Trump accepts deal to halt painful shutdown

President Donald Trump has yielded to political pressure to end the longest US government shutdown in history.

After 35 days, he backed a deal to fund federal agencies for three weeks, but it includes none of the money he has demanded for a US-Mexico border wall.

The Republican president previously vowed to reject any budget unless it included $5.7bn (£4.3bn) to fund his signature campaign pledge.

But Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, flatly refused.

Later on Friday, the Senate and House unanimously passed a bill to temporarily end the shutdown.

Following the votes in Congress, Mr Trump tweeted that his decision had been “in no way a concession”, but was “”taking care of the millions of people who were getting badly hurt by the shutdown”.

– BBC