February 2020 Issue International School of Florence Volume 8, Issue 3 What’s in this issue? THE NEXT STEP FOR BREXIT, 1 CYBER WARFARE, 2 PRAYING FOR RAIN, 4 A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE WILD FIRES, 5 PREPAREDNESS, NOT PANIC, 7 THE FALL OF THE PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER, 9 CRISPR: A BLESSING OR A CURSE?, 10 TRUMP’S PLAN: PEACE OR INSTABILITY, 12 THE HOLY CITY TURNS POLITICAL, 13 BLACK MAMBA LIVES ON, 14 WHEN LIES BECOME TRUTH, 16 THE RIGHT ON THE RISE, 18 TEEN DEPRESSION IN THE MODERN WORLD, 20 THE TWO POPES: THE TRANSITION FROM BENEDICT TO FRANCIS, 21 LITTLE WOMEN: ADVANCING CLASSICS ON THE BIG SCREEN, 23 THE TIKTOK TAKOVER, 25 STAFF Editor-in-Chief Artists Niccolò Platt Jacqueline Obert Dajanique Bonner Co-Editor Giulia Oosterwijk Advisor Omid Sheikh John Pitonzo Peter Wood Front cover by Jacqueline Obert Layout Editors Giulia Oosterwijk Back cover by Dajanique Bonner Jacqueline Obert THE NEXT STEP FOR BREXIT By Stella Franceschi valid, will be ineffective, as the British government is not open to an extension to the transition period, and any requests to extend it will have to be made by June. This means that if no trade deal has been agreed upon and ratified by the end of the year, the UK will face the prospect of tariffs on exports to and imports from the EU. The Prime Minister argued that the negotiation should be straightforward, as the UK is completely aligned with EU rules. On the other hand, critics have Brexit was originally supposed to happen on 29 pointed out that the UK wishes to have the freedom March 2019. Three and a half years after the to diverge from EU rules, so it can make referendum was held, and given the European agreements with other countries, which would Parliament green light, the UK formally withdrew make negotiations more difficult. from the EU on 31 January, as Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal has officially become law, receiving royal assent from the Queen and having cleared all its stages in parliament. This has only marked the beginning of the next step in the Brexit process. The UK has entered a transition period until 31 December 2020, in which the UK's trade relationship with the EU will remain the same. In the meantime, the two sides will negotiate a free trade deal. During this period, the UK will effectively remain in the EU's customs And it’s not just a trade deal that needs to be union and single market, but will be outside its sorted out. The UK must agree on how it is going political institutions, and there will be no British to cooperate with the EU on security and law members in the European Parliament. This free enforcement. The UK is set to leave the European trade deal is vital, as the UK wants to retain as Arrest Warrant scheme and will have to agree on a much access as possible to the EU’s services and replacement. Many other aspects of the UK's future institutions. relationship with the EU, such as data sharing and The time available is short, because Britain security, will need to be agreed on as well. Much is wants to wrap things up by the end of the year. at stake for Europe’s most senior democracy, and However, this deadline is seen as breathtakingly there is a lot of uncertainty regarding its future. optimistic, and almost imposible by many experts, who believe that the UK will need more than 11 months to conclude the deal. Their opinion, while GLOBAL 1 CYBER WARFARE: 21ST CENTURY TERRORISM By Jack Bach Cyberattacks on a government’s computer systems could even be used to assist conventional war efforts by preventing communication between government officials, enabling attackers to steal and release classified or personal information. DoS attacks, a growing concern in the tech world, can be expected to be leveraged for cyber warfare. Attackers are now The Digital Age has brought countless advantages using denial of service methods to hit to our society. However, because of the strong governments with massive sustained bandwidth influence technology and artificial intelligence, attacks, while simultaneously infecting them which now dominate our everyday lives, people can with spyware and malware to destroy or collect abuse the information we put online. With this, a critical data. These kinds of attacks have the new form of exploitation has been gaining traction in ability to infuse misinformation into their target’s the past years, and could put privacy in great danger: networks in order to create outrages, scandals, or Cyber Warfare. chaos. As a general term, Cyber Warfare refers to cyber attacks from one nation-state to another. It can also refer to particular terrorist or hacker groups. In all scenarios, these attacks are aimed at fulfilling particular motives. Cyber attacks can come in many forms, the most common of which are viruses, computer worms or malware that can take down water supplies, transportation systems, power grids, critical infrastructure and military systems; denial- of-service (DoS) attacks, which occur when In just 2019 alone, there were dozens of attackers take action to prevent legitimate users from alarming attacks aimed at stealing sensitive accessing targeted devices, networks, or computer information or collapsing the U.S government's systems; the hacking or theft of critical data from infrastructure. For instance, last May, a institutions, governments, or businesses; and Tennessee based contractor for the U.S Customs ransomware that encrypts computer systems until and Border Protection suffered a breach in which victims pay ransom. hackers were able to steal photos and license These forms of attacks could be devastating to plates of up to 100,000 people. In the same countries when used on a large scale. For instance, attack, detailed information of the contractor’s attacks on nation’s utility systems could cause surveillance hardware was also stolen. The GLOBAL 2 hardware had been implemented at multiple U.S. In May of 2018, Bezos received a video via entry ports. Days later, the hackers had posted this Whatsapp from Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, information on the dark web. This information was Mohammed bin Salman. While the video may crucial for U.S. border control, yet, in the span of a have only been 4.4 megabytes large, it installed a few days, it was stolen and posted all over the virus which managed to leak personal texts and internet. photos belonging to Bezos. If it can happen to a In another instance targeted towards the corporate man worth over 124 billion dollars, you can be sure it can happen to just about anyone. world, the American Medical Collection Agency was These are only a few examples of the dozens discovered to have been breached in March of 2019. of large-scale attacks cyber attacks that have In this hack, 20 million patients’ first and last names, taken place over the last two years. These attacks dates of birth, phone numbers, addresses, dates of can happen to anyone; it doesn’t matter if you’re medical services, health care providers, and data on one of the wealthiest men in the world or a balances due had been stolen. government company. Everyone is vulnerable. Not even the most powerful and protected people Nowadays, our personal information is just are immune to these types of attacks. Last month it another form of profit for hackers. Are you was released that Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO worried? I sure am. of Amazon, had unintentionally downloaded a form of malware onto his phone. GLOBAL 3 PRAYING FOR RAIN By Greta Fischer and the bushfires). The bushfires are also connected to our school community. Many at ISF have shown concern for the bushfires. Many of our students are from Australia, as well as there being previous ISF students who are currently living in Australia, causing many students here wonder what they can do to help. Australia is burning. The Amazon is burning. What to do to combat the bushfires: Siberia is burning. The causes of the massive Australian and Siberian fires are environmental, If students want, they can donate to whilst the Amazon fires are part of a government organizations and charities which are preventing deforestation plan to raise more cattle. Although bushfires from spreading, providing firefighters not at the same level as those of Australia, the with resources, and rescuing animals. To lower the Amazon, and Siberia, other countries such as risk of fires starting elsewhere, a good way to Sweden, Portugal, California, Alaska, and even prevent this is to lower the number of emissions Italy have seen similar wildfires occur in 2019. released from travelling and transportation of The Australian bushfires are the largest out of goods. This means limiting air travel, utilizing the fires and are causing the most damage. The public transport, cycling rather than using a car, fires started back in September, and only recently purchasing more local products, and lowering meat found relief in New South Wales when 20 of the 60 consumption. All these methods help the fires were extinguished by heavy rains. By now, 10 environment and lower the risk of more wildfires million hectares have burned, approximately 500 across the world. million animals have died and more than 20 There is no need for students to completely people, and an estimate of 6500 buildings have change their lifestyle, however, small actions can been burned to the ground. The smoke from the be made in everyone’s life that not only benefit fires reached New Zealand, which also explains the you, but also the planet.