Downing Street has hit back at a close ally of Donald Trump after he accused the UK government of “Jew hate”.

Mike Huckabee, who is America’s ambassador to Israel, hit out after foreign secretary Ed Miliband made a video on the “horrific” situation in Gaza.

He said there had been reports of “medicines being blocked” and “children dying while waiting for vital life-saving treatment”.

Miliband’s comments were condemned by the Israeli government, who accused him of spreading inaccurate “stories”.

The Israeli foreign ministry said: “If the foreign secretary were interested in facts rather than stories, he would know that there are no restrictions whatsoever on the entry of medicines into the Gaza Strip, and that no medicines are being blocked; that 22,500 tons of medical supplies have entered Gaza since the ceasefire began; and that Gazans exit the Strip for medical treatment, including 200 who did so in just the last two weeks.”

Huckabee then weighed in on X, saying: “The Brits have lost it. The Jew hate of their government knows no boundaries and knows no facts.”

Responding to his comments, a No.10 spokesman said: “We completely reject that assertion. We’re committed to protecting Jewish communities in the UK, and continue to engage with community leaders and groups.

“The government is investing almost £318 million over three years to protect Jewish communities, crack down on anti-semitic extremism and hostile state activity, and tackle anti-Jewish hostility in schools.”

The spat is a further blow to the so-called “special relationship” between America and Britain.

Just last week, Donald Trump said he was “reviewing” America’s position on the Falkland Islands.

And he suggested that the US may not help the UK if the British Overseas Territory was invaded again by Argentina, who say the islands belong to them.

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

Donald Trump’s peace envoys have raised eyebrows after saying the end of the Ukraine war should be a “win-win” deal with Russia.

After his eighth visit to see Russian President Vladimir Putin, Steve Witkoff went on his first trip to Kyiv over the weekend together with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

The two are currently trying to fulfill the US president’s demand to end the Ukraine war.

Trump vowed to end the war within 24 hours of his second term. More than 18 months later, the war continues to rage.

Witkoff and Kushner then appeared to advocate for Putin while in the Ukrainian capital, completely glossing over the fact that the war began in 2022 with Russia’s invasion of its European neighbour.

During a press conference, Kushner said: “From President Putin’s perspective, I think he has certain objectives that he expresses he wants to achieve but obviously there are different aspirations that he has for his country that can also be achieve once this is concluded.

“We will continue to have a positive dialogue in order to find a pathway to get there.”

He added that Trump comes from the “business world”, where “you think about things in the context of win-win”.

“How do you create opportunities for both sides. War is a negative sum,” he claimed. “Everyone loses from war, whereas business and peace is a positive sum, so hopefully we can find big benefits from that in a big way.”

The remarks came after Witkoff told Putin over the weekend in the Kremlin that they had made some “incredible memories” together.

Eagle-eyed social media users claimed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy looked incredibly uncomfortable while Kushner was explaining how he saw the bloody four-year conflict.

Others were just stunned by the envoys’ bizarre approach to a conflict which has outlasted World War 1.

Kushner and Witkoff were also put on the spot by Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon who asked if Putin was “deceiving” the US.

“You have met with President Putin very often,” the reporter said said. “Does it seem to you that Putin has been deceiving you all this time?

“And don’t you find it disgusting to sit at the same table with an international war criminal, the executioner of the Ukrainian people, who is personally responsible for the tragedy in Ukraine?”

Witkoff insisted that “you have little chance of getting to a peaceful resolution” unless you have a relationship with both sides.

He said his job is to “create good communication channels” between Russia and Ukraine, and they are “confident” there will be a good resolution here.

There was no major breakthrough following the envoys’ trips to both Moscow and Kyiv, even though they held extensive talks behind closed doors with both Putin and Zelenskyy.

After speaking to Witkoff and Kushner, the Ukrainian president said he expects the war to continue into the winter.

However, Witkoff tried to establish a more positive tone.

He said he was “encouraged” by what he described as “substantive” talks in Ukraine, while Zelenskyy said he wants a just peace with no opportunity for Russia to revive its aggression.

The Ukrainian leader also told reporters he wanted officials from Ukraine, Europe and America to meet soon for more discussions on peace.

Witkoff also claimed they “made a lot of progress in Moscow”.

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

Just when we thought we’d heard the last of hot weather events for 2026, a September heatwave has been forecast across Europe, with warnings of a ‘heat dome’ over the continent.

According to the BBC, France and Spain have been among the hottest locations in Europe with temperatures exceeding 40C at times – around 10C hotter than the average temperature at this time of year.

“The extreme heat is forecast to intensify for central and eastern areas over the next few days,” they added.

A heat dome develops “when a large area of high pressure becomes established over a region and remains there for an extended period”, according to weather and climate experts at the Met Office.

“Under high pressure, air sinks through the atmosphere. As it sinks, it becomes compressed and warms. At the same time, cloud formation is suppressed, allowing strong sunshine to reach the ground,” they explain.

The longer it goes on, the greater the heating effect.

“Clear skies encourage daytime temperatures to rise, while soils gradually dry out. As ground moisture decreases, less solar energy is used for evaporation and more becomes available to directly heat the land surface and the air above it,” they added.

It becomes a vicious cycle, where dry ground promotes additional warming, encouraging further drying. And because warm air occupies a deeper layer of the atmosphere than cooler air, the resulting pattern can resemble a dome-shaped area of heat – hence the name.

According to the BBC, the UK will not be massively impacted by the heat dome and the highest temperatures are behind us for now, it seems.

While there were warmer temperatures over the weekend for some parts of southern England, they assure: “The warmth is forecast to fade quickly as fresher Atlantic air and rain-bearing fronts are likely to arrive through next week.

“A return to heatwave conditions is unlikely through the next 10 days.”

The long-range weather forecast from the Met Office for 11-20 September suggests “dry interludes and relatively cool nights” are on the cards, “interspersed with occasional spells of rain and showers arriving from the west, perhaps accompanied by some strong winds at times too”.

The UK is bracing itself for wetter, stormier conditions throughout autumn and winter as a result of a ‘supersized’ El Niño weather event.

Experts suggest dry, settled weather looks “unlikely” as we reach mid-September and that temperatures will be close to average overall – with some relatively cool nights here and there.

Liz Truss still appears to be in denial over the impact her disastrous mini-Budget had on the UK economy.

The ex-prime minister furiously defended her historically short premiership on social media after Labour’s new chancellor John Healey said the “Truss penalty” is to blame for the UK’s stagnant economic growth.

Truss hit back on social media, writing on X: “The penalty is a result of NOT following my policies.”

Truss’s 2022 mini-Budget announced £45 billion unfunded tax cuts, triggering market chaos and sending the value of the pound into decline.

She was forced out of office by her own panicked MPs as the Bank of England was forced to step in to steady the economy.

But Truss appeared to ignore all of that with her online retort – while also overlooking how Healey had also criticised two of her Tory predecessors.

The chancellor said: “Our borrowing costs are at historic highs and the reasons are plain.

“High borrowing, low growth has allowed national debt to rise from 64% of GDP – the amount we produce as a country – to 100%.

“[David] Cameron’s austerity gutted our public services, while [Boris] Johnson’s hard Brexit hammered goods exports.

“Unfunded spending then, after Covid, meant that inflation hit 11%, increasing the cost of living and the cost of business.

“And of course, UK debt costs were historically around the G7 average, until Liz Truss’s mini-Budget crashed the economy and collapsed confidence in Britain’s fiscal strength.

“Since 2022, we have been paying that Truss penalty, as we battle to re-establish belief in Britain and the UK’s fiscal sustainability.”

Labour has frequently used Truss’s legacy to mock their Tory opponents.

During his first prime minister’s questions, Andy Burnham claimed Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch had chosen the “author of the mini-Budget” to be her new shadow chancellor.

Andrew Griffith was promoted to the senior role over the bank holiday.

He had been a keen supporter of Truss when she was in power and defended the mini-Budget during the dying days of her premiership when he was financial secretary to the Treasury.

Asked by broadcasters on Sunday if he really was fiscally responsible, Griffith hit back: “There’s only one person responsible for the Liz Truss’s budget, and that’s Liz Truss.

“I was a very junior minister at the time, I wasn’t cited on that Budget, and my portfolio did not include tax and spend decisions.”

But he also claimed that the mini-Budget “wasn’t all bad”.

Since losing her seat at the 2024 general election, Truss has drifted closer to the pro-Donald Trump MAGA community and repeatedly claimed the West is in severe decline due to high taxes.

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

If you are anything like me, you likely assumed that after menopause, ovaries no longer served a purpose in female bodies. Much like an appendix, they just kind of… hang around.

Well, reproductive biologist Francesca Duncan believed this to be true, too. However, following research by her team at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, it has been uncovered that actually, the ovaries shift into a new job once their reproductive purpose is finished.

In fact, Duncan’s team found that ovaries continue to undergo molecular changes following menopause and appear to take on the role of an immune-like inflammatory organ.

Science Alert explains that when the team studied on mice: “Though old and post-reproductive ovaries looked and functioned very differently from those of young mice, they also had distinct transcriptome profiles, much like what Duncan saw in postmenopausal women.”

Put simply, transcriptome profiles are genes that a cell is actively using right now

“These findings challenge the assumption that the post-reproductive ovary is inert, instead indicating that it acquires an immune identity with potential endocrine and paracrine influence on whole-body aging,” Duncan and team conclude.

Duncan speculates that this finding could explain why women tend to be less healthy than men as they age, even if they tend to live longer. The ovaries post reproduction could secrete molecules that predispose people to chronic inflammation in their menopausal years.

As if menopause wasn’t stressful enough.

Menopause is still, much like many women’s health issues, chronically misunderstood and under-researched. More and more studies suggest that menopause is a full-body experience and has lasting effects on women way beyond the initial experience of the condition.

The gap in knowledge of the ovary’s biology after menopause is “a little bit frightening,” Duncan says to the publication Science. “We really owe it to women’s health to study this period of time.”

On their website, the UK Gout Society shares: “Gout affects between 2 and 3 in every 100 people in the UK. It usually occurs in men over 30 and women after menopause – and is over five times more common in men than women.”

This disease was once called the “disease of kings”, as it was historically associated with the wealthy and powerful ruling class who could afford extravagant diets. However, it is now the most common form of inflammatory arthritis worldwide

The NHS explains that gout is characterised by “sudden severe pain in a joint – usually your big toe, but it can be in other joints in your feet, ankles, hands, wrists, elbows or knees”, and “hot, swollen, red skin over the affected joint – redness may be harder to see on black or brown skin”.

Now, researchers have identified, and are studying a highly common symptom that accompanies gout: erectile dysfunction.

Back in 2021, a review of nine studies found that patients who lived with both gout and erectile dysfunction often had abnormally high levels of uric acid – a normal waste product created when the body breaks down chemicals called purines- in their blood, leading the review authors to suggest that erectile dysfunction could be treated with urate-lowering therapies.

Last year, scientists built upon that idea in a study that analysed clinical data from people age 24 to 49 and found that the odds of erectile dysfunction were more than 2.5 times greater for every 100 μmol/L increase in serum uric acid.

While studies are ongoing, the authors shared that treatments that lower uric acid could potentially restore erectile function.

Gout can be caused by being overweight, drinking alcohol or having high cholestoral, according to the NHS, and because these are linked to lifestyle, there is often a shame surrounding the disease.

Authors of a 2019 paper concluded: “Gout seems to lead to stigma and many patients may feel guilty about their lifestyle choices. Actions need to be taken to manage dissatisfaction of patients and to encourage them to speak up to request better management of the disease.

“There seems to be an urgent need to educate both patients and the general public about the seriousness of gout and the burden on patients and their families.”

Similarly, the intimate nature of erectile dysfunction puts people off speaking to their doctors about it. Back in 2023, a survey by TRTed and The Urology Foundation revealed that almost half of men (46%) would not book an appointment to speak to their doctor about this condition.

While this is an intimate, sensitive topic for you, it’s worth remembering that it’s extremely run-of-the-mill for your GP. According to the NHS, at your appointment you can expect:

• the doctor or nurse may ask about your lifestyle and relationships, and any problems you might be having
• they may do some basic health checks, such as taking your blood pressure
• they may examine your genitals to rule out any obvious physical cause

If you’re still uncomfortable, Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) have a range of support available to anybody struggling with the mental health impacts of erectile dysfunction.

There’s truly nothing better than a clean house. But if I’m being really honest, I hate vacuuming so much, I rarely do it. Don’t even get me started on mopping.

Yes, mum, I know that’s really bad. Like loading and emptying the dishwasher, though, it seems to be a never-ending cycle.

Something about my flat means that huge dustballs akin to tumbleweeds start to develop every few days, even when I’m hoovering frequently. So obviously at some point I have to call it a day and give in to nature.

Luckily, technology means I no longer have to. Don’t ask me how, but scientists somewhere have created a tiny robot that sweeps over your floors and vacuums (and sometimes mops) them so you don’t have to.

It’s none of our business what that’s going to mean when the robot revolution arrives, we’re living in blissfully clean houses and not by our own doing.

If this sounds like a state of existence you want to partake in, keep reading for our round up of the best robot vacuums to shop now.

Best robot vacuums at a glance:

Tested by: Honey Wyatt, Shopping Writer

As soon as I unboxed this robot vacuum, I could tell we’d be fast friends. Already, its 35,000 Pa claim was enticing to me. Visually, it looks much sleeker and smarter than any other I’ve seen thus far, and it was really easy to put together.

It did take me a while to connect the robot to the WiFi, but my top tip would be to make sure you’re as close to the router as possible.

Once that was done, though, mapping took a mere few minutes. Using the Eufy app, you can easily edit the floor plan and assign rooms or ‘zones’ that you think need extra attention.

As the name suggests, the Eufy robot can mop and vacuum, and you can use the app to choose whether you want one ‘cycle’ to do both at once, or separately, as well as to adjust the suction and mopping intensity.

Sadly, the mop function only works with the included floor solution (although admittedly I haven’t taken the risk of figuring out whether you can put another kind of cleaner in there).

Once the first clean was done, I was truly astounded by how clean my floor was. It managed to get every speck of dust and debris (of which there was, embarrassingly for me, a lot) and hair without tangling the roller.

While it was quite loud, it didn’t mind it, as I found that it didn’t get stuck dodging around chair legs as much as other models I’ve tried; apparently it can even do this in the dark, thanks to having an LED fill light and dual millimeter-precision line lasers.

You can set cleaning schedules through the app, as well as ‘common tasks’ for routines you want to repeat, so maybe I’ll test how true to form that is in the middle of the night. Stay tuned (and sorry to my neighbours x).

There are some things you even you can’t see, so you’ll be able to rest assured that your house is cleaner than you could ever know with this Shark vacuum that uses UV detection to find hidden stains.

Shark has loaded this vacuum with UV Reveal Technology, which picks up on pet messes and sticky stains you might not have noticed, and can mop them up in seconds.

Two members of the HuffPost were keen to review it for that very reason.

Upon arrival, it took me longer than I expected to get it set up. Although the vacuum is app-controlled, so in theory it should be easy to connect to your WiFi, it kept disconnecting for a good half hour.

Naturally, I got quite frustrated, and that’s as a supposedly tech-savvy 26 year old, so this might not be the most practical thing for older generations to set up. Nevertheless, I persisted. Finally, the vacuum stayed connected to my WiFi, and it hasn’t disconnected since, even when my power went out.

Mapping my flat was a relatively painless process: it swivels around the entire floor, detecting where the carpet and any obstacles are, and creating a floor plan for your room.

Then, you have to fill the water tank and a separate tank with the included floor cleaner to get going.

Although pretty basic, the Shark Clean app lets you choose to either just vacuum or mop, or run a session with both. You can also adjust the mop and vacuum intensity and schedule cleaning sessions, so you really never have to think about it.

However, I don’t find it vacuums my house as thoroughly as I would like it to. Sometimes the Shark robot vacuum struggles to get into corners or edges, which need more vacuuming. The mopping function is really effective and leaves my house looking sparkling clean, so that’s a huge win for me.

Dayna McAlpine, HuffPost Head of Content:

I live in an old rickety Edinburgh flat with wooden floors throughout, and not having to mop them myself is borderline a gift from god – it saves me so much time.

When the Shark vacuum works, my flat is so much cleaner. With having a small permanently shedding dog I would normally have to hoover at least every other day to keep on top of it. Now I can just send my hoover out while I’m out walking said shedding dog each morning and come home to a hairless house!

However, this robovac regularly loses connection from my phone or the internet. It can take several attempts to reconnect it over DAYS; I’m currently disconnected and it will not find my WiFi for love nor money, and there’s no troubleshooting that works.

It’s also only compatible with Shark’s own cleaning solution for mopping, but it is possible to get a big bottle of it for £10 on Amazon that lasts for ages.

Tested by: Dayna McAlpine

This is the best robovac I’ve ever tested – it does individual rooms, areas and you can set up routines for it.

It comes with voice activation – you can set the hoovers voice to Croatian midfielder Luca Modrić for some reason.

Randomly, it’s also a spy hoover. You can connect to the app and see through its camera and drive it about – very useful when you think you’ve left the balcony door open or the oven on!

Unlike other vacuums we tested, it has a countdown for every replacement component or for maintenance. For instance, on the app I can see that it’s 100 days until I need to replace the roller and five days until I need to clean the sensors, which comes in handy when you need to order new parts that you don’t already have in.

Plus, the space is always left REALLY clean once it’s been used, especially after it’s mopped.

Tested by: Hannah Ballantyne, HuffPost Optimisation Editor

With stronger suction power than most (at 42,000 Pa) this robot vacuum is ideal for people with dust allergies or hairy pets, or those who feel the need to vacuum every day.

In fact, the Dreame X60 is designed specifically for pet owners, as it can detect and avoid food bowls and litter boxes, or you can use the app to add extra cycles near pet areas.

Not to mention, the vacuum can take photos of pets while cleaning, and recommend cleaning tips based on their daily habits, which feels a little dystopian but comes in handy if you have an unreliable cat you want to check in on while you’re away.

Dreame can also be linked with your smart home devices like Alexa or Siri to control your cleaning with your voice, or the app is super easy and intuitive to use, as you can schedule your cleans, adjust your preferences and check in on the vacuum’s progress.

When it comes to the clean itself, the vacuum is effective at recognising rugs and obstacles, and getting into the corners thanks to the extendable mop arm, which can fit under tight spaces you wouldn’t normally be able to reach, for a room that feels genuinely clean and not just swept over.

Naturally, the vacuum self empties itself into its tank, which is pretty large compared to the other options, at 72L, so you only have to empty it very 100 days.

Tested by: Natasha Hinde, Parents Editor

If nearly a grand sounds like too much to splash out on a robot vacuum, this one from Ultenic comes in at a sweet £200.

Admittedly, the suction is nowhere near as strong as other robot vacuums, but otherwise it has almost the same functionality.

It has 99.2% effective debris pick up, and can clean up to 200 square metres on a single cahrge.

After setting it up, it will roam your house to create a floorplan, which you can divide into rooms using the app.

Then, you can choose from either a vacuum-only setting, mop-only setting, or both in one cleaning session, before it sets off.

There are four different suction and mop levels to choose from, and you can set custom cleaning routines for each room.

It’s good at avoiding obstacles (and children and pets chasing after it, per Natasha’s original review) and you can even control it with your smart home.

While robot vacuums often come with a hefty price tag attached to them, the fact you don’t have to clean every day – or even every week – is a huge bonus.

Each vacuum varies in terms of its ability to clean into corners and avoid obstacles, which you’ll need to consider based on the needs of your house.

If you’re looking for a vacuum with strong suction power to get up stubborn dust balls, the Dreame X60 could be the one for you.

For a budget option, the Ultenic T20 will save you around £800 on other models, although it is quite loud and not as strong.

The Anker Eufy E35 is also great for multiple stories, as it can map different areas. You’ll just need to move it around.

The HuffPost team took testing robot vacuums (read: not having to vacuum themselves) extremely seriously.

Each of us set up the vacuum ourselves to test how easy it was to connect to WiFi, and used the vacuum around our houses and flats for a number of weeks to make sure we fully knew all of its features.

We assessed each vacuum for factors such as suction power, battery life, how often we had to empty the dust tank and refill the water, app compatibility and whether it could be controlled via a smart device.

We also considered how well it met each of our needs, from dust allergies, to pet hair, children’s clutter, and avoiding obstacles like chair legs, as well as whether it could navigate multiple floors.