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Nick movie: Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Time: May 6, 1980 Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: 124 M Trailer:

And with an identical top speed of 28mph, in town is the only place it can go… The Citroen Ami has competition. And it’s arrived in the shape of the Ark Zero, a two-seater from a British start-up that costs a grand and a half less than its, um, mainstream rival at £5,995. The numbers are predictably miniscule: the Zero is just 2,500mm long and 1,202mm wide. It’s powered by a 3bhp motor and tops out at 28mph, meaning motorways and dual carriageways are a strict no no. Range from the lithium-ion battery amounts to 50.3 miles (three more than the Ami) according to the World Motorcycle Test Cycle (WMTC), and not the Worldwide harmonised Light vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) that we’re all used to. Which is strange, because the Zero is a very light vehicle: just 489kg all told, largely thanks to aluminium monocoque body which, claims Ark, brings safety benefits over conventional steel. Inside, all of the kit is standard. So that includes keyless start, a reversing camera (and yep, you can park width-ways across a conventional parking space), electric windows, a sunroof, Bluetooth connectivity, USB charging, a radio and a heater. Makes the Ami look a bit sparse, huh? Ark reckons a single charge will cost less than £1, and good news pet owners! The Zero will fit two adults and a dog. “At ARK Motors, we are committed to creating The Future of Urban Mobility that is smarter, smoother, and greener,” said Yilmaz Bora, Ark Motors’ CEO. “By eliminating fossil fuel reliance and embracing electric vehicles like the ARK Zero, we can foster positive change in our communities and protect our planet for future generations. “I want to thank our customers for believing in us since day one and dedicated employees for their efforts, which have helped us swiftly establish ourselves in the electric vehicle market and provide innovative solutions to meet the evolving needs of consumers.” The first deliveries of the Ark Zero have just taken place, and if you order yours today you can expect it to arrive in 14-16 weeks. Ark says it’s already completed work on its second model, due to be revealed later this year. Link

President Joe Biden. WASHINGTON — Joe Biden’s campaign finance team is offering a series of sweeteners to its most prodigious fundraisers, promising invitations to events with the president and Vice President Kamala Harris, participation in Zoom meetings with campaign staff, or other perks depending on how much money people bring in. A breakdown of the benefits shows that the highest tier carrying the most generous benefits is that of “Biden-Harris Presidential Partner” and applies to those who raise $2.5 million by collecting checks from other donors, known as "bundling." These campaign supporters will be entitled to four tickets to a “special event” with Biden and Harris in Washington, D.C., in July 2024, according to a copy of the benefits sheet viewed by NBC News. The “Partners” will also be entitled to four seats at a Biden "gathering" in Chicago following his speech at the Democratic nominating convention in August 2024. Additionally, they will be offered admission to quarterly meetings of the campaign’s national finance committee, and a luncheon with Biden-Harris campaign and Democratic National Committee leaders, among other perks, the list shows. It is not uncommon for presidential campaigns to offer such inducements in hopes of boosting their fundraising haul. In 2012, then-President Barack Obama's campaign created the title "Obama Victory Trustees" for those who pulled in contributions of at least $100,000. In return, these bundlers were allowed to join conference calls and attend campaign briefings. This week, some of Biden’s fundraisers have been meeting in Chicago with the re-election campaign — one way that the Biden camp keeps its reliable donors engaged and motivated. Biden’s finance team has also created lower tiers for those bringing in smaller total amounts. Each of these levels comes with perks, albeit not as generous. A member of the Biden-Harris “Leadership Circle,” for example, must raise $1,250,000. Instead of getting four seats at the special event with Biden and Harris, though, these supporters will get two. A “Biden-Harris Principal Shareholder” must raise $750,000; a “Founding Partner,” $400,000. At the lowest level, “National Finance Committee Member,” a supporter must raise $46,000 in campaign funds by the end of the year. In return, these supporters get admission to one event with Biden, one event with Harris, and weekly campaign update emails, among other benefits. Donors received a copy of the contribution levels during a national finance committee meeting as part of this week’s huddle in Chicago. That meeting followed a Democratic National Convention preview held for state party chairs and executive directors from across the country. Even as the Biden campaign offers inducements for those who bundle contributions, it is also rolling out new incentives and messages to entice smaller donors to give. One effort underway is the recruitment of 1,000 new fundraisers by January who will look to bring in contributions in the $250 to $1,000 range. With no major primary competition or Democratic debates on the schedule, the Biden campaign needs to find other ways to motivate donors, one person close to the campaign said in an interview. Campaign officials and veteran fundraisers said they expect that raising money will get much easier in the new year when Republicans pick their nominee. Link

The failure of two dams sent a torrent of water through Derna, washing entire streets into the sea The first sign that something was wrong was the sound of the dogs barking. It was 2.30am and dark outside. When Husam Abdelgawi, a 31-year-old accountant in the eastern Libyan city of Derna, got up and went sleepily downstairs to check on them, he felt water under his feet. Husam opened the front door of the house he shared with his younger brother, Ibrahim. More water flooded in, pulling the door off of its hinges. The brothers ran to the back door, where they were met by a "ghastly, unimaginable scene, worse than death itself to witness", Husam said, in a phone interview from the city of Al-Qubbah. "The bodies of women and children were floating past us. Cars and entire houses were caught up in the current. Some of the bodies were swept by the water into our house." The water swept Husam and Ibrahim up too, carrying them farther and faster than they imagined possible. Within seconds, they were 150m apart. Ibrahim, 28, managed to grab on to floating power cables still tethered to their poles and grapple himself back towards where Husam was stuck. The brothers used the cables like ropes to pull themselves towards a nearby building and through a third-floor window, and from there they made it to a fifth-floor rooftop where they could wait out the flood. "The area where we were was a higher part of the city," Husam said. "In the lower parts, I don't think anyone on the fifth or sixth floors has survived. I think they are all dead. May God have mercy on their souls." People look at missing notices in the aftermath of the floods in Derna Estimates of the number of dead vary. Libya's ambassador to the UN says about 6,000 people are confirmed to have died with thousands more missing. A Red Crescent official in Libya said about 10,000 people were believed killed. Derna's mayor has warned that 20,000 people may have lost their lives. The flood was triggered by the failure of two dams outside Derna, unleashing a torrent of water through the city's centre. "Derna was divided in two halves by the water and everything in between is gone," said Rahma Ben Khayal, an 18-year-old student who made it to safety on a rooftop in the city. "The people in between are all dead," she said. The torrent that washed away entire streets had begun a day earlier, as light rain. It was not frightening at first, said Amna Al Ameen Absais, a 23-year-old medical student born and raised in Derna, who is guardian to her three younger siblings following the death of both parents from illness. As the raindrops drummed outside, the four siblings sat in their first floor apartment in the Beach Towers, a seven-story building next to the waterfront, playing games and scrolling on their phones. They dressed her younger brother in a life vest and laughed. Amna managed to escape with her three younger siblings But as Sunday night wore on, the rain got heavier. Sirens sounded. The siblings couldn't sleep. "It really began about 2.30am," Amna said, in a phone interview from the nearby city of Tobruk. "The noise was getting much louder. My brother said he could see water covering the street." As the water rose, the neighbours began to migrate upstairs. Amna grabbed the cat and four passports and they went up from their first floor apartment to a third floor apartment. "People were looking outside into the dark, praying," she said. Then the water reached the third floor. "Everyone started screaming. We moved up again, to the fifth floor and finally up to the seventh floor." Panic had set in. "I lost the cat," Amna said. "I lost my little brother for a minute but then I found him. I realised we could not even stay on the seventh floor, we had to go to the rooftop." From there, they could see neighbours on the roof of a three-storey building opposite, including a family with whom they were friends. The neighbours were waving their phone torches. Moments later, their entire building collapsed into the water in the dark. "It felt like an earthquake," Amna said. "That family still hasn't been found. Their son is looking for them. We told him that we saw their building collapse in front of our eyes." Some of Amna's own family are missing, too. Her uncle, his wife and their three sons lived in a nearby building that collapsed. "Our last call was about 9pm, he was calling to make sure we were OK," she said. "We haven't heard from him since." Eventually, Amna was able to escape the building with all three siblings, after the floodwaters lowered. Her street had disappeared completely. "It was like the earth had split open," she said. "Only a cavity left where the street used to be." A neighbour she knew slipped and disappeared into the water in front of them, her husband and son unable to save her, Amna said. She heard that her best friend, Aisha, had not made it. Amna and her siblings walked for hours to higher ground, passing bodies on the way. The death toll from the catastrophe looks set to rise significantly. Husam Abdelgawi, the accountant, said he had already counted at least 30 friends among the dead, and more than 200 acquaintances. "It is a miracle that I survived," he said. The damage to Derna itself is catastrophic. Entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed. Mohamed al-Menfi from Libya's internationally-recognised government in the western city of Tripoli said he had asked the country's attorney general to investigate - anyone whose actions or failure to act were responsible for the dams' collapse should be held accountable, he said. The World Meteorological Organization said most loss of life could have been prevented if Libya had a functioning weather agency - "They could have issued warnings. The emergency management authorities would have been able to carry out evacuation of the people. And we could have avoided most of the human casualties," said WMO head Petteri Taalashe. Many survivors are waiting desperately for news of loved ones. Others are mourning, for the dead and for Derna. "I don't think I can ever go back," Amna said. "Those streets were my whole life. We knew every corner of the city. Now it's gone." Riam Dalati contributed to this report. Link

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Nick movie: Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope Time: May 25, 1977 Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: 121 M Trailer:

Video title: UNUSUAL MEMES COMPILATION V226 Content creator ( Youtuber ) :UnusualVideos Official YT video:

The updated SUV is over 10 inches longer than before The new GMC Acadia is a reset of sorts. The second-generation Acadia shrank quite a bit from its predecessor, in an effort to better differentiate this SUV from its Chevrolet Traverse platform-mate. But now, the Acadia’s going big again. Like, really big. Like, 10 inches longer and 4 inches taller big. Sheesh. Will this drastically shake up the Acadia’s positioning in the US market? Not really. This just makes GMC’s midsizer (yep, that’s still midsize) better compete with three-row vehicles like the Ford Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee L, Toyota Highlander, Volkswagen Atlas, and a million others. Compared to the current Acadia, the new SUV has 36 per cent more space behind the second row of seats and 80 per cent more room behind the third row. That’s huge. Literally. Like its Traverse twin, the new Acadia has a 2.5-liter turbocharged I4 engine as its only powertrain offering, but the GMC is a bit more powerful than its Chevy sibling, making 328hp and 326lb ft of torque. All-wheel drive is optional, and there’s a rugged-ish Acadia AT4 with a 1-inch chassis lift, unique suspension tuning, a torque-vectoring rear differential, and the requisite red tow hooks and other butch visual giveaways that show you’re a real go-anywhere go-getter. On the other end of the spectrum, GMC will continue to sell the fancy-pants Acadia Denali, with 22-inch chrome wheels, a Bose audio system, and opulent-sounding “laser-etched wood décor", though it’s still a GM product, so… we’ll see. Several Acadia trims can be had with General Motors’ fantastic Super Cruise hands-free driving tech, which is one of the best driver-assistance systems in the world. There’s a bunch of new cabin tech on offer, too, including a 15-inch multimedia screen and 11-inch digital gauge cluster. Following its debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week, the bigger and better GMC Acadia will go on sale in early 2024. Link

The Utah senator, whose six-year term expires in January 2025, has been one of the most prominent Republicans to speak out against former President Donald Trump. WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, will not run for re-election next year, he said in a video statement on Wednesday. "I have spent my last 25 years in public service of one kind or another. At the end of another term, I’d be in my mid-eighties. Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders. They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in," Romney said. He added, "While I’m not running for re-election, I’m not retiring from the fight. I’ll be your United States Senator until January 2025." Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, sits for a portrait at the Capitol in 2021. Romney, 76, has served in the Senate since 2019 and previously was the governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. He was the GOP's presidential nominee in 2012, losing to President Barack Obama who won re-election. The Utah senator, whose six-year term expires in January 2025, said he enjoys his work in the Senate "a good deal" and said that the last few years have been "particularly productive." He listed some of his accomplishments including helping to lead negotiations over the bipartisan infrastructure law, bipartisan gun safety law, the Electoral Count Act and emergency Covid relief funding. Criticizing both Trump and President Joe Biden, Romney said that "the next generation of leaders must take America to the next stage of global leadership." "We face critical challenges — mounting national debt, climate change, and the ambitious authoritarians of Russia and China. Neither President Biden nor former President Trump are leading their party to confront them," Romney said in his statement. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, in his office after announcing he will not seek re-election on Tuesday, in Washington. Romney has been one of the most prominent Republicans to speak out against Trump. He expressed concern about Trump when he first ran for president in 2016 and was fiercely critical of him during his four years in office. "Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University," Romney said in a major speech amid the 2016 GOP presidential primary race. "He’s playing the members of the American public for suckers. He gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat." When he first ran for Senate in 2018, Romney said that Trump is not "a role model for my grandkids." Notably, he was the only Senate Republican to join Democrats and vote to convict Trump during the first Senate impeachment trial in 2020. He was also among ten Senate Republicans to vote to convict Trump during the second impeachment trial in 2021 following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a statement on Wednesday praised Romney: The U.S. Senate is known to attract bright and proven public servants. However, we rarely get to welcome new Senators already as accomplished and well-regarded as Mitt Romney. The Senate has been fortunate to call our friend from Utah a colleague these past four and a half years, and I am sorry to learn that he will depart our ranks at the end of next year.” Former Romney aides and advisers expressed their disappointment and a bit of surprise at his decision to retire from Congress. “He’ll get bored,” one longtime Romney aide told NBC News. “But there’s not much sense in staying in the senate another six years.” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, in his office after announcing he will not seek re-election on Tuesday, in Washington. Romney also faced pressure from within his own party. Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson said earlier this year that he was exploring the possibility of running a primary challenge against Romney. As of the end of June, Wilson had raised $2.2 million including a $1.2 million loan from the candidate himself. In response to the announcement on Wednesday, Trump wrote a statement in all caps on Truth Social, celebrating the news. "Fantastic news for America, the great state of Utah, & for the Republican Party. Mitt Romney, sometimes referred to as Pierre Delecto, will not be seeking a second term in the U.S. Senate, where he did not serve with distinction," Trump wrote, referring to Romney using a pseudonym of "Pierre Delecto" to operate a Twitter account anonymously. Trump added, "A big primary fight against him was in the offing, but now that will not be necessary. Congrats to all. Make America Great Again." Link

More than 5,300 people are believed to have died after floods in the Libyan city of Derna, an official has said. "The sea is constantly dumping dozens of bodies," Hisham Chkiouat, a minister in Libya's eastern administration said. There have been desperate calls for more humanitarian support as victims lie wrapped in body bags and others have been buried in mass graves. A tsunami-like river of floodwater swept through Derna on Sunday after a dam burst during Storm Daniel. Rescue teams are digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings in the hope of finding survivors - but hope is waning and the death toll is still expected to rise further. Officials say at least 10,000 people are missing, while 30,000 people are estimated to have been displaced, the United Nations' International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Libya said on Wednesday. Morgues and hospitals have been overwhelmed with bodies. Libyan doctor Najib Tarhoni, who has been working in a hospital near Derna, said more help is needed. "I have friends in the hospital here who have lost most of their families ... they've lost everyone," he told BBC Radio 4's World at One. "We just need people who understand the situation - logistic help, dogs that can actually smell people and get them from under the ground. We just need the humanitarian help, people who actually know what they are doing." There is also an urgent need for specialised forensic and rescue teams and others who specialise in recovering bodies, the head of the Libyan doctors' union Mohammed al-Ghoush told Turkish media. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said an emergency team will arrive in Derna on Thursday "to assess medical needs and donate emergency medical kits to care for the wounded and body bags to the Libyan Red Crescent". Streets are covered in mud and rubble, and are littered with upturned vehicles. Mr Chkiouat, a local official, said some areas of Derna have "vanished, completely disappeared". "So imagine a residential area has been destroyed completely, you cannot see it, it's not existing anymore. "I've never seen anything like this before. It's by all means a tsunami." Why the floods were so catastrophic How Libya's turmoil made flooding even more deadly Footballers among those killed in Libya floods Taha Muftah, a photojournalist in Derna, said experts had raised the alarm about the dam since 2011 "but nobody did anything about it". He told the BBC's Newshour programme that the dam collapse sounded "like an air strike". "The water now has stopped and what is left is only the rubble, and the people who were taken by the flood are under the water," he said. A number of elite footballers have died, according to the Libya Football Federation (LFF). It released the names of four players who were killed: Shaheen Al-Jamil, Monder Sadaqa and brothers Saleh Sasi and Ayoub Sasi. People walk between the rubble in Derna The cities of Soussa, Al-Marj and Misrata were also affected by Sunday's storm. Libya has been in political chaos since long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011 - leaving the oil-rich nation effectively split with an interim, internationally recognised government operating from the capital, Tripoli, and another one in the east. But despite the split, the government in Tripoli has sent medical supplies, body bags, doctors and paramedics. Link

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Nick movie: The Incredibles Time: October 24, 2004 Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: 115 M Trailer: