Israel's hardline national security minister has sparked outrage across the Muslim world – by flouting a decades-old arrangement aimed at keeping religious tensions over Jerusalem's Temple Mount in check.

On Sunday, Itamar Ben-Gvir prayed at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound (pictured above) that sits atop the Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif, as it is known to Muslims. A spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Ben-Gvir's action had "crossed all red lines".

What's the history?
"The history of the Temple Mount is one of perpetual friction," said Simon Kupfer in The Times of Israel.

It was the site of King Solomon's temple and remains the holiest site in Judaism. In the seventh century, the Islamic Caliph Abd al Malik conquered Jerusalem and built the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque there. The site then became the third holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.

Jerusalem changed hands repeatedly over the next 1000 years, with control of the site often falling to each religion in turn. Then, in 1967, after Israel "stormed east Jerusalem", the Israeli government handed "day-to-day control of the temple" to a Jordanian-controlled Islamic trust called the Waqf, and "thus began the status quo that remains in place today".

What are the rules about prayer?
Under a "delicate, decades-old arrangement" with Muslim authorities, "Jews can visit but may not pray there", said Sky News. "Suggestions that Israel could alter the rules at the compound have sparked outrage in the Muslim world before, and ignited violence in the past."

Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan, have condemned Ben-Gvir's prayer visit, with Jordan describing it as a "blatant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, an unacceptable provocation". 

What will it all mean?
The timing of Ben-Gvir's action "must be understood in a broader political context", said Amos Harel in Haaretz. With Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu facing growing public pressure to agree a deal with Hamas to secure the release of the remaining hostages and end the war in Gaza, his national security minister has clearly sought to pour "gas on the fire".

"There is, unfortunately, no clear solution" to the religious tensions around the site, said Kupfer in The Times of Israel. The history of the Mount is "soaked in blood". It's not a question of whether it "will spark another flame that ignites another conflict but, rather, when".

"Make no mistake about it: if people like Jimmy Savile were alive today, they would be perpetrating their crimes online – and Nigel Farage is saying that he is on their side."

Last week's comments by Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, in response to Farage's criticism of the government's new Online Safety Act, are "the talk show equivalent of a declaration of war", said The Telegraph. In political battles, there is no weapon as loaded with controversy as associating your enemy with the DJ and TV presenter believed to be Britain's worst sexual abuser.

'Completely wrong'
Savile is now "the face of evil", City A.M. said. So, Kyle's comments were not "like calling someone a 'Nazi' or a 'war criminal'. This is more personal: summoning up a universal hate figure and saying that your opponent is like him or on his side."

Ministers believe Farage and Reform UK have "made a misjudgement in pledging to scrap internet safety laws, given the massive unease across the country about what children are viewing online", said Sky News political correspondent Rob Powell. "But the risk inherent in tactics like this is that it makes some on your own side feel a little icky."

"It is completely wrong for any politician of any party to seek to score points using the suffering of Savile victims," Richard Scorer, a lawyer who represented survivors of Savile's abuse, told The Telegraph.

'Opens the door' for Farage
"Farage has nothing to do with Savile", said The Independent's political editor John Rentoul, and attempting to "link the Reform leader with a notorious child sex abuser" is not only "gratuitous and offensive" but also "makes Kyle seem desperate, and allows Farage to pose as the wronged party".

Now, Farage's criticisms of the Online Safety Act "seem more credible". And, said The Telegraph, Kyle's outburst "opens the door" for Farage to go after Keir Starmer's record as Director of Public Prosecutions "at the time the first complaints" against Savile were filed in the 2000s.

Kyle's comments could "backfire" dramatically, said The Spectator. "Opposing a law that fails to protect children and cracks down on free speech doesn't put you in the same group as Savile", and trying to suggest that it does only makes "one thing clear: Labour is seriously rattled about the rise of Reform".

An emergency service worker from Hong Kong's drainage service department stands knee-deep in floodwater, as teams try to clear water from a outdoor car park. The highest-tier rainstorm warning was issued in Hong Kong this morning – for the fourth time in eight days.

 Yan Zhao / AFP / Getty Images

When it's too hot and busy for sightseeing, try cooling off in a shady garden. These secret spots in Europe are far enough off the beaten track to avoid most of the crowds.

Camley Street Natural Park, London
Bustling King's Cross feels like an "unlikely place to find a verdant nature reserve", but that's exactly what you'll discover just over the canal from Coal Drops Yard, said Condé Nast Traveller. Moments from the station lies Camley Street: "two acres of thriving grassland, woods and wetlands".

Giardino degli Aranci, Rome
"The crush of Rome can be overwhelming," said The Telegraph, so escape the throngs of tourists with a stroll beneath the pine trees at this hidden gem (pictured above). Located atop the city's Aventine Hill, the Giardino degli Aranci (Orange Garden) is free to enter.

Parc de Bagatelle, Paris
Tucked away in the Bois de Boulogne, this peaceful spot is a "mischievous hotchpotch of waterfalls, a grotto – even a Chinese pagoda – surrounded by stunning blooms".

Dr Neil's Garden, Edinburgh
"Hidden and alluring", this beautiful haven boasts "cinematic views of Arthur's Seat", said Culture Trip. The "secluded" spot is known as "Edinburgh's secret garden", and its flower-filled lawns have long been a source of artistic and literary "inspiration" for visitors to the Scottish capital.

Vrtba Garden, Prague
This pretty garden on Petřín Hill is "hard to find", said The Guardian. Visitors who make the effort to "seek it out are rewarded with baroque beauty". Climb to the pavilion in the highest garden for spectacular views over the city.

Labour proves Keir Starmer is busted flush with move showing it can get even worse
Esther McVey in the Daily Express
"Could things get any worse?" says Tory MP and former cabinet minister Esther McVey. "It seems they just have." This "busted flush of a government" is now taking advice from Tony Blair and might impose digital ID. "Heaven help us" because Blair is the "father of pretty much all of today's disasters" due to the "mass movement of people" arriving through "unnecessarily opened" borders. Keir Starmer is the "useful idiot who will complete Blair's project of destroying the nation state".

The UK needs a national identity based on commonality
Parth Patel in the Financial Times
Surveys show that Britons have become "less racist and more positive about immigrants", writes Parth Patel. But British politics has "done the opposite" and it's now increasingly a "zero-sum game: I win when somebody else loses". So the government should "forge a national identity by building and entrenching commonality", instead of "celebrating difference (multiculturalism) or sowing division (ethnonationalism)".

I'm a pest controller – giant rats the size of cats are becoming the norm
David Parnell in The Independent
"In more than 20 years of pest control, I thought I’d seen it all," says David Parnell, but a 22-inch rat was no "one-off" because the rodents are "getting bigger, bolder and harder to deal with". The number of call-outs has "surged" thanks to a "perfect storm" of "poor waste management, exploding takeaway culture, weak sewer infrastructure and water companies failing to maintain ageing systems". It can be fixed – "but not if we carry on as we are". Otherwise, we'll "see much, much worse".