13:50
Tieng Anh Vui
US Senate Republicans have described a meeting with President Barack Obama as "constructive", but say no deal is at hand to end the fiscal crises that threaten the US and world economies.
The parties are reportedly working on a short-term deal to reopen the government and raise the debt limit.
The US is on the 11th day of a partial government shutdown.
And the country risks default if it does not raise its $16.7tn (£10.5tn) borrowing limit by 17 October.
"There was talks about everything," Republican Senator Dan Coats told Reuters following the afternoon meeting at the White House. "But there was no resolution."
'Not enough'
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The likelihood is that markets around the world would plunge and global interest rates would rise”
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Separately, House Republicans have offered a deal to raise the debt ceiling temporarily, reportedly in exchange for Mr Obama joining negotiations over reopening the government and wider budget concerns.
The Republicans in the lower chamber said they were waiting for a response from the White House.
"If [Mr Obama] signals back that he is willing to sign a short-term deal" on the debt limit, Republicans will move to re-open the government, Republican Representative Tom Cole, an ally of House Speaker John Boehner, told the Associated Press.
The partial government shutdown, which has sent home hundreds of thousands of government workers on unpaid leave, began on 1 October after Republicans refused to pass a new budget unless Mr Obama and the Democrats agreed to delay Mr Obama's signature healthcare reform law of 2010 or eliminate its funding.
The White House has repeatedly said it will not negotiate over larger budget matters until Republicans vote to end the threat of default and reopen the government.
The president met House Democrats at the White House on Wednesday and told them he would prefer a longer-term increase to the nation's debt ceiling, but was willing to accept a short-term fix.
But on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said a six-week continuation of the debt ceiling was not enough.
"We do not believe a six-week delay of a catastrophic default is enough to give the economy the confidence it needs to continue growing and recovering," Mr Reid said.
The Democratic-controlled Senate is set to vote on Saturday on a 15-month extension of the debt ceiling, in order to remove the issue from midterm congressional elections next year.
'Everybody is talking'
Republican House Speaker John Boehner: "A good faith effort on our part to move halfway on what he has demanded"
As she returned to the Senate after a 90-minute meeting at the White House on Friday, Republican Senator Susan Collins said Mr Obama expressed interest in elements of her plan to fix both crises, but "did not endorse it".
Ms Collins's plan, one of several being considered by Republicans in the Senate, includes a repeal of a tax on medical devices, which was designed to help fund insurance subsidies in Mr Obama's healthcare law, also known as Obamacare.
"He obviously did not agree with my descriptions of the negative impact of the tax," Ms Collins said.
"But he clearly also recognises that it is not the heart of Obamacare in any way, and that as long as the revenue is replaced, as I proposed, that it does not hurt his signature programme."
Other Republicans seemed to share Ms Collins's optimism but did not hint a deal was near.
"Everybody is talking to everybody now, and I'm encouraged by that," Senator Mike Johanns said.
As the shutdown entered its 11th day, witnesses told a Senate panel that the shutdown's economic impact will intensify the longer it goes on.
Marion Blakey, chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association, told the committee the shutdown already has virtually stopped certification of new aircraft, equipment and training simulators because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has furloughed more than 90% of its employees who work on such issues.
And National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Deborah Hersman said her agency was no longer sending investigators to accident sites, including a fatal bus crash that killed six people in Tennessee, an oil spill site in North Dakota, and a small aeroplane crash in Arizona that killed four people.
About 15,000 workers in the private sector have already been laid-off as a result of the shutdown, the labour department has said.
A survey suggests the majority of Americans blame the Republicans for the partial shutdown.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll suggests 53% of Americans fault Republicans for the crisis, compared with 31% who say the Democrats are responsible.
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