukraine. Ca-nadian Prime Minister Harper greeted Putin

by saying “I guess I’ll shake your hand but I’ll only have one thing to say to you – get out of Ukraine.” The Australian leader Tony Abbott accused him, publicly, of “trying to relive past glories of the Soviet Union.”

Tony Abbott, who hosted the event, did not have a great time either. He began a private retreat with all leaders by complaining of Australian issues and the difficulties of getting Australians to spend $7 in fees when they visited the doctor rather than focusing on the global picture. Leaders stated they believed Abbott was “weird and graceless.”

On the other hand, Obama, on his three-country Asian tour, made trade deals and new climate change ini-tiatives. Chinese President Xi Jinping also began his own climate change initiatives and made a historic hand-shake with regional rival, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, marking the potential beginning of de-escala-tion of tensions between China and

Japan over territorial disputes in the East China Sea.

After the G20 Summit

The G20 Summit also dealt with issues regarding the recent Ebola epidemic, with the conclusion that the leaders are committed to mobilizing resources

to combat the disease. However, they stopped

short of agreeing to a global pandemic fund. Although the

leaders issued a joint statement declaring they are “committed to do

what is necessary to ensure interna

tion-al effort

can extinguish the outbreak and address its medi-um-term economic and humanitarian costs,” the lack of urgency and specific commitments, according to Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Helen Szoke, mean there is a real risk the U.N. tar-gets will not being achieved.

In January, the IMF trimmed its global growth forecast for 2015-16 to 3.5%. Christine Lagarde, manag-ing director of the IMF, also warned of economies being “stuck in the shallow waters of sub-par growth and meager job creation”, accentuat-ing the importance of the three “I’s”: Implementation, Investment, and Inclusive growth.

Indeed, recent reports have shown a stark decline in new Ebola cases, but the epidemic continues to abate economic growth in the region.

With the Ebola epidemic on the rise and reported declines in econom-ic growth projections, will the G20 leaders be able to reach their employ-ment targets from Brisbane?

Virginia Nizza

6 The EYE International

South Africa: UnpluggedSouth Africa is struggling to meet its energy demands, again. Eskom, the country’s main electricity utility, has reintroduced its infamous “load shedding” policy, a rolling blackout in a country that is actually very rich in resources. The economy is stagnating and the situation isn’t bound to change any time soon...

The cause of the energy crisis is wide-ly-debated. The most imminent cause is a maintenance backlog, which will

take about 20 to 30 months to resolve. On the other hand, the country was also destined to have an electricity crisis due to the millions of people consuming electricity through the illegal branching of mainlines. Eskom announced that it is working to complete the building of new capacity in order to meet the country’s growing energy demands.

Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa, has stated that “the problem is that energy was structured racially to serve a particular race, not the majority.” This is in-deed true; however, the Apartheid ended in 1994, when the ANC, Zuma’s party, got into power. Twenty-one years seem like abun-dant time to fix the problem.

The government frequently points out that 11 million people have gained access to electricity since the Apartheid. This surely contributes to the aggravation of the situ-ation, but residential use accounts for only 18% of average yearly consumption.

This is not the first time that Eskom fails to provide “Power for the People.” A similar rash of blackouts has cost the

country billions of rand in 2008. Opposition politicians and business leaders have called for privatization or at least a de-monopoli-zation, but labour unions have long fought any steps towards privatization.

Eskom has recently suspended four of its executives, among them CEO Tshedi-so Matona, who was appointed less

than eight months ago. “This was done in the best interests of our stakeholders,” said chairman Zola Tsotsi.

Eskom is not the only ailing state-run firm. South African Airways is highly indebt-ed, and the postal service is perturbed by strikes. The country’s vice-president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has agreed to oversee some of these firms. Since then, there have been almost no improvements. In fact, improve-ments are not expected any time soon, possibly only in years. There is quite literally no light at the end of the tunnel.

The abysmal electricity crisis is expected

to cost South Africa around 0,3% of GDP growth. This is rather alarming, since the economy is almost stagnating at a growth rate of only 1.4% in 2014.

A South African resident explains what load-shedding means to the average Joe out there. “It’s not nice when you come home and find yourself unable to watch TV or cook… but I think dentists have it worst. Imagine having instruments in your pa-tient’s mouth and suddenly the power is off.”

In their frustration, the people of South Africa have resorted to some dark humour. “Q: What did South Africa use before can-dles? A: Electricity.”

Raphaela Waschnig

Photo: Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa

The electricity crisis is expected to cost South Africa around 0.3% of GDP growth.

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Science

Science

The Rosetta Mission is com-prised of two space craft, Rosetta (the satellite used

for transportation and commu-nication) and Philae (the actual lander) which landed on the comet “Churyumov–Gerasimen-ko”, named after its discoverers, or “67P”- for those of us who struggle to say their Russian names! The comet was discov-ered in 1969 but the mission did not finally launch until 2004, 35 years later. Rosetta took 10 years to reach 67P but did not miss the opportunity to get a fly-by on a few less important comets.

The whole purpose of this mission was to get definite evi-dence on what comets are really made of. Until now, we could only guess at their composition from flying impacters into them and studying their debris. This is where the mission got its name from- the entire thing is actually a big metaphor for the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics!

In 1802, the Rosetta stone was found in Egypt with the same text written in both hiero-

glyphics and Greek, allowing for researchers at the time to cor-rectly translate the hieroglyphics by comparing the two texts and studying an obelisk from the island of Philae. The ESA (Europe-an Space Agency) hopes to use the Rosetta space craft in a similar way, enabling them to further understand comets and how they might have affected our planet during its formation.

The Rosetta Mission is very important as it accomplished many new boundaries for Europe-an space-science:

in situ analysis of a comet.6. The first European close

encounter with bodies in the asteroid belt.

7. The first spacecraft ever to fly close to Jupiter’s orbit using solar cells as its main power source.

Due to the distance Philae had to travel, there was a delay of 28 light-minutes

either way. So when mission control wanted to send a signal, it would take almost an hour to get confirmation that anything happened at all. Therefore, it was required for most of the mission to be automated, especially the landing.

Philae’s landing did not go as anticipated; it was hoped that when it reached the surface to fire its four harpoons into the ice, it would pin itself down and fire its cold-gas thrusters to ensure a good connection. Unfortunate-ly, neither worked and Philae bounced twice (0.38 m/s and 0.03 m/s) before landing for definite. For Philae, this was not the end of the problems; Philae had landed balanced on three of its four legs in the shadow of a cliff. This led to Philae slowly draining power until contact was lost at 00:36 UTC on 15 November.

Philae ran out of power on 14th November 2014 and isn’t expected to gain enough charge until the comet gets closer to the sun, roughly by August 2015.

Until then, sleep well Philae!

Sam Taylor

1. The first spacecraft to orbit a comet’s nucleus.2. The first spacecraft to fly alongside a comet as it heads towards the inner Solar System.3. The first spacecraft to examine from close prox-imity how a frozen comet is transformed by the warmth of the Sun.4. The first controlled touch-down on a comet nucleus.5. The first images from a comet’s surface and the first

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Treating Brain Injuries Using Stem Cells

There are various types of stem cells in our bodies, some appearing only at the earliest stages of our lives, some others remaining in our bodies through-

out life.But why are stem cells so different from any other cells

found in our bodies?The answer is quite simple; stem cells are undifferen-

tiated, meaning they are able to develop into specialized cell types. This unique ability provides this type of cells with an enormous medical potential.

Stem cell research is probably one of the fastest devel-oping areas of research at this time. Thousands of scien-tists are exploring these cells, hoping to find solutions to a range of medical problems, ranging from baldness to leukaemia to brain injury.

Stem cell treatment is a commonly discussed topic with both arguments for and against it. However, nobody can deny that stem cell treatment is effective. Leukaemia,

better known as bone marrow cancer, is commonly treated using bone marrow stem cells. Stargardt’s disease treatment has also shown massive progression with the use of stem cells. The newest, spectacular discovering involving stem cells, however, is the treatment of brain injuries.

Scientists at CEU Cardenal Herrera University were able to trigger the formation of new blood vessels in the brains of mice, using bone marrow stem cells and drug therapy, a process essential for the recovery of damaged brain tissue.

It was discovered that, even though the transplanted bone marrow stem cells disappeared from the brain in 16 days, new cells kept forming. The brain tissue was regenerat-ing.

This discovery had a huge impact on the medical world. If this process could be successfully applied to human brains as well, it would most likely be the solution to treating strokes, learning defects, Alzheimer`s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Ekaterina Heim

The EYE 9Science

What are Cardiovascular Diseases?

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are diseases caused by the malfunction of the heart muscle, the heart valves and/or the blood

vessels. They are the leading cause of death worldwide and account for about 17 million deaths per year. The most common CVD is the Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). It is caused by plaque, made up of fat, calcium and cholesterol gradually building up inside the arteries, causing them to narrow. This condition, know as athero-sclerosis, partially or completely blocks the oxy-gen-rich blood from reaching the heart, leading to angina (discomfort or pain in the area, where the artery is partially blocked) or a heart attack (death of the heart muscle cells, caused by the complete block of the artery).

Often the first symptoms of a CVD are heart attacks or strokes, both of which can be fatal in some cases. Other than that,

symptoms mostly include angina, arrhythmia breathing difficulties, vomiting, fainting, breaking into cold sweat and nausea, as well as weakness in several body parts. If experiencing any of these symptoms, medical care should be sought out immediately.

To diagnose CVD there are a number of tests the patient should usually undergo, such as the Electrocardiogram (EKG), which records

the electrical activity of the heart, or an echocardi-ography, a method using sound waves to recreate movement or an X-ray of the chest. Furthermore, the patient might have to undergo a stress test, which requires the patient to exercise in order to expedite the heart rate, and in some cases a cardiac catheter-ization is carried out.

CVDs can be treated in numerous ways, mostly using medications. However, sometimes surgical operations like coronary artery bypasses, valve re-pairs and replacements, balloon angioplasty or heart transplantations are needed.

When treating the CVDs with medications, most often beta-blockers and/or statins have to be taken. CVDs can often be prevented by adapting to a healthier lifestyle. For example, a healthy diet should exclude high-fat foods and overweight patients should try to lose weight. Furthermore, if possible, physical activity should be increased and stress should be reduced. It is also essential to quit smok-ing and avoid second-hand exposure to smoke as much as possible.

Ekaterina Heim

10 The EYE Science

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The Rise of Virtual RealityThe year is 2015- and we are getting ever closer to that futuristic, space-age technology that we were promised all along. Although we might be further away from flying cars and hover-boards than we may like, virtual reality has come on in leaps and bounds.

The main concept of virtual reality headsets is to use sensors to detect your head’s orientation and to then transfer that data to a computer that can use it for a

wide variety of programs, ranging from games to virtual cinemas. The system uses a single screen that displays two images side by side and two lenses that can make the flat image seem 3D to the wearer, providing an immersive experience.

Oculus Rift

The current interest in this field by consumer and manufacturer alike was spurred on by the “Oculus Rift” which was put on Kickstarter in 2012 and managed to raise $2 437 429, allowing it to go into full production of its pro-totype. This is notable as it was the trendsetter of this new wave of headsets that can almost seamlessly replicate any world to the person wearing the device. The “Rift” has gone through many prototypes throughout its development, slowly adding new features and increasing the immersive experience. This involves using more conductive materi-als in the wires to reduce the time from input to output, higher resolution screens to prevent the wearer from seeing the individual pixels and, most notably, the use of infra-red lights to track the head’s movement and not just it’s rotation.

Sony’s Morpheus

Although the Rift held the lead in the headset race, Sony soon caught up with their “Project Morpheus” announced in March 2014, a virtual reality headset designed exclusively for the PlayStation 4 Console. It uses the same systems as the Rift, but does not support 3D movement and is limited to only officially-licenced Sony PlayStation 4 consoles, limiting its utilisation as it can’t be used for smaller experimental projects and power intensive software. Due to the technical limitations of the PS4, many developers are shying away from making new content that will work with the headset. Hence, the popularity of the device is declining.

Microsoft HoloLens

In January 2015 Microsoft announced their new virtual reality headset, which, unlike the many other headsets on the market, uses a transparent visor-screen that displays super-inposed images onto the realworld, allowing the wearer to display virtual screens on walls and display 3D models that the user can observe using more tactile controls than on a screen. The device boasts of being cordless and lightweight, but unfortunalty has not had any publicly available tests to confirm the weight or the battery life or even how successful the 3D modeling is.

Nintendo’s Virtual Boy

This virtual reality headset, unlike the others, is not new at all. Virtual reality has actually existed for a lot longer than most people realise. It was released in 1995 by Nintendo and consisted of a single screen that had a mirror to quickly flick the image to either eye and make it seem 3D to the wearer. Unfortunately, to keep the costs down, Nintendo was forced to build the headset with only red lights, leading many wear-ers to experiencing head aches and thus causing a large loss of sales.

With the sudden increase in popularity of virtual real-ity headsets we need to ask ourselves, is this trend here to stay or is it gimmick that will be faded out

like Nintendo’s Virtual Boy never to see the light of day again? Either way, these are versatile products that can offer many different possibilities for all users from gamers to architects and beyond.

Sam Taylor

Science

12 The EYE

TravelCertainly, many of you have been to island

beaches, but you have probably never been to a beach hidden in an under-

ground cavern like in Marieta Islands, created in the 1900’s as a bombsite to prepare for the First World War. Difficulties of accessing the beach are overcome by using helicopters, making the experience even more unique. It may seem that in such a small place all that can be done is swimming, but the turquoise water is home to 103 different species, including whales whose sounds can be heard echoing in the walls of the cavern. Places To VisitT h i s M o n t h’s

The holidays are rapidly approaching and you are probably wondering- Which places should I visit? Here are some suggestions including the most surreal places in the world.

The hidden beach would surely be an incredible experience- or how about a beach without any sand at all? Due to the

sea weed Sueda, instead of being covered by sand or pebble, the beach in Panjin, China, is completely covered in bright red. This wouldn’t be a great place to visit during winter, but rather in April, when the magnificent seaweed

begins to grow. The area is home to more than 260 bird species and 399 endangered wild animal species.

So where will you go? To the pristine white sand beaches in Mexico or the extraordi-nary Red Beach in China?

Heidi Berger

Photo: Red Beach in Panjin, China

Photo: The hidden beach in Marieta Islands, Mexico

Travel

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ismE y e s o n

Summer 101: What To Do This Summer

No school for two months? Many of you will seek to spend the summer holidays relaxing after a long, te-dious school year filled with studying, homework and tight timetables. However, through various activities, including internships and volunteering, these nine weeks provide the perfect opportunity to improve your résumés and increase your chances of attending a prestigious university.

Internships are the perfect way to de-velop skills which will be required for college and for employment

as an adult. Therefore, they truly impress universities, particularly if you assume a challenging leadership position. For example, you could assist in a summer camp or intern at a renowned law firm.

Volunteering enables you to both develop your leader-ship skills and give back to your community. You may choose to volunteer in a local charity, such as ‘Les enfants de Frankie’ in Monaco, or abroad, in coun-tries such as India or Romania (visit http://www.projects-abroad.org/ for more information).

Are you ready for an adventure and experiencing wanderlust? Travelling is a significant mean of broadening your horizons and increasing your awareness of other people and cultures, as well as ac-quiring useful language skills. Campus visits are valuable experiences, as they give you an insight into university life and assist you in selecting the colleges you wish to apply to.

THIMUN 2015

Most universities favour students who spent their summers furthering their education. Taking classes enables you to explore career options

and improve your skills in the subjects you’re struggling with. Moreover, many camps offer specialized classes to improve your SAT/ACT skills.

Summer enrichment programmes are a fun, yet educational way of spending your summer. You can attend residential or day programmes in your local

area, at university campuses, etc. They can be explorative, fun and academic- all at once! Pursuing your passions and exploring different career paths can help you become a better-rounded person. From my personal experience, I can recommend the ‘Explo at Yale’ camp. I developed lasting friendships and improved my SAT skills.

Typically, the best Summer Enrichment Programmes take place at prestigious universities, e.g. at Harvard, the MIT and Stanford.

Constance Paefgen

Eyes on ISM

THIMUN is a five-day simulation of the United

Nations for secondary students, taking place in The Hague, Nether-lands. 3 500 students and teachers from 200 schools embarked on an eventful journey, including 14 students from the International School of Monaco.

Among them was Jen-na Pakkanen, who was

chosen by the organizers to act as a Chair. The focus

was solution-oriented, co-operative debate. Participants

have recounted their experiences for The Eye:

“I most enjoyed meeting new people. The atmosphere was constructive throughout the

conference.” “It was both a social and an academic success. I devel-oped meaningful friendships and enjoyed the privilege of spending free time independently from the teachers.”

A Briefing About MUN in The Hague, Netherlands

14 The EYE ISM