Education secretary Gillian Keegan, Jeremy Hunt and David Cameron oppose move, while university leaders warn of economic and cultural impact

Rishi Sunak is facing a cabinet revolt over plans to scrap a graduate visa scheme that allows overseas students to live and work in the UK for up to two years after graduation.

Under pressure from some on the right of his party to demonstrate that the Tories are tougher on immigration than Labour, Downing Street is considering further restricting or even ending the graduate scheme, which some believe can be used as a backdoor entry route to the UK.

Waiting lists are at a record high, almost double since 2020, with heart disease being the largest cause of premature death in deprived areas

Fifteen hospital trusts across England each have more than 200 patients waiting longer than a year for heart procedures, NHS figures reveal.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) warns that heart care waiting lists are now at a record high, reaching 414,596 at the end of March 2024 in England, almost double what it was in 2020. The number of people waiting longer than a year for heart tests and treatments has risen to 10,893. Four years ago, the figure was just 53.

Benny Gantz’s threat to withdraw his opposition party from coalition calls into question future of government

The Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has threatened to resign if Benjamin Netanyahu fails to adopt an agreed plan for Gaza, calling into question the future of the Israeli government.

During a press conference on Saturday, Gantz announced that if a plan for postwar governance of the territory is not consolidated and approved by 8 June, his opposition National Unity party will withdraw from the coalition government.

Oleksandr Usyk shed tears as he dedicated his world heavyweight title fight victory over Tyson Fury to his team, family and country

Oleksandr Usyk, the new undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, broke down in tears but shrugged off concerns that he might have suffered a fractured jaw while defeating Tyson Fury in a riveting battle in Riyadh. After he was taken to a local hospital for a routine MRI scan which cleared him, Usyk returned to the Kingdom Arena where he had beaten Fury on a split decision.

Talking freely, without any apparent pain, Usyk confirmed that he had needed just four stitches to close a small cut above his eye. Immediately after the fight, while still in the ring, Usyk had said, “Thank you so much to my team. It’s a big opportunity for my family, for me, for my country. It’s a great day.”

‘Heavy-handed’ crackdown ignores underlying reasons for failure to attend classes, say critics

Some schools in England are sending police to the homes of children who are persistently absent, or warning them their parents may go to prison if their attendance doesn’t improve, the Observer has learned.

Headteachers say they are now under intense pressure from the government to turn around the crisis in attendance, with a record 150,000 children at state schools classed as severely absent in 2022-23. From September, all state schools in England will have to share their attendance records every day with the Department for Education.

In latest Opinium poll, only 16% say accepting rightwing Tory MP’s defection was the right move – against 33% who see it as a mistake

More voters believe Keir Starmer was wrong to allow a rightwing Tory MP into Labour than think it was the right move, after anger from within the party’s ranks over the defection.

Natalie Elphicke, the Dover MP, said the Tories had become “a byword for incompetence and division” when she made her shock departure to Labour earlier in May. The party leadership regarded it as a major coup to win the support of the MP on the frontline of the Channel crossings issue that Rishi Sunak has attempted to prioritise. The move came despite concerns among MPs that her views conflict with Labour in a variety of areas.

Prosecution of three high-ranking Syrian officials to be tried in absentia could pave way for president’s case

At midnight on 3 November 2013, five Syrian officials dragged arts and humanities student Patrick Dabbagh from his home in the Mezzeh district of Damascus.

The following day, at the same hour, the same men, including a representative of the Syrian air force’s intelligence unit, returned with a dozen soldiers to arrest the 20-year-old’s father Mazzen.

Passengers were left abandoned and humiliated after operator banned staff from providing assistance

Eurostar has reversed a new accessibility policy that left a wheelchair user stranded and has retrained its London staff following pressure from the Observer.

Travellers with disabilities claimed that they would be barred from Eurostar services after the company banned its London staff from pushing passenger wheelchairs. Those who require assistance were told they must travel with a companion or cancel their ticket if they were unable to access services unaided, according to passengers who contacted the Observer.

Party says pooling resources across regions would deliver 40,000 extra appointments a week for patients

Hospitals would have to share waiting lists and pool resources under Labour’s plans to reduce waiting times by delivering up to 40,000 extra NHS appointments a week.

The party has announced that patients would be offered appointments at nearby hospitals, rather than necessarily at their local one, which would enable people to receive faster treatment. Hospital staff and resources would be pooled across a region and would run evening and weekend surgeries.

The volcano on the remote island of Halmahera spewed grey ash clouds into the sky as streaks of purple lightning flashed around its crater

A volcano on the remote Indonesian island of Halmahera has spectacularly erupted, spewing a grey ash cloud into the sky and forcing people from seven nearby villages to evacuate, authorities have said.

Mount Ibu erupted on Saturday evening, sending ash 4km into the sky, as streaks of purple lightning flashed around its crater, according to information and images shared by Indonesia’s volcanology agency.