Georgian party goes through overhaul, Mars and Earth may possess similar soils, Libyan civil war may be reignited, U.S. 'directly involved' in most high-profile terror plots, NSA employees routinely shared explicit content between each other, Russian history theme park may open in Moscow region. These issues in Voice of Russia's daily Press Review.
Izvestia reports that the Georgian government is going through a major overhaul. Head of the Cabinet of Ministers Irakly Garibashvili has announced that seven out of nineteen ministers are facing serious changes. Five of them have been dismissed: Environment, Refugee Affairs, Agriculture, Expat Community Affairs and Culture Ministers have been dismissed. Regional Development Minister was appointed Environment Protection Minister and Penitentiary Minister will oversee the Refugee Affairs Ministry, the daily notes. As soon as the rest of ministry heads are appointed, the parliament will have two weeks to cast a vote of confidence in the new government. A representative of the United National Movement, the party of the former president Mikhail Saakashvili which failed to secure a majority in the recently-elected parliament, told the newspaper that they will not vote for the new cabinet, calling the changes “cosmetics.” However, the article notes that the Georgian Dream – the majority coalition – has enough votes to pass a vote of confidence. According to the newspaper, apart from public changes, the government is preparing for a variety of outcomes, including the nationalists attempting to destabilize the government.
3.7 million year old Martian soil gives reason to believe that Mars will be able to sustain life, Moskovskiy Komsomolets writes, referring to the latest discovery made by the Curiosity rover, roaming the surface of the Red Planet. Images taken at the Gale Crater were identified by scientists as Earth-like with cracked surfaces similar to soil in the Antarctic Dry Valleys and Chile's Atacama Desert. The newspaper reports that a chemical analysis has shown that the Martian soil is indeed structurally similar to terrestrial soil which contains microbes. University of Oregon geologist Gregory Retallack, who made the discovery, believes that his research proves real possibility of Mars sustaining life not only in the past, but in the present. His research is based on mineral and chemical data published by scientists who work on the Curiosity mission. Retallack highlighted that Curiosity is currently focused on analysis of younger soil samples which are located closer to the surface and are not as capable of sustaining life as deeper layers. The scientist believes further research is necessary, and a new mission should go deeper into the surface of the Red Planet.
Tripoli has once again become a war zone, Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes, with two sides fighting for the international airport, despite a truce which was signed July 18. More than 50 people died in the clashes, over 100 were injured. So-called Zintan forces which support Khalifa Haftar, a senior military officer of Libya, are armed with Grad rockets and currently have control of the airport. However, islamist militants have significantly damaged the infrastructure and hardware in the area; according to the daily, 90% of aircraft have been damaged. Overall, combat action has already cost the airport hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, according to Libyan officials. European Union’s mission to Libya has announced that it’s concerned with ongoing clashes in Tripoli and called for a peaceful resolution, saying that the only way to normalize the situation is through political regulation. While the majority of international organizations, including the UN, have evacuated their missions to the country, Libyan authorities have requested foreign assistance, the newspaper reminds.
The Guardian reports that according to a new report, nearly all of the highest-profile domestic terrorism plots in the United States since 9/11 featured the "direct involvement" of government agents or informants. Some of the controversial "sting" operations "were proposed or led by informants", bordering on entrapment by law enforcement; however, one of the reasons the stings persist is that the courtroom obstacles to proving entrapment are significant. The report, released on Monday by Human Rights Watch, raises questions about the US criminal justice system's ability to respect civil rights and due process in post-9/11 terrorism cases, the daily notes, adding that it portrays a system that features not just the sting operations but secret evidence, anonymous juries, extensive pretrial detentions and convictions significantly removed from actual plots. "In some cases the FBI may have created terrorists out of law-abiding individuals by suggesting the idea of taking terrorist action or encouraging the target to act," The report focuses primarily on 27 cases and accordingly stops short of drawing systemic conclusions, the article notes.
The former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden said in a wide-ranging interview published on Sunday that the oversight of surveillance programs was so weak that members of the United States military working at the spy agency sometimes shared sexually explicit photos they intercepted, The New York Times reports. Snowden said that type of sharing occurred once every couple of months and was “seen as the fringe benefits of surveillance positions.” He said that this was never reported and that the system for auditing surveillance programs was “incredibly weak.” The whistleblower also said the British government often pioneered the most invasive surveillance programs because its intelligence services operate with fewer restrictions intended to protect individual privacy than its counterparts in the United States and other allies. Because it has fewer restrictions, British intelligence platforms “are used as a testing ground” for programs of all five intelligence partners, a group referred to as “Five Eyes,” which includes Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, the whistleblower said.
Russian billionaire Konstantin Malofeyev has signed an agreement with a French theme park company to build Russia's first historically themed amusement park with investments totaling up to 18 billion rubles ($512 million), The Moscow Times writes. "We want to create not so much an entertainment park as a place for several hours of immersion in the history of Russia through a tremendous performance," Malofeyev said, adding that the project is unprecedented in the Russian tourism market. To bring the idea to life, Malofeyev, founder of the Marshall Capital investment group, has teamed up with Puy du Fou International, the company behind the popular historical theme park Puy du Fou in western France, which attracts about 1.5 million visitors a year. A representative of the Moscow region's investment department confirmed knowledge of the plans. Malofeyev did not specify the exact location of the park, but said that it will be built on 300 hectares of land near the Hotel Tsargrad — a hotel and entertainment complex that Malofeyev owns in the Moscow region, adding that the park will be opened in two to three years, the article concludes.
