While the House and Senate remain far apart on a spending deal, the federal government will soon formally initiate the process of preparing for a potential shutdown, participating in the mandatory but standard process of releasing shutdown guidance to agencies ahead of the September 30 funding deadline.

Scientists have discovered one of the strangest exoplanets ever that is so light and fluffy that it is actually being compared to candyfloss (or cotton candy if you are American). The planet is called WASP-193b and is 1,232 light-years away and was discovered by researchers at the University of Liège in Belgium. The findings of their study, led by astronomer Khalid Barkaoui has been published on arXiv. The planet, which is believed to be a so-called gas giant is nearly 50 per cent bigger than Jupiter and is orbiting a Sun-like star named WASP-193, which the scientists believe is up to 6 billion years old. Although this star is slightly bigger than our sun it is still said to have the same temperature but compared to Earth, WASP-193b orbits its star just every 6.25 days. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter By studying the planet, Barkaoui and his team were able to determine that its density was around 0.059 grams per cubic centimetre. Earth's density per cubic centimetre for comparison, is 5.51 grams whereas candyfloss has a density of 0.05 grams. There are few other examples of a planet like this existing but its close proximity to a star may give an indication as to how it came to exist as its heat is likely to have warmed up the planet's puffy atmosphere, which is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium. This state of the planet is only set to last for around a few ten million years as the temperatures and winds emitted from the star are only likely to strip back the atmosphere further. Due to this scientists cannot fully recreate or determine what is causing WASP-193b's unique atmosphere but is it likely to be a continued source of study to try and determine the cause of this phenomenon. 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.

At around 7pm on Wednesday, the man opened fire at the bowling alley, then moved to Schemengees Bar & Grille around four miles away, continuing his killing spree

Authorities investigating the shootings of two Alabama firemen, one fatally, are offering a $45,000 reward for help finding a suspect.

Two cargo ships have arrived in one of Ukraine’s ports this weekend, using a temporary Black Sea corridor established by the government

A decade after swimming nonstop for more than two straight days from Cuba to Florida, Diana Nyad has returned to the Key West beach where she completed her epic journey

North Korea has been silent about the highly unusual entry of an American soldier across the Koreas’ heavily fortified border although it test-fired short-range missiles in its latest weapons display

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) -A Kenyan court on Wednesday denied bail for cult leader Paul Mackenzie, who authorities say ordered followers

The United Nations says the agreement it reached with Syria to reopen the main border crossing from Turkey to the country’s rebel-held northwest for six months safeguards the independence of U.N. operations and allows it to provide aid to all parties

California lawmakers are voting whether to send hundreds of bills to Gov. Gavin Newsom before the legislative session ends late Thursday

Vice President Kamala Harris has visited the Stonewall Inn national monument to pay tribute to activists at the site of a watershed moment in the gay rights movement

Emmett Shear will replace Sam Altman as OpenAI CEO just days after the latter's ouster shocked Silicon Valley