One thing, that is off topic, but catches my eye at first glance, is that the php-code and the div-tag in the template are nested in a wrong way. They should be nested like this:
<div class="twocol-one">
<?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar') || !dynamic_sidebar('fox_home_news_widget') ) ; ?>
<p>this is a test</p>
<?php endif;?>
</div>
And you are missing the closing ?>
on the endif-statement.