US senate approves deal to avoid government shutdown

The US Senate has agreed a sweeping two-year budget agreement in a bid to avoid government funding running out on Thursday evening. In a rare bipartisan breakthrough, the Democratic and Republican Senate leaders agreed on a funding deal which could see funding approved for the next two years. The deal does not include immigration proposals, leaving that issue up for debate at a later date. The deal increases federal spending by hundreds of billions of dollars for various areas, including defence