this is bbc news. the headlines at nine: theresa may announces a freeze on university tuition fees in england and an extension of the "help to buy" scheme in a bid to win over younger voters voters clash with riot police in the spanish region of catalonia, as they try to take part in a banned referendum on independence. the low—cost travel company, monarch has been granted a 24—hour extension to its licence to sell package holidays. and air france flight was forced to ta ke and air france flight was forced to take the division after it lost an engine over the atlantic. also in the next hour —— the invictus games reach their closing ceremony. founder prince harry wants to expand the event in the future, saying ‘the sky's the limit‘ and our sunday morning edition of the papers is at 9:35.

this morning's reviewers are political commentator james miller and the journalist and broadcaster shyama perera. good morning and welcome to bbc news. theresa may has announced a freeze on university tuition fees in england and an extension of the "help to buy" scheme in a bid to win over younger voters. it comes as the conservative party gathers in manchester for its annual conference. our political correspondent chris mason reports. the security sweeps are complete. this hall will soon be packed. but you don't need to look hard outside the conference venue to be reminded of the topic that dominates politics. expect a clear attempt here by senior conservatives to change the subject. so, in the next financial year, starting in april,

graduates in england will only begin repaying their tuition fee debts once they earn £25,000 a year. this is an increase from the current threshold of £21,000. the conservatives say this is a saving of around £360 a year for graduates on a salary of at least £25,000. the party is also promising an extra £10 billion for the help to buy equity loan scheme, ensuring it continues until march 2021 to assist some with the up front cost of home ownership. the prime minister will hope that the next few days gives her a chance to talk about domestic priorities. but the reality of the huge questions around brexit and her own future will make that difficult. and a big reason for that is this man. someone not exactly shy about his ambition. the foreign secretary, borisjohnson.

yet again, he snatched a fair chunk of the prime minister's limelight with his views on brexit and a few other topics besides. activists here aren't short of a view or two about him. i guess he is positioning himself as a spokesperson for brexit and making sure that it goes through. do you have a message for boris johnson? shush. get behind the prime minister. whatever promises made here, the political reality for theresa may won't change. her decision to voluntarily call an election in which she went backwards has weakened her political authority within and beyond her party. chris mason, bbc news, manchester. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is at the conservative party conference in manchester. norman, these promises on tuition fees in particular are pretty clear

attempt by the prime minister and the conservative party to win over younger voters who seemed in a lot of cases to vote labour at the last election because they liked what jeremy corbyn was offering? very much so. these strategies are quite clear one of the fundamental lessons at the general election with the younger voters deserted the tory party because they did not think they were offering them anything. now we are getting the glimmer of a sort of fight back by the tory high command with this announcement on tuition fees. you have to say it is a fairly limited announcement, says in comparison to the big offered theirjeremy corbyn is making in getting rid of tuition fees altogether. edition is keeping tuition fees at their current level and the question over whether the government would have been able to getan government would have been able to get an increase in tuition fees through parliament, whether the dup would've said no thank you, we are not upset that. they may have struggled to get through the planned

increase up to £9,500. increasing the threshold at which you pay back fees, yes, that'll some graduates 110w fees, yes, that'll some graduates now that those debts, those loans will remain. that is why we are hearing from the new conservatives this this is the first step. there will be other announcements, we are expecting them at the conference on tuition fees, all of which is designed to try and say, we are just not only about brexit, we have got more to say to the electorate than brexit. but you have to say there seems to be almost no way this conference can avoid being utterly dominated by brexit. another tough set of front pages for theresa may today, a lot of talk in the sunday times and elsewhere about how she was crying after the election and so on, yet she's still here. she is still down as leader to address the party conference. and every day she survives bluntly she felt stronger, she got together a deal with the

dup, then she got through the queen's speech, then she got through to the recess and each moment is seen to the recess and each moment is seen as a to the recess and each moment is seen as a key point in which her position has gradually solidified. but i think the thing that is mostly shielding her is the fact there is no agreement on who should succeed her and how they should succeed because that of course would necessitate almost certainly a tory leadership contest which will be profoundly divisive and in the middle of the brexit negotiations would probably be regarded as profoundly self—indulgent. but that reason i think those who are maybe toying with the possibility that they could succeed her are holding back. that said, borisjohnson's decision yesterday to put down another clear marker on what he thinks is acceptable in regards to brexit seems to be a challenge to mrs may's authority, one of the things i think everyone will be looking for today is whether mrs may

just banks, let's borisjohnson be borisjohnson or she just banks, let's borisjohnson be boris johnson or she moves just banks, let's borisjohnson be borisjohnson or she moves on to slap him down. norman, many thanks. norman smith bear in manchester. the low—cost travel company, monarch has been granted a 24—hour extension to its license to sell package holidays. it means travellers who book with the firm until midnight tonight will be covered for their trips. the airline is understood to be in talks to sell part or all of its short—haul operation, as simon cleminson reports. for almost as long as package holidays have been popular, there has been some form of protection in case business fails. the government scheme atol ensures that not only do you get a refund if you book ahead, but if you are already abroad, you can get home. companies need to prove they are financially robust to get a licence in the first place. under intense pressure from falling prices, a weak pound and shrinking demand, monarch is trying to find a buyer for part or all of its shorthaul operation. it is engaged in talks with a large number of potential investors.

a 24—hour licence extension means if the airline can continue selling in the charter market and customers will still be covered. monarch also needed a temporary licence last year. ultimately, 10,000 passengers already out of the could be affected. the civil aviation authority is thought to be working on backup plans, using other airlines for the return leg. it says it will provide daily updates. the airline says it continues to work on its future on flights operating as normal. let's get more on this now with our business correspondentjoe lynam. after days of uncertainty over ryanair, now monarch, thousands of customers not sure what is going on. 10,000 monarch customers out on package holidays as we speak. they are fine, they are protected by atol. if for whatever reason the atol. if for whatever reason the atol license which is a prediction

for package holidays is not renewed, then the airline can no longer sell any more of those package holidays but it might mean that either the airline that continues training or other airlines would have to bring those 10,000 customers home because they are protected by the regulator of that scheme. there is a wider issue and that is there is intense competition going on in the short—haul business. we have already seen short—haul business. we have already seen at the lingo bust, issues with ryanair that you made reference to, a strong, intense market. add in the fa ct a strong, intense market. add in the fact that the pound is weak and that locations that used to be travel book, turkey and egypt are no longer will really on the map, the foreign 0ffice does not recommend you go there. you have got intense competitions for what is left, spain, greece, italy, whatever it is for these flights. this is which the environment monarch is operating in. last year it blew 6.3 million people, a large number, only a

sliver of that, less than 5% of that work atol protected. the main bulk of their business does not include this production guarantees at all. thank you very much. voters have clashed with riot police at polling stations in the spanish region of catalonia, as they try to take part in a banned referendum on independence. this was the scene a short while ago in girona, as the national police, the civil guard, were brought in by the government — in order to prevent voters from entering the polling station. the government insist they are not there to prevent people from voting.

we are hearing the cattle and leader has cast his vote. —— the catalan leader. according to spanish television, he has cast his vote. the catalan leader has maintained that the vote should still go ahead, that the vote should still go ahead, thatis that the vote should still go ahead, that is despite the fact the spanish has declared the poll illegal. we will be hearing from our correspondent gavin lee who is in barcelona with the very latestjust in the next few minutes. we will be like barcelona for you very shortly. an air france flight from paris to los angeles carrying more than 500 people has been forced to make a sudden diversion when it lost part of an engine over the atlantic. passengers described a sudden jolt and then a loud boom. the plane flew for about an hour

on three engines before landing at goose bay airport in eastern canada. earlier we spoke tojohn birkhead one of the passengers who is still on the plane. yeah, it's14 hours now. so, we are still on the plane, first class and business have been loaded onto a small 737 and were flown out of here about two hours ago. the plane for us is due in another hour. right... but we are still on board, we have not been allowed to exit. just describe what happened and how frightening it was. yeah, my wife and i, we were six hours into the flight, my wife and i was stood in the open area next to the galley, we were stretching and talking about how long the flight was, we we re about halfway through the flight. and then suddenly there was a huge jolt, like we had hit something and then immediately the planejerked around a little bit and then there was a really weird engine

noise for a while. that went for about five minutes, we struggled back to our seats. we were strapped in for about five minutes, listening to this noise and then eventually it went away and the usual aircraft sounds kind of returned. for about five minutes, i think, everyone was pretty scared because we didn't know what was going on, there was no announcement. and then after about ten minutes, the crew got up and started tidying the plane away like we were going to land, that was pretty scary because, you know, we were over the ocean at this point. the passengers speaking to us a little earlier on. police in southern germany say they've detained a man they suspect of trying to extort millions of dollars from supermarkets

by concealing poisoned food products on their shelves. he was arrested after tip—offs from the public following an appeal for information. officers say they've discovered material they intend to use as evidence, at his flat. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. this all began when five jars of baby food containing a liquid used in antifreeze were found in a supermarket in southern germany. cctv footage was released showing a potential suspect who it was alleged had e—mailed store owners demanding they hand over millions of euros. now an arrest has been made, the man has not been named but police say he is 53 years old and he has been described as eccentric and mentally disturbed. translation: we currently have no leads pointing in the direction of an accomplice. at the moment, we are talking about this as a single perpetrator who planned and carried out the crime alone. the public prosecutor has applied for an arrest warrant for blackmail. but a charge of attempted murder could also be considered. the authorities say the suspect admitted the accusations when he made his first appearance in court.

he also said he had not put any poison products in other supermarkets but german shoppers are still being want to remain vigilant for signs of tampering when buying food. tim allman, bbc news. let us take you back to spain. you can see some riot police on duty now as the spanish national police moved in to shut down or try to shut down this band independence referendum in catalonia. they have been confronting crowds of angry voters. they real constitutional crisis here because this referendum on independence has been declared illegal by spain's central government in madrid. the ring spain into its worst constitutional crisis for decades. —— growing spain. the

cata la n for decades. —— growing spain. the catalan government had struggled waiting to open this morning at around 2300 designated polling stations but the authorities, including these police that you can see in the rona are saying that they have shut down more than half of the polling stations. but organisers of the referendum have been smuggling in ballot boxes, urging voters to use passive resistance against the police if they can and catalan leaders promising they are going to press ahead with this referendum, with this vote despite this crackdown, really, by the spanish national police, including seizure of ballot boxes and papers and the cata la n of ballot boxes and papers and the catalan authorities think they will give an estimate of the turnout is a bit later on this morning. that is the seam down live at the moment in

catalonia as this referendum, well, its organisers trying to hold it but the spanish authorities trying to stop it. quite a stand—off. the headlines on bbc news: theresa may announces a freeze on university tuition fees in england and extension of the help to buy scheme in a bid to win over younger voters. voters have been clashing with raspberries in the spanish region of catalonia as many try to take part ina bad catalonia as many try to take part in a bad referendum on independence. the low—cost travel company monarch has been granted a 24—hour extension to its licence to sell package holidays. ten days after puerto rico was devastated by hurricane maria, the situation in the american territory remains desperate. the entire island is still without power and there's a shortage of drinking water, food and fuel. there's also deepening political tension over relief efforts. while much—needed aid is now arriving, president trump has

continued to angrily defend the us response on twitter. the governor of puerto rico gave this update. 0ur priorities at this juncture, keeping food delivery, delivery of gas, making sure that the hospitals are working, making sure that we get more hospitals online and that they get their diesel and their fuel. establishing as best a mechanism for robust communication, whether it be telecoms or otherwise and the air traffic control so that we can get more assets here in puerto rico. the government is also working in conjunction and collaboration with fema. 0ur housing department, the office of the first lady, the family department are also doing efforts to distribute food and water in different areas in puerto rico and we

are coordinating all of the logistics with fema so that we can make sure that they arrive at their destination. the governor speaking. there's been a surge in the number of people working in the uk banking sector who are considering taking jobs in ireland. that's according to research conducted by a recruitment website. it found an almost 40% rise in searches for financial services positions in ireland compared with the quarter immediately before the referendum last year. oj simpson has been freed on parole after nine years in prison. he was a approved for release injuly. he has been serving a jail sentence for armed robbery, assault and ten other charges in a confrontation in las vegas in 2007. at least 29 football supporters

in france have been injured after a security barrier collapsed during a game in the northern city of amiens. hugh schofield reports. 15 minutes into the match at the amiens stadium, lille opened the score with a goal by fode ballo—toure. lille fans erupted with joy, many of them pressing against the metal fence separating them from the pitch. the fence, unable to bear their weight, collapsed sending the crowd of supporters tumbling over each other down to the ground. the match was stopped as emergency workers treated the injured on the pitch. this season, amiens is playing in france's first division for the first time. their stadium, build in 1999, is undergoing renovation work but officials there insisted that there was no link between the work and the accident. the club's president blamed lille fans for charging en mass against the fence which he said was in perfect condition. hugh schofield reporting there.

austria's law banning face veils — such as burqas — has begun. only an estimated 150 austrian women wear the full face veil. the measures are seen as an attempt to counter the rise of the far—right, ahead of a general election next month. there are around 700,000 muslims in a country with a population of about eight million. bethany bell reports from austria's capital vienna. austria is banning the fullface veil in public places. headscarves are allowed but the tiny minority of muslim women who wear the burqa or niqab now face a fine. it is estimated only 150 women here actually wear one. the law doesn'tjust target muslim veils, it also restricts the use of medical face masks and clown make—up. this shop sells clothes for conservative muslim women. they would not let us film inside, but on their

website they do show ads for the niqab. it is very rare to see muslim women wearing full faced veils, here in austria. those who do so are believed to be young and converts. the coalition government of the social democrats and the conservatives says the law is about standing up for women's rights. in a free society, we have to protect the values of the free society, and one of the values is the equal rights of man and woman and not ban the woman from the public. we cannot accept a woman as a second—class person. this election poster by the far—right freedom party says islamisation should be stopped. fears about muslims are wide spread, although there have not been major terrorist attacks here. carla amina baghajati, from the islamic community in austria, says she is not in favour of face veils but she does not like the new law. muslims feel that populism is taking

over and they are very worried that they are made responsible for attacks. we need a feeling of us, in our society, and these laws do not help but are counter—productive. tourism officials are concerned too. they say those most likely to be affected by the ban are wealthy tourists from the gulf. arrests could be bad for business. bethany bell, bbc news, vienna. prince harry says he hopes to expand the invictus games in the future, saying the "sky's the limit". speaking at the closing ceremony of the event for injured service personnel and veterans, he congratulated the competitors for the example they had shown the world, as andrew plant reports. the final day of competition in canada in the games set up by prince harry in 2014. 17 nations, over 500

participants, for a week—long event that helps wounded servicemen and women with physical and psychological rehabilitation. the closing ceremony then, a star—studded ending with some of music's biggest names and recognition for one of the game's biggest stars, the uk's mark 0rmerod, multiple medal winner, the former royal marine commando recognised with the exceptional performance award. to the thousands who filled the stands this week and the millions who watched at home, let me issue you a challenge. don'tjust move on from these games with happy memories. instead, make an invictus goal for yourself. the invictus games are not just for the already determined. these games are for those who need it most. please help us find them. as the scene sets on toronto's games, the flag was passed

to the next host. it will be game on down under. i'll see you in australia. sydney taking on the duties, now looking forward to the next invictus games. andrew plant, bbc news let us take you back to the situation in spain. live pictures coming in to us. you can see some of the spanish national belief that and a stand—off, really, with pro—independence demonstrators who wa nt to pro—independence demonstrators who want to vote and the spanish national police moving in to shut down its independence referendum today that is banned by the central government in madrid. you can see that the police confronting crowds of angry voters at polling stations where they are being told they cannot vote, police with riot

shields, occasionally scuffling and jostling with voters and the crowd chanting, we are people of peace. but the riot police, you can see that in helmets, this rona rendon declared illegal by spain's central government in madrid. —— this referendum. spain in its worst constitutional crisis for many years now, a test of will, really, between madrid and barcelona and 2300 designated polling stations but the spanish authorities tried to shut them down, as many as they can. although plenty of people, it does seem, have voted in this referendum despite those attempts by the authorities to prevent this referendum going ahead. so we will be getting estimates from the cata la n be getting estimates from the catalan authorities, how many people

they think have managed to vote. dramatic pictures here you can see as the national police that, quite a lot of scuffles as the vanloads of riot police arrived there. this is just the start of what is going to bea just the start of what is going to be a very difficult, very tense day there in catalonia. those who want to break away from spain absolutely determined that they should have the chance, they should have the right to vote in this referendum of the spanish right police that, the spanish right police that, the spanish authorities in madrid saying that this is an illegal, on the constitutional referendum that cannot be allowed to go ahead. —— constitutional referendum. but as the very latest, we will bring you

more throughout that, at very difficult situation, a stand—off in catalonia. let us check out the weather. cloud, wind and rain all in the forecast. not a complete write—off, mild and largely dry weather for central and eastern parts of the country, turning breezy wherever you are without recovering, particularly for the west of scotland, north—west england, drizzle across wales and south—west england through the afternoon. brighter skies returning from the west end temps today, 1a dating celsius. tonight, the front pushes off towards the east, taking the rain away, windy conditions overnight, particularly across scotland, northern ireland and northern england. plenty of showers. try a further south, mild with the strength of the wind keeping things frost free to start monday. very strong winds across monday for scotland, cost of 60 mph. less windy further south across the country

that wherever you are, blustery, heavy showers in the north and the west. dry towards the south—east and a little cooler than it has been at 14 to 18 celsius. goodbye for now. hello. this is bbc news with ben brown. the latest headlines... theresa may announces a freeze on university tuition fees

in england and an extension of the "help to buy" scheme in a bid to win over younger voters. voters clash with riot police in the spanish region of catalonia, as many try to take part in a banned referendum on independence. the low—cost travel company, monarch, has been granted a 24—hour extension to its licence to sell package holidays. and an air france flight was forced to make a sudden diversion when it lost part of an engine over the atlantic. coming up in a few minutes our sunday morning edition of the papers — this morning's reviewers are political commentator, james miller and the journalist and broadcaster, shyama perera. let's go back to what's happening in spain, we were showing you