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Spot Report by OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine: SMM threatened at gunpoint near Lobacheve in Luhansk region

This report is for media and the general public.

At 10:10 on 2 August, an armed man at a known Ukrainian Armed Forces position wearing military-style clothing with no markings stopped two SMM vehicles in government-controlled areas travelling east on the road from Lopaskyne (government-controlled, 24km north-west of Luhansk) to Lobacheve (government-controlled, 17km north-west of Luhansk).  When one of the SMM monitors stepped out of the vehicle to speak with the man, the latter chambered a round into his submachine gun (AKSU-74) and after removing the weapon’s safety, pointed it at the SMM monitor and put his finger on the trigger. Speaking in Russian, the armed man told the SMM “Stop. You are not going anywhere”.

The SMM requested the armed man call his commander, which he did. Standing approximately two metres away, the man kept his gun pointed at the SMM monitor and spoke to someone in Russian on his handheld radio. Approximately five to seven minutes later, another man arrived at the scene carrying an assault rifle (AK-74) with a silencer. He was accompanied by three other armed men carrying assault rifles, some of whom appeared to be intoxicated, and appeared to be in a position of authority. Some of the men were dressed in military-style clothing. Using Russian and speaking in an aggressive manner, the man said that he and the other armed men present were members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The SMM monitor asked the man who appeared to be in charge to order the armed man to lower his weapon. He did so but the weapon was not made safe.

Speaking with the commander of the group, the SMM monitor tried to diffuse the situation by explaining the Mission’s mandate and after approximately fifteen minutes, the SMM was allowed to leave the area and proceed to Lobacheve to complete their tasks.

The SMM returned safely to its base at 16:00. The Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination was informed.

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‘The Golden Bachelorette’ Finale: Joan Vassos Chooses [SPOILER] in an Emotional Ending

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Český Honza hledá nevěstu: Reality show Bachelor je trochu jako Komando, říká Martin Bartkovský

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Joan Vassos got engaged on 'The Golden Bachelorette' finale. She says she left the show happier than when she started.

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Grant Ellis' season of 'The Bachelor' is already teasing plenty of drama to come. Here's what to know.

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'I haven't liked...': Abhishek Bachchan's statement on Aishwarya Rai's cooking goes viral amid divorce rumours

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Johann Sebastian Bach - Later in life Bach became blind - Bach died in Lepzig, Germany, July 28, 1750 A.D. - Bach was buried in an unmarked grave, for an unknown reason, in the churchyard of St. John's {Note: It was also common at that time for famous

At age 15 Bach joined the choir at St. Michael's church. At age 19 Bach left St. Michael's and became a professional organist at St. Boniface. Bach studied music until 1703. In 1707, when Bach was 22 he married his cousin Maria Barbara. Maria had 7 children with Bach. Three of them died. In 1716, when Bach was thirty-one, he was put in jail for thirty-one days because people didn't believe that he shouldn't be writing that kind of music at that time. In those 31 days, Bach wrote five to ten musicals. Those five to ten musicals he wrote when he was in jail turned into two hundred musicals. In 1717 Bach became the court conductor at Anhalt-Cothen. 14 years later in 1721 Maria died leaving Bach to take care of four children. Bach was thirty-six at this time. One year later when Bach was thirty-seven in 1722 he married another woman. This woman's name was Anna Magdalina. Anna had thirteen children. ... Bach wrote 300 religious and nonreligious pieces called cantatas. Some people think that bach was the best composer of all time. Bach was a very religious man. Bach showed his religions in his music. Bach joined an orchestra at Weimar as a violinist. His home town was famous for music. One time when Bach was young, he walked thirty-five miles to a town named Hamburg to hear a concert.



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Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 facelift review: Bollywood star

There are various ways to say you’ve arrived in life, and the Maybach badge is one way of doing it in style. When it was put onto the GLS, though, not only was it a power statement, it added a cool quotient, too. It doesn’t just say you’ve arrived; it shouts it. 

Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 facelift design

The 2024 version continues the pimped-out look with loads of bling all over, but with more Maybach logos and badges all over the car. We counted 61, with surely a few more tucked away where we did not notice. So, if you’re looking for understated, maybe look elsewhere. The pomp and attitude extend to the now-famous Free Drive Mode (or Bounce Mode, as it’s lovingly called on Instagram), which is meant to bounce the SUV on its air springs to unstick you from soft sand, but in reality, it syncs up nicely with your favourite rap song.

It’s easy to get carried away talking about this car’s many fun elements, but let’s get to the changes for the 2024 version. The flashy chrome grille that stares at you like a flashing grin has been tweaked slightly with thicker outlines. The bumper is redone, and where the air intakes were, you get a multitude of logos made of plastic, which seem amiss and don’t look Maybach-level. 

Festooned with Maybach logos—excessively, in places.

While it comes in five regular colours, if you want to stand out from the crowd, you can get dual-tone paint options and even up the wheels from 22 to 23 inches. In fact, since this is a CBU import, you can pretty much have it tailor-made. At the rear is a new tail-lamp signature, and the Maybach chrome tailpipe surrounds are back. 

Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 facelift interior and features

Inside, there aren’t many changes, but here, too, there’s plenty of customisation potential. The open-pore wood in this car looks lavish, coupled with the Nappa leather with contrast double stitch. The steering wheel is new, the MBUX software is now the latest version and gets a fingerprint sensor, and the new graphics are crisp and clean. The graphics quality can be truly experienced when you pull up the Energiser Package menu, which combines sounds, visuals, ambient light and massages to transport you to your happy place, be that a forest, a club, or, in our case, some summer rain on a sweltering day like the one when we tested the GLS.

First Class split-cabin option is one worth ticking for the lavish feeling it gives, aided by lots of isolating tech.

The Maybach GLS now also gets Level 2 ADAS, and the features list remains extensive, with 11.6-inch rear screens, a 590W Burmester sound system, and heating, ventilation and massage functions for all four seats. There’s a tablet controller for rear passengers, blinds and wireless charging. Though there are a lot of options, Mercedes has kept the standard specification for India high.

One option you simply must tick is the First Class rear seating package with the fixed central console, 43.5 degrees of recline, and leg rests. You can then opt for a refrigerator, but be warned that it eats up a lot of boot space, and honestly, it might be easier just to put a cooler in the boot. 

Climbing into the Maybach GLS is a haul up as the SUV rides quite high, but like before, there’s a cool retractable side step that folds out as you open the door, like a valet preparing your entry. Once in the rear seats, you’re transported into a world of first-class travel. Reclined, with my legs up, all cool and comfy, the Mumbai traffic seemed to be far away as I was ferried along serenely in the well-insulated cabin. 

Huge, motorised side step is essential and super cool.

A lot of tech has gone into ensuring passengers feel that level of luxury, not only in the silence of the cabin but also in the ride. In Maybach mode, the responses are softened: suspension, acceleration and gear changes. In fact, it’s so smooth that cutting through a construction zone makes me wonder whether the work has been completed. It’s thanks to the optional e-Active Body Control that reads the road ahead and pre-adjusts the suspension, so you feel like you’re floating. 

Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 facelift performance

But a petrolhead like me couldn’t stay pinned to a rear seat for long, and I switched over to the driver’s seat. First up, I toggled the drive mode to Sport, and as I accelerated away, I was amazed by how smoothly and quickly this 2.8-tonne luxury liner gained momentum. The 4.0-litre V8 was smooth and strong, delivering power from the get-go. The 9-speed auto shifted smoothly and seamlessly, keeping up the reputation of refined luxury. However, when you plunge your foot to the floor, it takes a breath before dropping down the gears. You can circumvent that pause with the paddles if you’re in a spirited mood. 

Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 facelift ride and handling

New tail-lamp pattern for 2024, but bling remains the name of the game.

The steering is light, letting you tuck into traffic gaps with ease you can’t imagine, and while it’s not quick, it does give you enough feedback around corners, too. There’s some roll around corners, but e-Active Body Control comes to the rescue again. Its Curve Mode will lean the car into corners to counter the roll, much like a bike. But the Maybach GLS is most comfortable cruising silently on a highway, ferrying its passengers on a cloud of comfort. It also has off-road modes and assistance, but I doubt owners in India will venture anywhere off the road in this car.

Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 facelift price and verdict

The new Maybach GLS 600 starts at Rs 3.35 crore, Rs 39 lakh higher than before. While the basic specification is good, you can spend as much as Rs 1.5 crore more on options, only some of which are fitted to this car. It gives you loads of attitude, a cool quotient, ultimate comfort, and luxury. And, oh yeah, it can dance, too.

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Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 facelift video review

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Mikhail Gorbachev, the first president of the USSR, turned 89 years old on March 2, 2020. Gorbachev is probably the most notorious politician in Russia, and many Russians still have mixed feelings about him. Of course, we all wish him good health to be able to celebrate his 90th anniversary next year. However, as time goes by, he will inevitably become a myth character. When he passes away, he will become the character of the myth about a man, who managed to single-handedly destroy the most powerful empire in history, having accomplished either a heroic feat or a terrible act of betrayal. According to opinion polls, more than 50 percent of Russians share a negative attitude about Gorbachev's role in the history of the USSR. A much smaller amount of Russians - ten percent - are grateful Gorbachev for destroying the Soviet Union that they despised. As many as eight percent of the polled said that they share a neutral attitude towards Mikhail Gorbachev. It was Gorbachev who nailed the USA to the wall It was Gorbachev who reprimanded the West for violating all agreements of his time. It was Gorbachev, who had every right to do so. Not so long ago, Mikhail Gorbachev said: "Crimea is Russia and let someone prove otherwise." When asked whether Putin had "imperialistic ambitions", taking into account the "annexation of the Crimea" and Russia's interference in the Syrian conflict, Gorbachev answered with a strong "no."




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Gorbachev's complex legacy is beyond the popular belief

Gorbachev's complex legacy is beyond the popular belief Expert comment NCapeling 3 September 2022

The last major figure with a decisive Cold War role, Mikhail Gorbachev was not as bad as Putin’s Russia portrays him, but also not as heroic as the West thinks.

Arguably the worst year of the Cold War since the Cuban Missile Crisis was 1983, with three major incidents which escalated East-West tensions – and any one of them could have led to a full-scale war.

The first was the Korean Airline KAL007 being shot down by an SU15 fighter aircraft for straying into Soviet airspace, killing all 269 passengers and crew. Then came the identification of signals from Soviet satellites as being incoming US intercontinental ballistic missiles – Colonel Stanislav Petrov, going against all protocols, thankfully decided to report them as a false alarm before he could be sure.

The third was perhaps the most dangerous, being the misinterpretation of a live-fire NATO exercise which was believed by some in both East Germany and Russia to be a front for an imminent attack.

The greatest disappointment in Gorbachev’s legacy was he completely believed the USSR could be reformed and still survive as an entity while others, such as Boris Yeltsin and Ronald Reagan, understood it had to be dismantled

All three incidents occurred in the few months following the infamous March 1983 ‘Star Wars’ speech by US president Ronald Reagan, in which he talked about nuclear arms control and laid out the US case for a ballistic missile defence programme.

At that time Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was the youngest serving member of the USSR Politburo, known to be a favourite of Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, and it is highly likely he had been aware of these close calls and was part of discussions within Kremlin decision-making circles.

A changemaker both inside and outside the USSR

Following the deaths of Andropov in 1984 and his replacement Konstantin Chernenko in 1985, Gorbachev’s appointment as general secretary of the Communist Party saw him immediately begin to change the Soviet Union from within – and also change relationships with the major Western powers, especially the US, Germany, and the UK.

His policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) were primarily aimed at internal reforms but translated into a major reset of international relations and international security. During his six years as leader, Gorbachev initiated many arms control negotiations which resulted in treaties and increased both the transparency and the confidence between the USSR and the US.

These included the 1986 Stockholm Accord which emanated from the Helsinki Process and allowed for the observation and inspection of large-scale military exercises, the 1985 resumption of the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks which lead to START I, and the 1987 INF Treaty in which the USSR ‘out-yessed’ the US – the most open and transparent disarmament treaty in terms of notification and verification measures ever agreed.

There was also a reciprocal moratorium on nuclear weapons tests starting from 1985 – which laid the groundwork for the 1996 CTBT – the 1991 Chemical Weapons Convention, and the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty.

The most dramatic moment of all was when Gorbachev and Reagan met at a summit in Reykjavik and came close to deciding to eliminate nuclear weapons – but the initiative failed to reach agreement, mainly because Reagan could not drop his commitment to ballistic missile defences and Gorbachev could not accept the offer of joint development.

Nonetheless, all these nuclear arms control treaties led the way for their descendants which have kept nuclear weapons in check ever since and are still in place in the form of the New START agreement.

During his six years as leader, Gorbachev initiated many arms control negotiations which resulted in treaties and increased both the transparency and the confidence between the USSR and the US

But despite these outstanding achievements, Gorbachev had blind spots – such as enabling rather than destroying the USSR bioweapons programme, unlike the US which had dismantled its own bioweapons offensive capability by 1973.

And it is now known that, despite negotiating the Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia withheld information on new chemical weapons agents – Novichoks – which have since been used to lethal effect by Russia in Salisbury and against figures opposing the current regime.

His misguided faith in a Soviet future

Gorbachev was markedly different to his predecessors as secretary general. He was neither as decrepit nor as hardline, and he understood from the outset that the Soviet Union was, by the 1980s, finally dying.

Using the intellectual abilities of Aleksandr Yakovlev, he forced through the reforms which simultaneously captured the imagination of the free world and liberated his countrymen and women.

But although he built solid relationships – even friendships – with the world’s major heads of state and improved the USSR’s human rights, releasing dissidents such as Andrei Sakharov, but many – especially Ukrainian dissidents – continued to languish in camps.

The greatest disappointment in Gorbachev’s legacy was he completely believed the USSR could be reformed and still survive as an entity while others, such as Boris Yeltsin and Ronald Reagan, understood it had to be dismantled.

This shortcoming is especially uncomfortable as today’s Russia continues to insist it has a given right to control other former Soviet states, to the extent it is willing to destroy them if they do not concede.