Thousands of furloughed US federal workers have had to rely on food handouts to get by. Photo: AP PHOTO

Bipartisan talks in the US Senate to end the federal shutdown have taken a positive turn, with lawmakers working on deals to temporarily reopen the government and introduce three longer-term funding bills for some agencies.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune was asked by reporters whether there had been bipartisan talks within the last 24 hours that had been positive in nature, he responded, "Yeah. I'd say so".

Saturday marked the 39th day of the federal shutdown, which has alread

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