this is bbc news. i'm duncan golestani. we are going straight now to the united states and washington, dc, and you are looking at live pictures coming from the floor of the senate, the upper chamber there, where senators have failed to move forward ona senators have failed to move forward on a short—term spending bill that would keep the federal government funded. they are facing a shutdown at midnight local time and it is midnight right now. senator is still on the floor there, they have been talking in huddles, but they have failed to get to the magic number, 60 votes required to get a spending bill in place that would keep the federal government funded. let's go live to washington. a corresponded david willis. it has gone past midnight. what will happen? effectively as of now, the federal

government here in the united states has shut down, in the sense that there is now not sufficient money approved to keep it running, or at least keep it running indefinitely. what that means is that starting from monday, we are going into a weekend here, certain non—essential staff will get notices to stay at home. now, depending on how long this goes on, they could see their pay docked and we could see crucial services begin to bare the brunt of the pain, if you like. initially though, all essential services will remain functioning as normal and they include the white house and the pentagon, although there will be certain staff, i'm given to understand, who will be furloughed, as they say, but this is something which dragged on. back in 2013, it

lasted 16 days, that was the last government shut down here in the united states. and about 800,000 government workers ended up being furloughed. as far as what this means politically, well, it gives the lawmakers, particularly senate lawmakers, the weekend to try to get some sort of deal together before the effects of this government shut down really kick in on monday morning. they are due to meet, certainly, the democrats in the morning, saturday morning, here. they will attempt no doubt to find some sort of avenue of compromise. but the very fact that they wanted to link this government spending bill to protection for the so—called dreamers, the 800 thousand or so illegal immigrants who is right to remain here was due to be revoked in a couple of weeks time. it means that there may well be a big gap

here and it is going to prompt a sort of blame game, if you like, the white house already seeking to portray the democrats as the villain of the piece, as far as this is concerned so far. david, you just mentioned immigration, iwant concerned so far. david, you just mentioned immigration, i want to bring you news wire which has just dropped while you were talking. it is saying that the white house says it will not negotiate the status of daca immigrants, those are the dreamers children who came with their parents. so the white house says it will not negotiate the status of daca immigrants while the democrats hold a lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands. soa hostage over their reckless demands. so a very strong statement there which i think are reallyjust type in with exactly what you were saying, which is now both sides are going to rush to frame this as being the fault of the other side. i mean,

what is interesting about this time, david, is of course the republicans are actually in control of all of the branches of government, aren't they? able have difficult time pushing the blame on this. that's right, and this is the first time there has been a shutdown when the same party, in this case the republicans, has controlled both houses of congress and the white house. but republicans have been adamant that they want any dreamer law to be linked to other things, including president trump's famed border wall. they don't believe that it should be a feature of this government spending bill. you are absolutely right, this is a blame game that we are going to see played out over the next few days. it is an embarrassing situation for president trump who brand himself of course the ultimate dealmaker. he got chuck schumer into the white house today, thatis schumer into the white house today, that is the senate minority leader.

they met for more than one hour at the white house. despite some initial optimism, it was clear that no agreement was reached. this first day, effectively first day of government shut down, is rather embarrassing for the resident as it coincides with the first anniversary of his inauguration. yes, that timing is quite spectacular. there is thejoke timing is quite spectacular. there is the joke now about there always being a donald trump twit for every occasion and of course one has been dug up from the last time scientists say they've taken a step towards reaching one of the biggest goals in medicine — a universal blood test for cancer. a team in the united states has trialled a method that detects eight common forms of the disease. ultimately, they're hoping to design an annual test that can catch cancer early and save lives. here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. it is ten years since ali was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. it is rare for anyone with

the disease to survive that long. there is no screening programme, so tumours are usually found too late. a blood test would make a big difference. if we are able to get more people diagnosed sooner, like me, then it's going to make me feel a lot happier. there are only 1% of us who are surviving, like me, to ten years, and it's a bit of a lonely place. there aren't many of us around. and i would really like pancreatic cancer to become more of a chronic disease rather than such an acute, deadly disease, as it is now. scientists atjohns hopkins university in baltimore have made significant progress towards a blood test for cancer. the team examined blood samples from around 1,000 cancer patients. they had one of eight different common cancers — lung, liver, pancreas, colon, oesophagus, breast, stomach or ovary. now, cancer cells shed bits of dna,

which circulate in the blood, so the test looked for 16 gene mutations and eight protein bio markers. overall, the blood test found 70% of the cancers, but that success rate fell to just 40% with small, early stage cancers, and this is when you'd want tumours detected, when there is the best chance of a cure through surgery. so a reliable blood test for cancer is some way off. but the francis crick institute in london, which is pioneering research in this area, believes it will come. i'm almost certain that, in the next five to ten years, we will see tests like this becoming much more routine in clinical practice to help us diagnose tumours earlier and help us to increase the cure rates for patients suffering from cancers. the american cancer blood test costs around £350 per patient and each

positive result would need further investigation, so the burden on the nhs would need to be weighed against the benefits of early treatment and lives saved. fergus walsh, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: looking for hope — pope francis speaks about the future for the people of peru. the people of saigon have just heard that, at last, there is to be a ceasefire. the reaction of american servicemen was predictable. i'm going home. demonstrators waiting for mike getting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners

say they will carry on the protests throughout tour. they called him the butcher of lyon. klaus altmann is being held on a fraud charge in bolivia. but the west germans want to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. there, he was the gestapo chief klaus barbie. millions came to bathe as close as possible at this spot, a tide of humanity that is believed by officials to have broken all records. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the us senate has voted down a government spending bill, which could lead to many government functions shutting down. turkey intensifies its shelling of a kurdish militia in northern syria ahead of a threatened ground offensive. pope francis has visited a remote

rainforest region in peru to sound a stark warning about the future of the amazon. the pontiff says the area and its indigenous communities are being exploited for their natural resources and face a threat like never before. virginia langeberg reports. pope francis arrived in puerto maldonado, on the edges of the amazon rainforest to a resoundingly warm reception, from those perhaps too young to fathom the scale of the issues their communities face. the pontiff was notjust a guest for these amazonian tribes, but a powerful mouthpiece for their plight, protecting the land they see slipping away from them. this once—tranquil part of the world has fallen victim to an illegal gold

rush, which has spawned a billion—dollar black market that is destroying the habitat, and has seen the introduction of human trafficking and violent criminal networks. just ...just taking just taking you back to washington, dc and senator mitch mcconnell is now speaking. the government shut down was 100 send avoidable. completely avoidable. now it is imminent. all because senator democrats chose to filibuster a noncontroversial funding democrats chose to filibuster a noncontroversialfunding bill democrats chose to filibuster a noncontroversial funding bill that contains nothing, not a thing they do not support. nothing they do not support. perhaps across the aisle from our democratic colleagues they are feeling proud of themselves but what has their filibuster accomplished? what has their filibuster accomplished ? what what has their filibuster accomplished? what has it

accomplished? what has it accomplished ? the answer accomplished? what has it accomplished? the answer is simple. their very own government shut down. their very own government shut down. the shutdown affect an american people will come as no surprise. all week, as we have said on the floor, week, as we have said on the floor, we have had our colleagues to come to their senses. senate republicans have described exactly what this will mean. for america's men and women in uniform, shutting down the government means no pay. for the many thousands of civilian employees to support their mission it means furlough is. and for the families of falling heroes if may mean a freeze on so by the death benefits. for vetera n to on so by the death benefits. for veteran to rely on our promise of care, shutting down the government means that their access to treatment. for those struggling with

opioid addiction, the same is true. thanks to the democratic leader's decision to filibuster an extension of the state children's health—insurance programme, low income families will slip closer to losing health coverage for their children. and in many states this is an emergency. i'm having trouble understanding which one of these outcomes our democratic colleagues could be proud of. which one? i think ourfriends on could be proud of. which one? i think our friends on the other side took some bad advice. really bad advice. i would took some bad advice. really bad advice. iwould hate took some bad advice. really bad advice. i would hate to have to explain this, myself. ignore the governors, including seven democrats who wrote congress egging us to extend the health insurance for 9 million children. they ignore the

millions of americans who rely on federal government for important services. they hold as hostage, all of it hostage over the completely unrelated issue of illegal immigration. republicans in the senate have done all we can to continue the normal operations of the federal government. and secure certainty that these kids. we could pass it tonight and go to the president for a signature. it would be okayed. we will continue to do all we can. we will vote again so the american people know who stands for them and when our friends across the aisle remember who it is favour of resent, we will be ready to come

together in a bipartisan discussion that will be necessary to clean up this mess! we have all been having private conversations here on the floor, almost everybody on both sides. i don't understand how we ended up here. because most of the stuff we agree on. there is only one reason we ended up here. the shoehorning of illegal immigration into this debate. having said that, there is a lot of sympathy in this body for doing something about the daca kids. we have been talking about it for three months. but the one reason we are where we are is because we could not close out any of these other component parts because our friends on the other

side said you need to deal with this issue. this issue is the key to getting defence spending, the key to getting defence spending, the key to getting help for schip kids. 0n getting defence spending, the key to getting help for schip kids. on and on and on. i think most american people believe that shutting down the government over this issue, which does not even ripen until march, is irresponsible. i havejust listed all the people who will be adversely impacted by this action. so we will keep on voting and the government may be heading into shutdown, but the senate will not. were open to talk. and resolve this. i don't think it makes the institution looks very responsible. the american people should expect that from us. better than this.

mr president, sadly we are on the precipice of a government shutdown. the majority leader onlyjust allowed us to vote on a continuing resolution that he knew lacked the vote long before this our work. it is notjust vote long before this our work. it is not just democrats vote long before this our work. it is notjust democrats who vote long before this our work. it is not just democrats who will oppose this. several republicans did as well. all of today, mr president, we have endeavoured to reach an agreement with president trump and the republicans that would not only have spared the government shut down but cemented an agreement on spending cuts, including those for our military, healthcare issues,

disaster relief and immigration issues. president trump reached out to me today, this morning, to invite me to the white house to talk all of theseissues me to the white house to talk all of these issues over. i accepted. we had a lengthy and substantive discussion. during the meeting, an exchange for strong daca protections, i reluctantly put the border wall on the table for discussion. even that was not enough to entice the president to finish the deal. many democrats do not want to go that far on the border. many republicans do not either. but we we re republicans do not either. but we were willing to compromise with the president to get an agreement. in the room it sounded like the president was open to accept it. this afternoon, in my heart, i thought we might have a deal tonight. that was how far we have

come. that is how positive our discussion felt. we had a good meeting. but what has transpired since that meeting in the oval office is indicative of the entire to mull chillers and chaotic process republicans have engaged in in the negotiations with fire. even though president trump seemed to like an outline of the deal in the room he did not press his party in congress to accept it. speaker ryan and leader mcconnell, without the commitment of the president, would not agree to accept anything either. what happened to the president trump who asked us to come up with a deal and promised that he would take it forward ? and promised that he would take it forward? what and promised that he would take it forward ? what happened and promised that he would take it forward? what happened to that president? he backed off. a sign of pressure. we had the outline of a

deal on caps, on healthcare, the outline of a deal on immigration, the most difficult issue. it was real, it was an honest to goodness breakthrough. we could have passed a short—term extension of funding so that we could cross the tees and dot the eyes and be done with it all. but the dynamic of the last few weeks during which the congressional republicans looked to the president for guidance and the president provided none, prevailed in the end today, unfortunately. the same chaos, same disarray, the same division and discord on the republican side that has been in the background of these negotiations for months, unfortunately, appears endemic. it is standing in the way of bipartisan solutions to all of

theissues of bipartisan solutions to all of the issues now before us. every american knows the republican party controlled the white house, the senate, the house. it is theirjob to keep the government open. it is their job to keep the government open. it is theirjob to work with us on a way to move things forward. they did not reach out to us at once on this. no discussion, no debate, nothing at all. it was produced without an ounce of democratic input and dropped on our lap. meanwhile, they cannot even get on the same page as a party. they control every branch of the legislative process and it is their responsibility to govan and here, they have failed. several republicans voted against the sea are as well as democrats or the same reason we voted against it — one of the most serious consequences of

having continuing resolution after continuing resolution is the damage it does to our military. as the pentagon's 0akman said last night, another cr would be wasteful and destructive to our military. the navy secretary said that because of crsum navy secretary said that because of c rs um the navy has put $4 billion in the trash can, poured lighter fluid on it and burned it. that is the navy secretary. there is no way and this is no way to conduct the nation's business. republicans know it, democrats know it. the american people know that this party is not capable of governing. so where do we go from here? i believe many of my republican colleagues sincerely want to get a deal. i know their hearts are in the right place at. i know

they lament the fact that we now acce pt they lament the fact that we now accept rings manship where bipartisanship used to be. in the past there was always discussion on these issues. everyone you in the senate you needed both parties to work together and none of that happened here today. now all this problem is because republican leadership can't get to yes because president trump refuses to. mr president, president trump, if you are listening, i am urging you, please take yes for an answer. the way things went today and the way you turn from a bipartisan deal, it is almost as if you were rooting for a shot down. and now we will have one and the blame should crash entirely on president trump's

shoulders. that is senator chuck schumer, the senate minority leader strong words for the republicans and president trump saying they had failed in their responsibility to govern. before that, the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said this was com pletely leader mitch mcconnell said this was completely avoidable and the democrats had held the country hostage over the issue of immigration. this is a bbc news. now on bbc news, the travel show.