Federal government partially shuts down over border wall row

A partial US government shutdown has taken effect after US lawmakers failed to break a budget impasse.

Trump, who has to sign off any deal, is insisting at least $5bn (£4bn) in funding be included for his long-promised wall along the Mexican border. Lawmakers adjourned last-minute talks on Friday evening.

In the absence of an agreement, funding for about a quarter of all US federal agencies lapsed at midnight (05:00 GMT Saturday).

It means the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Agriculture, State, and Justice will begin to shut down and federal national parks and forests will also close.

The partial closure, the third of 2018, means hundreds of thousands of federal employees will have to work unpaid or be put on temporary leave.

In a video address published on Trump's Twitter account shortly before the shutdown began, the president insisted the onus was on the Democrats to resolve the closure.

Senior Democrats have accused the president of provoking the situation with a "temper tantrum".

On Wednesday, a stopgap spending bill was passed in order to keep federal agencies open until 8 February - but the agreement did not include funding for Trump's wall.

After a rare backlash from his supporters and hard-line Republicans, Trump dug his heels in over the issue and insisted funds for the wall must be included for him to sign it off.

The House has now approved $5.7bn (£4.5bn) of funding for the wall, but before the spending bill reaches the president it also needs to be passed by 60 votes in the Senate - where Republicans only hold 51 seats.

On Friday Trump shared a graphic of his steel-slat wall design for the wall. A strengthened southern border wall was a key election promise for Trump.

During his campaign, he insisted he would make Mexico pay for it, but the country has refused. The Democrats have also remained resolute that US taxpayers should not pay for his plan.

A number of Republican senators on Friday also made clear their staunch opposition to the proposal. The midnight closure is the third time US federal funding has lapsed so far this year.