18/02/2018 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon.

The husband of murdered MP Jo Cox

has resigned from two charities

he set up in her memory,

after allegations of sexual

harassment were made public.

Brendan Cox denies assaulting

a woman at Harvard University

in 2015, but admits

to "inappropriate" behaviour

while working for Save The Children.

This morning Jo Cox's sister has

said that the family

will continue to support Brendan,

and that their priority is on caring

for the couple's children.

Charlotte Gallagher reports.

The murder of Jo Cox by a far right

extremist

The murder of Jo Cox by a far right

extremist stunned the nation. The

Labour MP and mother of two was shot

and stabbed in the week before the

EU referendum in 2016. In the months

after her death, her widower,

Brendan Cox, vowed to campaign in

his wife's memory, and set up the Jo

Cox Foundation and More In Common.

Now, following allegations of

inappropriate behaviour against

women, he has stood down from both

charities. He was accused of

harassing a female colleague at Save

the Children and assaulting a woman

during a trip to Harvard University

in 2015. Late last night, Brendan

Cox apologised for his actions.

The Labour MP Jess Phillips, who was

friends with Jo Cox, said he was

right to stand down.

I'm not

defending his actions, I am trying

to think about this person who I

know and my friend who isn't here,

and make sure that there is a change

in the future. I don't defend any of

this behaviour.

A spokesperson for

the Jo Cox Foundation said staff

admired Mr Cox's contribution and

dedication to the charity. Today, Jo

Cox's sister said the family would

support Brendan Cox as he

endeavoured to do the right thing.

The education Secretary said

university students should pay

different amounts to study different

causes. Damian Hinds suggested

subsidies could be used to fund more

expensive degree courses such as

science and engineering.

It comes as the Prime Minister

prepares to outline details

of a wide ranging review

of higher education funding.

But Labour say another review

isn't going to solve

basic funding problems.

Tom Barton reports.

What's this worth?

CHEERING.

That's the question facing ministers

as they try to address concerns

over the cost of university,

both to students and taxpayers.

A review launching

tomorrow to look at how

degrees are funded and whether it's

right that expensive science and

engineering courses cost students

the same as cheaper arts and

humanities degrees.

When the system was

brought in, it wasn't

anticipated that so many

universities, so many courses, would

all have the same fee

for their course.

There hasn't been as much variety

that has come into the system

as we would have expected

and wanted, so I think it is right

to ask questions about that and see

what can be done to stimulate that

diversity and variety.

The review comes as MPs

from the Commons Treasury Committee

say interest rates as high as 6.1%

on student loans are questionable.

With many undergraduates in England

accumulating £5,000 in interest

whilst still studying,

and leaving university

with average debts of £50,000.

Many are seeing today's announcement

as a response to Labour's success

with younger voters at last year's

general election, after promising

to end fees and reintroduce

maintenance grants.

We've had three announcements

of reviews in the last 12 months

and eight years of the Conservatives

that have damaged higher education

and totally decimated our further

education infrastructure,

so another review really isn't

going to solve the problem

of the hike in interest rates

which this Government has done.

Tuition fees remain a divisive

subject, something ministers hope

this review will help address.

Tom is here now.

Is this the start, do you think, of

a shift on Government policy on

higher education?

There is certainly no doubt the

Conservatives have felt under

pressure on this issue since last

year's election but the Government

remains committed to the key

principle that graduates who have

benefited from university education

should continue to contribute

towards the cost of that education.

What then could this review mean in

practice? There is of course the

possibility that those studying arts

and humanities courses that are

cheaper to deliver could find

themselves paying

less, is talking about universities

offering shorter courses, more

part-time study, as well as making

it easier for students to live at

home whilst at university. But

criticism of today's announcement is

not just coming from the Labour

Party, Damian Hinds' predecessor as

education secretary, Justin Green,

has said today that the Government

needs to stop kicking education

around like a political football.

Church spires are going to be used

to help people in rural areas get

better access to mobile networks,

broadband and wifi services.

A deal between the Government

and the Church of England aims

to make it easier to put

communication masts

in spires and towers,

as James Waterhouse explains.

A church spire can often be

the highest point of a village,

and given that the Church of England

has more than 16,000

buildings of different kinds,

Government ministers are hoping

these will give the perfect

infrastructure to help more parts

of the UK get better signal.

They say this deal will make it

easier for vicars and bishops to get

this technology installed,

and there's cash to be made.

The rental is typically

between £5,000 and £10,000,

which can be equivalent or more

to a normal income for

a church for a year.

Now, conservationists may not

like the idea of a mobile

phone mast being bolted

onto their local church.

However, the Government

argues in many cases

the technology can be hidden

within the spire.

They'll be rolled out over

the next five years,

and both parties will be hoping this

signals better mobile phone

coverage and internet

for more parts of the UK.

James Waterhouse, BBC News.

Donald Trump has rebuked the FBI

for missing warning signals

about the gunman who killed 17

students at a school

in Florida last week.

The President says the agency has

spent "too much time trying

to prove Russian collusion"

during his election win,

and is failing to do

the basics of law enforcement.

The FBI has admitted it failed to

act on a tip-off about the gunman.

Nearly 200 British stars of film,

TV and stage have signed an open

letter calling for an end to sexual

harassment at work, ahead

of tonight's Bafta awards in London.

Emma Watson, Keira Knightley

and Emma Thompson are among the list

named in the letter,

published in the Observer.

The stars are expected to wear black

for tonight's Bafta,

in a show of solidarity

with the Hollywood

movement Time's Up.

Britain has just missed

out on a fifth medal

at the Winter Olympics

in South Korea, after James Woods

finished an agonising fourth

in the ski slopestyle

in Pyeongchang this morning.

From there, Andy Swiss reports.

From a dry ski slope in Sheffield,

to an Olympic final.

James Woods has long made

the extraordinary seem effortless,

and once again how he rose

to the occasion, as he tricked,

flipped and leapt his way

right into contention.

COMMENTATOR:

What's he got for us?

CHEERING.

You can hear what the

crowd think of that.

What a run by James Woods.

He came here with such

high hopes for a medal,

will that be enough?

It seemed it might be.

Second place for Woodsy...

And with just a few left to go

he was still in bronze,

before America's Nick Goepper

snatched away his medal.

So close.

It's a game of perfection,

and it's not just that,

you've got to go above and beyond

technical difficulty.

That was insane.

Meanwhile, it's emerged speed skater

Elise Christie suffered soft tissue

damage in her crash yesterday.

Her boyfriend posted this...

With her next event on Tuesday,

it's a race against time.

But for others,

there was celebration.

Lizzy Yarnold receiving her

skeleton gold medal.

Her historic success, she told me,

was still sinking in.

It was a big goal four years ago

to try and be the first

British Winter Olympian

to retain my title.

It was scary to say it,

but now it's rolling off

the tongue a bit more.

I'm just so proud that it

all came together.

And with team-mate Laura Deas

collecting her bronze,

a picture-perfect podium

for British sport.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Pyeongchang.

That is all from us.

The next news on BBC One is just

after six, bye for now.