For the first time in about 30 years, McDonald's is increasing its royalty fee for new franchise operators in the US and Canada.

A privately owned high-speed passenger train service has been launched between Florida’s two biggest tourist hubs

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 22, 2023--

FRANKFURT Shares of Commerzbank were down 3.4% late on Friday after a German newspaper reported details of the

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Comedian Joe Lycett opened up a new art exhibition at They Made This in London’s Covent Garden on Monday, sharing a collection of artwork created by him and his mother, Helen. ‘Lycett & Mummy’ features popular paintings from the comic such as “I drink a crisp, cold beer in a pool in Los Angeles while Gary Lineker looks on in disgust”, “Life gave you lemons and you did f*** all”, and “The Itty Bitty Titty Chris Whitty Committee.” A limited run of four prints were also made available in the store and online, and have already sold out. Original artwork from Lycett went on sale too, including a painting of a pair of testicles which was priced at £4.26 plus a Ritter Sport Butter Biscuit. Joe Lycett said of the exhibition: “Despite an angry and bitter personal relationship, mum and I have a deep mutual respect for our artworks. We are delighted to share these works which should help pay for ongoing family legal disputes.” Mum, Helen added: "Let’s have a joint exhibition,’ he said. ‘I’ll just add a few finishing touches to some of your paintings,’ he didn’t say.” Though even more hilarious was the funnyman making another jab at Liz Truss, who will next month celebrate a whole year since becoming the shortest-serving UK Prime Minister. "Mr Lycett previously mocked the ex-Tory leader during the very first episode of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg last year, when he was seen cheering and heckling Ms Truss following her interview with the BBC journalist and claimed he was “actually very right-wing and I loved it [the interview]”, sparking memes all over the internet. When Ms Truss sacked Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng following her disastrous “mini-budget”, Lycett penned one of his many tweets directed at the politician saying: “Omg can’t believe he was also part of the anti-growth coalition babe! SO right to get rid.” He added several shocked cat and bin emojis too, for good measure. And it didn’t stop there, as Lycett thanked Ms Truss when he picked up a gong at the National Comedy Awards back in February. “Liz Truss - couldn’t have done it without you, babe,” he joked. He even took out a whole page of Norfolk newspaper to create his own ad reassuring “babe” Ms Truss that she has his "100 per cent continued support". Now, at the ‘Lycett & Mummy’ exhibition this week, a ceramic plate has been put on display marking Ms Truss’ turbulent tenure. Alongside a painting of the pork market-loving MP, he wrote “Liz Truss PM. Our greatest 1.5 months”, adding in the start and end date of her premiership. It’s not for sale, though, with a sign underneath the ceramic at They Made This claiming it is “on loan from Rishi Sunak”. Iconic. Explaining his reasoning for mocking Ms Truss to The News Agents podcast in December last year that he’s been “very angry” with the government since the Partygate scandal. “When they came into that room and I was sat there, I felt the swell of anger. And when I get angry, I get silly. “I don’t shout. I get sort of like, 'How can I make this person look silly?' I'd sort of half planned to be sarcastic on it, but I hadn’t worked out any lines or anything,” he said. ‘Lycett x Mummy’ is free to visit at 66 Neal Street and is open until 1 October. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Scientists are preparing to receive pieces of a distant asteroid, which will fall to Earth over the weekend and could reveal where we came from. On Sunday, a sample collected by a Nasa spacecraft that landed on Asteroid Bennu will float down into the Utah desert, where it will be gathered by scientists. They will then start work on analysing that material, in the hopes of understanding how planets form and what our solar system was like in its distant past. Nasa sent its Osiris-Rex spacecraft to Bennu in 2016, and it touched down on the distant asteroid in 2020, and scooped up a piece. Since then, it has been flying back towards Earth to drop the sample back home. The sample dropped out of Osiris-Rex will float down into the desert, helped by a parachute that should safely allow it to fall to the ground. The spacecraft itself will continue to fly, on its way to start a new mission to study another asteroid towards the end of the decade. It is the US space agency’s first mission to collect a sample from an asteroid, and is the largest asteroid sample ever returned to Earth. The capsule is estimated to hold around 250g of rocks and dust collected from the asteroid’s surface. Nasa will release a quarter of the sample to a group of more than 200 people from more than 35 globally distributed institutions, including a team of scientists from The University of Manchester, and the Natural History Museum. Asteroid Bennu is a 4.5-billion-year-old remnant of our early solar system and scientists believe it can help shed light on how planets formed and evolved. Experts say the carbon-rich, near-Earth asteroid serves as a time capsule from the earliest history of the solar system. It is anticipated that the sample will provide important clues that could help us to understand the origin of organics and water that may have led to life on Earth. Because the sample has been collected directly from the asteroid, there will be almost zero contamination. Meteorites that fall to Earth are quickly contaminated from the second they make contact with our atmosphere. This means Bennu can give us an unspoiled glimpse into the past. Ashley King, UKRI future leaders fellow, Natural History Museum, said: “Osiris-Rex spent over two years studying asteroid Bennu, finding evidence for organics and minerals chemically altered by water. “These are crucial ingredients for understanding the formation of planets like Earth, so we’re delighted to be among the first researchers to study samples returned from Bennu. ‘We think the Bennu samples might be similar in composition to the recent Winchcombe meteorite fall, but largely uncontaminated by the terrestrial environment and even more pristine.” Dr Sarah Crowther, research fellow in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at The University of Manchester, said: “It is a real honour to be selected to be part of the Osiris-Rex Sample Analysis Team, working with some of the best scientists around the world. “We’re excited to receive samples in the coming weeks and months, and to begin analysing them and see what secrets asteroid Bennu holds. “A lot of our research focuses on meteorites, and we can learn a lot about the history of the solar system from them. “But meteorites get hot coming through Earth’s atmosphere and can sit on Earth for many years before they are found, so the local environment and weather can alter or even erase important information about their composition and history. “Sample return missions like Osiris-Rex are vitally important because the returned samples are pristine, we know exactly which asteroid they come from and can be certain that they are never exposed to the atmosphere so that important information is retained.” The spacecraft launched on September 8, 2016 and arrived at Bennu in December 2018. After mapping the asteroid for almost two years, it collected a sample from the surface on October 20, 2020. The capsule is expected to land at 3.55pm (BST). Astrophysicist Professor Boris Gansicke, Department of Physics, University of Warwick, said: “The asteroids in our solar system contain the raw building blocks from which the Earth was made, so working out their composition will tell us a lot of how our planet formed. “There are many open questions, for instance where did the water that we have on Earth come from? And where did the ingredients that made life possible to develop come from? “To answer those questions, i.e. measure the composition of an asteroid, you need to get your ‘hands’ on them (or in this case the arm of a space mission), and this is what Osiris-Rex achieved. “In a nutshell, it’s similar to sitting in front of a delicious dinner and wanting to have the list of ingredients.” Additional reporting by agencies Read More You need to update your Apple devices right now Amazon Prime Video will soon start running ads – unless you pay even more Amazon Prime Video will soon start running ads unless you pay a monthly fee You need to update your Apple devices right now Amazon Prime Video will soon start running ads – unless you pay even more Amazon Prime Video will soon start running ads unless you pay a monthly fee