The US' partial federal government shutdown is poised to become the longest in its history, with neither side budging in a gruelling political stand-off over funding for a wall on the country's border with Mexico.
President Donald Trump, who wants US$5.7 billion (S$7.7 billion) for the wall - which he now says will be made of steel slats instead of concrete - walked out of a meeting with Democratic Party leaders on Wednesday, calling it a "total waste of time".
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