Obama still hopeful of settlement in 'fiscal cliff' talks

US President Barack Obama, pushing for a deal to avoid the looming tax hikes and spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff”, entered last-minute talks with US Senate leaders saying he still believed an agreement could be reached before the January 1 deadline.

After Mr Obama and the leaders of Congress held an hour-long, high-stakes meeting to try to avoid the severe, automatic austerity measures that threaten to send the economy sputtering into another recession, the president called the gathering “good and constructive”.