this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at ten: brendan cox, the widower of the murdered mp, jo cox, resigns from two organisations set up in her memory after claims of sexual misconduct in the past. president trump criticises the fbi for missing the signals about wednesday's school shooting, describing it as unacceptable. 66 people are killed in a passenger plane crash in iran, the airline says there are no sui’vivoi’s. a major review of university funding is to be unveiled by ministers tomorrow, as mps claim interest rates on student loans are "unjustifiable". also: emma watson donates £1 million to a new fund aimed at making uk workplaces safe for women. ahead of tonight's baftas, the actorjoined 200 female british and irish stars in signing a letter calling for an end to sexual harassment in all industries. we'll have all the latest action from the winter olympics

as skeleton winners, lizzy yarnold and laura deas prepare to receive their gold and bronze medals. we will be meeting the man tried to rid our roads of potholes. that is coming up at half past ten here on bbc news. good morning and welcome to bbc news. the husband of the murdered mpjo cox has resigned from two charities he set up in her memory, after allegations of sexual harassment were published in the mail on sunday. mr cox denies assaulting a woman at harvard university in 2015 — but admits to "inappropriate" behaviour while working for save the children.

our political correspondent susana mendonca reports. the murder ofjo cox in 2016 shocked the nation. the labour mp, who was also a mother of two small children, was murdered by a far right extremist during the eu referendum campaign. after her death, her husband brendan became a prominent campaigner against extremism and went on to help set up two organisations — thejo cox foundation and more in common. now he has resigned from both following allegations in the mail on sunday that he sexually harassed female colleagues while working for the charity save the children. in a statement, he said... a source close to mr cox told the bbc that he had never sexually assaulted anyone, and that the allegations were exaggerated. thejo cox foundation said that mr cox was admired by staff there for the integrity,

commitment and dedication he had shown to creating a positive legacy forjo. susana mendonca, bbc news. president trump has criticised the fbi for missing the signals about wednesday's school shooting, describing it as unacceptable. in a tweet, he said the fbi's failure to stop the gunman, nikolas cruz, were because it was spending too much time investigating allegations of russian interference in the presidential election. he said the fbi needed to get back to basics. thousands of people in florida, including survivors of the shooting, have taken part in a rally to demand tighter gun controls in the united states. the event took place outside the court building in the city of fort lauderdale, a short distance from the school where cruz killed 17 people. laura westbrook reports. chanting: no more! outside the federal courthouse in fort lauderdale, this was the message to lawmakers.

among the protesters was emma gonzales, who took cover on the floor of her school's auditorium as a gunman started shooting. she had this to say to donald trump. if the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and how it should never have happened, and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, i'm gonna happily ask him how much money he received from the national rifle association. cheering and applause. what she's referring to is the millions of dollars the nra has given towards the trump campaign. on a visit to the hospital where the victims of the attack are being treated, the president once again made no mention of guns or gun control. instead, he says the problem is mental illness. just a few kilometres south of where the protest is being held, a gun show is taking place.

in the us, there is as many guns in circulation as there are people. the nra is the most powerful lobbying organisation in the united states. they have successfully resisted every move to tighten gun controls and for their supporters, it is a fundamentalfreedom. when somebody infringes a right for persons in this country to keep and bear arms, then it's an infringement upon our rights, it's a violation of our civil liberties, now we have a bigger problem. we will be spending our times at funerals! but after yet another school shooting, anger among the younger generation is rising. and it comes to mind that this happened, i cannot be angry at law informants, they did theirjob. this school did theirjob. this kid was expelled, he was put through the system and then he came back in with a gun and killed people. that was of

that power. all we could have done is make sure that someone like i wasn't able to get power. is make sure that someone like i wasn't able to get poweri is make sure that someone like i wasn't able to get power. i am still feeling in shock. it is like i am dreaming and everything, i was discouraged when everyone went home to go and cover the job investigation which is important but so are investigation which is important but so are people's lives. in fact, students across the country are planning a mass walk—out of schools in april — the anniversary of the columbine high school massacre. they are demanding adults listen to them and tighten gun control. laura westbrook, bbc news. more than 60 people have died after an iranian passenger plane crashed in central iran. it went down during a flight from the capital tehran to the southwestern city of yasuj. emergency services say the plane crashed in the zagros mountains, near the town of semirom. the plane is similar to this atr aircraft and was flown by aseman airlines. an official says a helicopter tried to reach the crash site but was not able to land due to bad weather.

the education secretary has said that higher government subsidies could be provided to fund more expensive degree courses such as science and engineering, allowing universities to charge less for humanities courses. damian hinds said the idea would be included in a review of university funding. his comments come as a committee of mps has called for the scrapping of "punitive" interest rates on student loans. simon clemison reports. many of today's students were not born when university tuition fees were first introduced. but 20 years on, the link between getting a degree and paying towards the cost of it remains, and that has meant big sacrifices for some. and my parents sold their house so i could come to uni — i'm the first one in my family. looking into it, there were lots of, like, different aspects of the debt and how much you're paying back, obviously, in the long run, and it's a really scary prospect. the government still backs the idea that students should contribute towards the cost of their higher education, and that's

one of the areas that will covered by its major review of student finance. it comes as a committee of mps today says current interest rates on loans of up to 6.1% are questionable. with students in england accumulating more than £5,000 in charges while they are still studying. the average debt for graduates totalling more than £50,000. they need to look at grants available to help the poorer students, they need to look at the level of interest that is currently being applied to student loans, and they need to rebuild some public trust and confidence in the fairness of the system by ironing out some of these real injustices at the heart of the way that the system works. education secretary damian hinds suggests the review will consider extra subsidies for expensive subjects such as science and engineering. it could make it easier for universities to lower the cost of courses offered by the departments. the income threshold for repayment would also be considered, as well as the length of time before the loans are written off. but with the outstanding amount due to hit £i60 billion by 2021, labour argues the system is unsustainable.

simon clemison, bbc news. tom barton is with me in the sheedy. are we looking at a shift in government policy? this review is only getting started. it will be carried out by an independent panel, wide ranging brief. we knew no the government remains committed to the principle of graduates paying one way or the other for the university education that they have received. one of the issues that the panel is going to look at is the fact that most universities charge £9,000 across the board for whatever course across the board for whatever course a student takes, whether it is an expensive to deliver science or engineering course for a much cheaper arts or humanities course. and that is something the education secretary damian hinds told andrew

marr in the last little while that he wants the panel to take a close look at. when the system was brought in, it was not in the survey did that so many courses would all have the same fee for the same course. there has not been as much protein that is coming to the system as we would have expected and wanted. i think it is right to ask questions about that and see what can be done to stimulate that diversity and variety. this view is likely to like the income thresholds that students need to reach before they stop paying the loa n to reach before they stop paying the loan back and the amount of time that alone can exist before it gets written off by the government. labourdid written off by the government. labour did very well at the last election not least on the back of votes from young people over a ma nifesto votes from young people over a manifesto pledge to abolish student fees, university tuition fees and to reintroduce maintenance grants. there a question over the government is somewhat responding to that

labour policy, certainly though angela rayner told andrew marr that she was not very impressed with this review. we have had three announcements of reviews in the last 12 months and eight months of the conservatives that have damaged higher education and totally decimated further education infrastructure, so another review isn't really going to solve the problem of the hike in interest rates which the government has done and the triple in tuition fees and of course most students have said that the removal of maintenance grants is one of the biggest arrows to them at university at the moment and the government has said nothing oi'i and the government has said nothing on that. interest rates, at the front of students minds, and he's talking about this is well? i'd report was published today looking at that issue of the interest rates paid by students on their student

loa ns. paid by students on their student loans. the current interest rate is targeted by taking bb tel prices index, rpi, adding 3% to it. in mean some people are paying as much as 6.1%. there is no clear reason to using that measure, not least because it is no longer a national statistic for an official statistic and actually they say the government should instead be using the lower inflation measure of cpi to calculate the interest rates that stu d e nts calculate the interest rates that students are paying. they also take issue with the fact that students are paying interest on their student loa ns are paying interest on their student loans while they are still at university, before they have earned a penny as a result of having a degree. they say that many students see that as a punitive measure. all right, thank you very much indeed. nearly 200 british female stars of film, tv and stage are demanding the eradication of sexual harassment from all sectors of society. ahead of tonight's baftas, they've also launched a fund to help those who need advice or professional support.

the actress emma watson has donated £1 million to the cause, while keira knightley and tom hiddleston have each given £10,000. 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 is 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 will 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. a committee of mps has warned that a hard brexit could mean higherfood prices for consumers. a report by the commons environment, food and rural affairs committee also said failure to get a free—trade deal with the eu could be devastating for farmers. our business correspondent joe lynam reports. the peace and bucolic splendour of uk farmlands could be dramatically upset if britain fails to get a comprehensive free—trade deal post brexit. a key group of mps says consumers might also end up paying more

forfood if the uk reverts to world trade organization rules. the environment, food and rural affairs committee of mps says a so—called hard brexit would have a devastating effect on rural communities. that's because 60% of uk food exports go to the eu and they could face much higher tariffs. the committee also said that britain should not dilute its own high food standards in order to sign new global trade deals, such as one with the us. we go into a sort of wt0 situation where there's tariffs on imported food that will actually drive food prices up. now, for some commodities, that will actually suit farming, but perhaps not the consumer if they have to pay more for their food. but the government has sought to soothe those concerns. it said that leaving the eu gave the uk a golden opportunity to secure ambitious free—trade deals while supporting our farmers and producers. it said it would not compromise on the uk's high environmental

or welfare standards. joe lynam, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: brendan cox, the widower of the murdered mp, jo cox, has resigned from two organisations set up in her memory after claims of sexual misconduct in the past. donald trump has criticised the fbi for failing to act on warnings it received about a teenager who carried out wednesday's school shooting in florida. an iranian passenger plane has crashed in the centre of the country, killing all 66 people on board. and now for a full round up from the bbc sport centre. thank you. we'll start with the winter olympics in pyeongchang. and after super saturday it hasn't gone to plan for great britain today. james woods just missed out on a medal in the ski slopestyle, finishing fourth

after a nail—biting finish. the sheffield skier was in the bronze medal position after two of the three runs. but he couldn't better that in his final effort and was eventually overtaken, meaning he finished in an agonising fourth place. result—wise, amazing. performance—wise, you cannot engineer perfection. i did that run three times in a row and that's mega, it's seriously mega. if everyone had been perfect, it would have meant last place. if one or two people had slipped up, would've been on the top. that is the game of perfection, man. britain's women's curling team lost their latest match in controversial fashion. gb lost 8—6 to sweden after a decisive 11th end. gb skip eve muirhead wasjudged not to have let go of her final stone before the line, meaning the shot was void. that gave the swedes an easy final shot to secure an 8—6 victory. it leaves muirhead's rink with a record of won three, lost three, with switzerland, japan and canada still to play in the round—robin stage.

the controversial video assistant referee system is once again in the spotlight. manchester united beat huddersfield town 2—0 to make it through to the quarter finals against brighton. but it was a goal that was ruled out that was the main talking point. juan mata's goal that was ruled out. mata was ruled offside. but there was confusion about how the decision was reached. it all took quite a bit of time as well. united went through thanks to two goals from romelu lukaku. united will play brighton in the last eight after they beat coventry city. huddersfield boss david wagner says he isn't a fan of the new system. this video system referee from my point, maybe i am too traditional but this killed the motion of the game in the situation and this is why i do not like it but i am not the man who makes the decision. i

have two manager team with it but i do not like it. southampton made it through to the last eight with a 2—1 win at west bromwich albion, this goal from dusan tadic proved to be the winner. it follows an eventful week for west brom, afterfour of their players broke a curfew and reportedly stole a taxi while in spain for warm weather training. it has been difficult but, you know, in terms of the experience on the pitch and the attitude and the reaction to that, i was pleased with because it was a difficult day for the players as well as course. a good account of themselves and slightly unfortunate good account of themselves and slightly u nfortu nate really to good account of themselves and slightly unfortunate really to be out of the cup. cricket now and england have failed to reach the final of the tri—series. england needed to beat new zealand by 20 runs to make wednesday's final against australia. england did win the match after making 194—7 in their 20 overs. eoin morgan top scoring with 80. but his side needed to restrict new zealand to 174 to get through.

the kiwis finished on 192—4, which was enough to see them get through to the final. boxing — george groves successfully defended his wba super middleweight title with a win over chris eubankjunior in manchester. the british world title bout went all 12 rounds, with groves boxing clever to withstand the challenge from eubankjunior. the victory was unanimous and also means groves is through to the world boxing super series final. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport and i'll have more for you in the next hour. richard, thank you. see you later. they describe themselves as britain's forgotten veterans. 60 years ago, thousands of uk service personnel were sent to the south pacific to test nuclear bombs. some claim the radiation caused cancers and birth defects which they passed onto their children

and grandchildren. now they hope a new study of their dna will prove it, as sarah corker reports. it was so bright you could see the bones in your hand. you just saw, like, another sun hanging in the sky. that's what it was. the south pacific at the height of the cold war. the british military testing the nuclear bomb. i'm bob fleming. i was a nuclear test veteran. bob was 2a and in the forces when he watched one of the world's most powerful weapons detonate on christmas island. one of 22,000 british men involved in the testing programme. we had no protective clothing. shirt, shorts, flip—flops. most of my children and grandchildren have suffered in some way, a whole range of illnesses, some of them very frightening.

three generations of the fleming family believe they have suffered because of bob's exposure to radiation. 21 of the members in our family, and 16 of us have health problems. muscular, skeletal health problems, tumour problems, kidney stone problems, breathing problems. they have spent decades searching for answers. it was back in 2012 when britain's nuclear test veterans took their case to the supreme court and lost. the court said they had faced great difficulty proving a link between their illnesses and taking part in their illnesses and taking part in the test. now, here at brunel university in london, they are carrying out scientific research to see if there dna has been irreparably damaged. the chief scientist told me blood cells will be taken from 100 veterans and their families. we are sampling a group of veterans that we know were present at nuclear tests back in the ‘50s and ‘60s,

and we are comparing samples of their blood with a control sample of veterans who we know were not present at the nuclear test sites. and the scientists will work closely with veteran charities. they are the forgotten generation of people who saw these very, very powerful weapons explode in their faces, and it is almost like they have been wiped from the history books. the ministry of defence says it is grateful to the servicemen, but says three previous studies of the veterans found no valid evidence to link the test to ill health. they set up the aged veteran fund in 2015 to help fund this new research. the flemings want to take part in this study and are waiting to hear if they have been selected. we want recognition. that is what we are fighting for.

so, 60 years on, nuclearfamilies are still living in the aftermath of these bomb tests. sarah corker, bbc news. a new swedish fitness craze has reached british shores. it's called plogging or picking litter while jogging and it's gaining momentum here. greg dawson explains. in many ways, it looks like any other weekend fitness routine. you'll need a pair of these. a warm—up will help — it is february. but don't forget to pick up one of these. and maybe this will come in handy too. plogging, or plucking and jogging, first gained popularity in sweden but it's quickly caught on around the world, from the beaches of australia to the pavements of india, and here in the parks of south—east london. ilike running.

i like doing stuff in the community. i like finding places that i didn't know existed — like, i didn't know this park was here, even though i live in the area, i've never been here before — so i think it does two things. it helps me to get fit and helps me to find out more about where i live and that, i enjoy. ivo gormley is the founder of good gym which runs plogging sessions and other community activities across the uk. we have been getting hundreds of new people signing up. every time you go for a run, you're likely to pass by somewhere where there is some fly tipping going on. you're not likely to pass by the house of someone who is isolated and lonely. every time you are running through your community, there are things that need doing and actually, you can combine that with your exercise. this is about far more than just running, though. as we know, a lot of our litter ends up in the waterways which means that the ploggers end up in waders. and it's notjust helping the environment but also potentially the public purse. clearing litter costs local authorities more than £700 million a year in england alone.

this local—level volunteering coincides with a growing momentum nationally to cut waste. the scottish parliament announced plans to ban plastic straws. and the royal family has even backed efforts to reduce single—use plastic on britain's royal estates. does it ever frustrate you when you're litter picking, you see the state of some of the parks and some of the waterways? i suppose it is a bit frustrating but especially because this is my local park — i live just around the corner — but it is good that so many people are willing to give up their saturday mornings to clean up parks and rivers and... to get involved. get involved in the community. with that sense of making a small difference to a bigger problem, plogging offers much more thanjust a strenuous work—out. greg dawson, bbc news, south—east london. let's have a look at the weather. quite a surreal and start to the

day, some beautiful sunrise pictures sentin day, some beautiful sunrise pictures sent in by our weather watchers, including this one which is taken in norfolk showing the clear skies. some frost, mist and fog patches. they are lifting and cleric. do the rest of the day, dry weather, cloud increasing from the west and that will bring some rain later in the day, all courtesy of this frontal system approaching from the atlantic. towards fees, high pressure in charge, keeping a lot of dry weather the central and eastern parts of the uk. best of the centres for the likes of kent, norfolk, eastern and northern parts of scotland. elsewhere, a little bit of brightness breaking through the cloud, north—west of england, down towards the midlands. temperatures, ten or 11 celsius in the south but staying high single figures further north. rain across northern ireland through the afternoon, pushing in the western world, south—west of england, heading across scotland. the light patchy rain overnight continues east, a lot of cloud,

frost free conditions to start your monday morning. murky weather around on monday, all down to the fact that this front is lingering towards the east so the warm front sitting in these producing some rain and bringing mild conditions. here are the yellow colours on the map to monday, the blue colours indicating colder and not far—away. through the day, quite misty, murky and grey, brightness breaking through for the likes of northern ireland, south—west of scotland, eastern scotla nd south—west of scotland, eastern scotland and eastern england likely to keep up its sovereignty the day. still quite mild, 12 or 13 celsius. we will have the remnants of this frontal system bringing some rain on tuesday, especially the sanger, delta towards kent and sussex two. not a bad day elsewhere. temperatures still just about not a bad day elsewhere. temperatures stilljust about in double figures but things will turn a little colder from the east. that

is because we are seeing a change in wind direction, tuesday onwards, drawing in this cold easterly wind bring a realdip drawing in this cold easterly wind bring a real dip in the temperatures, and mass coming from scandinavia and northern europe. through the week ahead, it will be a mild start with a bit of rain, thinks turning colder with more sunshine later on. that is it. goodbye for now. this is bbc news, our latest headlines. brendan cox, the widower of the murdered mp, jo cox, resigns from two organisations set up in her memory, after claims of sexual misconduct in the past. president trump criticises the fbi for missing warning signals about wednesday's school shooting, describing it as unacceptable. 66 people are killed in a passenger plane crash in iran, the airline says there are no sui’vivoi’s. a major review of university funding is to be unveiled by ministers tomorrow,

as mps claim interest rates on student loans are "unjustifiable". harry potter star emma watson gives £1 million to a new campaign aimed at making uk workplaces safe for women. the donation comes as nearly 200 stars sign a letter calling for an end to sexual harassment at work. now on bbc news, inside out examines the state of britain's roads. hello. i'm at the east anglian railway museum near colchester. it's kind of the perfect place for the programme really, because our second film is about british rail. but first, there's something nasty on our roads which can cause serious problems. vehicles are being damaged, and in some cases people are being seriously hurt. the cause of all this misery? the humble pothole.