Last Ditch bar announced it would ‘soft close’ after it went viral following a story on its attempt to relax Covid rules

A Massachusetts lesbian bar that went viral for loosening its Covid mask policy last month announced plans to “soft close” on Monday as it seeks new ownership.

The Last Ditch bar, in the small city of Greenfield, said in an Instagram post that it was searching for co-owners, new owners or a full sale, and that it would “soft close effective immediately”, with “only booked events” continuing while it closes this winter. It had opened just last year as a bar for “dykes, transsexuals, gender freaks, workers, and their friends”.

Republican and Democrat come together for a rare joint endorsement of candidate in unexpected competitive race

Two South Carolina former governors, David Beasley and Jim Hodges, a Republican and Democrat respectively, have come together for a rare joint endorsement for Democrat Annie Andrews’s Senate bid.

Andrews, a pediatrician, is looking to flip the seat, currently held by Darline Graham, the Trump-endorsed sister of the late senator Lindsey Graham, in what has become an unexpectedly competitive race for the usually reliably red state.

This live blog is now closed.

• What are the US midterm elections and why do they matter?

• Sign up for Breaking News US email

In a post to social media on Monday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was facing dwindling stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles after Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defense secretary, had delayed authorizing new supplies.

“We have been waiting for nearly a month for Mr. Hegseth to sign off on missiles for Patriots and NASAMS,” Zelenskyy wrote. “I instructed our team to raise this with the American side once again. Conversations with other countries are also ongoing.”

With just 11 days until the US midterm elections, Democrats need a net gain of four seats to reclaim Congress

With just 11 days until the US midterm elections, early voting data is rolling in nationwide. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to reclaim the majority in each chamber of Congress. Here is where the numbers stand as of Friday:

This live blog is now closed.

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email

• Trump attacks Ohio governor over call for Ramaswamy to drop ‘deeply troubling’ ad

Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska

Mary Peltola’s campaign to represent Alaska in the US Senate has taken her to parts of the massive state’s interior that are inaccessible by road and on the frontlines of the cost-of-living crisis she hopes will make her the first Democrat to win the seat in nearly two decades.

Wedgewood Polls said project was designed to highlight lack of scrutiny over polling sector by mainstream media

A polling firm has admitted to using fabricated data in surveys that were picked up by national media outlets in the US, claiming the project was a “social experiment” designed to expose the lack of scrutiny over the sector.

Wedgewood Polls released a statement on Tuesday on social media, after the polling and election analysis site FiftyPlusOne reached out for comment on an investigation it had conducted into their surveys and data.

This live blog is now closed.

• Sign up for Breaking News US email

• Send us your questions about immigration and the midterms

Reporting from Jerusalem

The Israeli military has detained about 80 US, Israeli and British volunteers helping Palestinians harvest olives near Bethlehem, including the New York Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander, several rabbis and Israel’s former deputy attorney general.

Kennedy taught in New York public schools and advocated for disability rights after suffering severe spinal cord injury

Kyle Kennedy, the granddaughter of Robert F Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, has died at the age of 42.

Kyle, the daughter of Michael Kennedy, who died in 1997, and Victoria Gifford Kennedy, “passed away peacefully” on 21 September at her home in Westwood, Massachusetts, according to her obituary published by Burke Funeral Homes.

This live blog is now closed.

• Sign up for US Breaking News email

A new Washington Post-ABC poll shows that Donald Trump’s approval rating has reached a new low – 33%.

This comes, just over two weeks away from the November midterms, as the president continues crisscrossing the country as part of his campaign blitz for embattled Republicans.

Half of the women on Trump’s team have been replaced by men, while men facing misconduct allegations remain

Donald Trump is not, by any measure, a feminist. He has said so himself. But the president has often pointed to his hiring and promoting of women in an attempt to stave off criticism of both his policies and personal conduct over the years.

During his second term, however, there is one common characteristic among most of those who have departed the Trump administration.

This live blog is now closed.

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email

In Maine, Troy Jackson, the Democratic nominee for US Senate, and Susan Collins, the five-term Republican incumbent traded barbs on Thursday in their final debate ahead of the November midterms.

This was the fourth showdown between the pair. Collins has tried to cast Jackson as an inexperienced state lawmaker, and attempted to yoke him to the former nominee, Graham Platner, who dropped out of the race earlier this year following allegations of rape and sexual assault (which he still denies). Meanwhile, Jackson accused his opponent of corruption, and castigated her for her “moderate” persona in Congress.

This live blog is now closed.

• Sign up for the Breaking News US email

The US government could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a media campaign in South Africa to figure out why more white Afrikaners are not applying to become refugees to the US, as Donald Trump had hoped.

State department officials, according to an August proposal seen by the Guardian, outlined a roughly $335,000 research and advertising effort after applications to the refugee program “trended lower than expected” since Afrikaners were allowed to apply directly online in November 2025. The document, written by the US mission in South Africa with a department research unit for the embassy in Pretoria, admits officials know little about why.