legally required to do so. the national association of teachers of re says it's a worrying trend and many pupils aren't being prepared for life in modern britain. the department for education says re remains compulsory. tim muffett reports. the coopers‘ company and coborn school in upminster, where religious education is a core subject. it gives you the skill to debate, argue, and really consider what other people view about something. all state schools in england, including academies and free schools, are legally obliged to provide religious education as part of a balanced curriculum. there needs to be something that happens if schools aren't doing this. fiona moss is from the national association of teachers of religious education. it issued a freedom of information request to the department for education. its school census data showed that 26% of state secondary schools in england made no provision for re, and in academies, which operate outside of local authority control, the figure rose to 34% amongst the 11 to 13 age group — 44% for older pupils.

when it comes down to it, schools are breaking the law. they do have to teach re to all of their students. schools we've spoken to have told us that re teachers can be hard to recruit, and that for many pupils and parents the subject is not considered a priority. many insist that the legal obligation to teach re can be fulfilled in different ways. they might be using conferences, they might be using some of citizenship lessons, they might be using assemblies. as head of a church of england school, that's what we did. we were most definitely not breaking the law. the department for education said that it firmly believes in the importance of religious education, and that it remains compulsory for all state—funded schools. tim muffett, bbc news. time for the weather. it is been a

cool september day. it is also been a day of downpours for a central england. they will continue for a time, but then fade away. the club moves info central and southern areas, along with that low cloud, some mist and fog. that will leave the north—west of the uk with the clearest skies overnight. it is here where we will seek the lowest temperatures, towns and cities around 10—11, that in the countryside, it could get down fairly close to freezing. an important lee autumnal chill in the air. a nice day with some sunshine. showers developing a late and afternoon. central england will see the bulk of those showers, more general rain moves into the east, and along with that it will feel cool hello, this is bbc news.

the headlines at liz30pm. the home secretary has confirmed the terror threat level has been lowered from ‘critical‘ to ‘severe‘. police investigating the london tube bombing have arrested a second man, he's 21 and was detained in west london last night. the home secretary, amber rudd, has accused borisjohnson of being a ‘backseat driver‘ following his newspaper piece setting out his views on brexit. meanwhile, borisjohnson has been criticised for a ‘clear misuse‘ of official figures by the statistics watchdog after he revived the referendum pledge that up to £350 million a week extra could be spent on the nhs after brexit. the un secretary—general says myanmar‘s leader, aung san suu kyi, has a ‘last chance‘ to end the military offensive that‘s forced 400,000 rohingya muslims to flee to neighbouring bangladesh. now on bbc news, laura trevelyan

speaks to former world number one maria sharapova about her tennis career and route back to redemption. welcome to new york for a bbc news special, i am laura trevelyan. in 2016, one of the most famous names in tennis fell from grace after testing positive for a banned substance. maria sharapova was eventually banned from tennis for 15 months after an appeal. now sharapova has published a memoir, unstoppable: my life so far. and she is back on the tennis circuit. the big question facing her — can she get rid of this cloud over her career, face down criticism from rivals and climb back to the top of the sport she learned as a young child in russia? maria sharapova, what was it

like playing here in new york at the us open just a few weeks ago, back in the limelight after your suspension? it was amazing. an incredible moment. it started when the draw came out and ifound out i would play simona halep who was so close to the number one ranking before the tournament. i knew at what level she was competing so i immediately understood the type of level i had to produce against her from the first round on and it really challenged me. ifelt like it would be a prime—time match, i had not played on arthur ashe for a few years because of the suspension and because i was injured in previous years. for many years i had not competed there and i was looking forward to that moment, just getting to the venue from the practices, everything before, the anticipation of walking through the tunnel and onto centre court, and the match itself, it was an emotional night for me as well.

an incredible match, you beat the number two seed, you had a wildcard into the tournament. and you said after you won, it‘s prime time, baby! what did it mean to be there and win with the roar of the crowd under the lights? i had been training for some time and to walk onto a court like that with thousands of people, the electric crowd, the emotions, the noise, the feeling that i had walking into and was a feeling of warmth and welcome. it felt like that‘s a place i really missed, a place i belong, it has been my stage for so long and i haven‘t felt experience. to be in a grand slam after such a long period was very special. the fans welcomed you back with open arms, not all the players, caroline wozniacki said it was questionable to put you on one of the best courts for all the matches when she, the numberfive, was consigned to an outside court.

what do you make of that reaction? it‘s one of those things i don‘t control the schedule and i‘m not in the meetings doing the schedule. i can only sit back and compete where i‘m supposed to compete. does it surprise you, that hostility or are you used to it from other players? if it was just based on facts i would be surprised but i think their comments are not based on facts. especially after everything i went through and a couple of trials i went through and the decision, in terms of that it does not change the way i feel going on court. ultimately i believe i have a choice and it‘s a choice to me to compete and play and i made that decision and i want for myself because i love doing this. everything else is behind me. let‘s talk about the suspension, which you talk about a lot in your book. why did you start taking meldonium which wasn‘t banned at the time? after my first grand slam at wimbledon i was not very healthy for a long time.

i went to see a children‘s doctor in russia that my father took me to. i was still a teenager. he ran some tests, he said i had some abnormalities in my heart. that was one of the supplements he recommended i take. it was commonly used in russia. we received a certificate that it was completely legal to take for many years, ultimately it became illegal for the first few weeks of last year. so you got this e—mail injanuary 2016 before the australian open, you say in the book that this is an e—mail from the international tennis federation telling you meldonium is now banned but you did not click on all the attachments. why not? they were buried and hidden. those are not the types of attachments that any of the players open up if you really ask them. it wasn‘t noticeable at all. they didn‘t make an effort to show us that it was a commonly used supplement in eastern europe. it should have been

flagged and it wasn‘t. you say in the book you were careless and you did not forward the e—mail to other members of your team who might have opened it, that was a very costly moment of carelessness. yes, that‘s why was a big mistake and that‘s why i felt needed to speak openly about it in my book. it is part of my journey and my career. it was a significant part of it and wanted to share the feelings i had, the ups and downs i‘ve faced, the vulnerability that i had to face as well with it, i think it was important. how devastating was the moment when you are banned from the sport eventually for 15 months? it was. i think the uncertainty was the emotion i had trouble dealing with because there is so much certainty in my sport and my life in terms of scheduling and knowing what to play for, what to train for. so i really missed that. i missed knowing what was ahead of me. i really didn‘t know. doing that time i experienced different things, i got

to be with my family, study a bit and do some internships but ultimately i missed what i did. i have a choice of not playing any more, i‘ve achieved so many amazing things, i had the opportunity to say, it has been a great ride and this time to do other things but it never really crossed my mind. it felt good to know that i still wanted it. that there were no question marks about whether i wanted to return or not. back to the meldonium, it has been banned from your sport because it is now regarded as a performance enhancing drug because it increases heart rate which can increase endurance and stability. but you were not taking it for that reason. the problem i have with that is that there is no proof of what it does and no one can give you proof. yet it was banned by the governing body of the sport. i think the biggest question was what is the band based on, because athletes were taking it because it‘s performance enhancing, which there‘s no proof and they have not provided it so far.

andy murray, top player, says he finds it strange that there is a prescription drug used for heart conditions and so many athletes at the top of the sport would have that condition. it does look suspicious, doesn‘t it? i don‘t think it is for them to have an opinion because they don‘t have the facts. those are words that make headlines and they will be used as headlines but ultimately this is my career. i have faced it head—on and admitted my mistake and i went about it and served my suspension and now i‘m back. did you ever feel you were singled out because you are russian? although you have lived here all your life you have not taken american citizenship and the russians have become the poster children for doping in sport. i didn‘t feel that. because i spend so much of my life in the united states and grew up training here. i never really felt, i was never

much part of the federation, i was never backed by the russian federation. from the age of six and a half i arrived in miami with my father and i trained at academies in florida throughout my childhood. i never had that association and did not feel that this was part of it. do you feel tennis has a problem with drugs? i don‘t think it has a huge problem. is the testing regimen vigorous enough? i don‘t know if i‘m the right person... have you been tested since you returned to the tour? numerous times. definitely. i don‘t know if i can be a good judge of what is enough and what isn‘t but i have certainly been tested many times this year and previous years, not more or less. as a top player you must feel the pressure to always perform at the top level, to find every advantage. does that pressure perhaps sometimes lead to misjudgements and wrongdoing? not in your case necessarily but in the sport? not necessarily.

i don‘t think that can be used, my case, as an example of something that was completely legal for some many years, such a commonly used product in eastern europe. but do you think it‘s important for tennis fans, we love to watch you and see top players, to feel trust that the player that they are seeing is a real person and not some manufactured person who is taking performance enhancing drugs? absolutely. i think that‘s where the person goes and watches you compete. to see the emotion and the physical aspect and to see an athlete going through the ups and downs of the match and the victories and the losses and the upsets and then the comebacks. that is part of an athlete‘s journey. you say in the book your reputation took a beating when this happened. do you feel you can recover? by doing what i‘m doing and committing myself to the sport, training and working hard, by loving what i do, i give so much to the sport and i want to because i feel i have accomplished a lot.

i have inspired many young girls and boys to play the sport, to be determined, be tough. i really felt that love from them. even during this time away from the sport the amount of people in support of me was touching on a human level. i still feel i have a lot in me from a professional point of view, and a competitive point of view. you certainly are a tough competitor as you showed in the us open. eugenie bouchard, the canadian player, said you were a cheat and you should not be allowed back into the sport because it sends the wrong message. those comments are not based on fact so i don‘t take them into consideration. what is the fact, that you did not cheat? exactly. unwittingly you took a banned substance for a month in 2016 without knowing, does that make you a cheater? when you don‘t know that you are taking a banned substance that can‘t be

taken into consideration. let‘s talk about your path to world number one on five separate occasions. you came here at six and a half, brought by your father, speaking no english, turning up at a tennis academy in florida. what was that like? a crazyjourney that i share with all the readers in the book. i think that is what inspired me to write this. as i was doing a lot of interviews throughout my career, journalists asked me about my experiences as an immigrant, training, going through an academy, trying to find ways to become champion, the tough parts of it, the roadblocks, how did i get through them. as i was talking about the story they wanted to know more and they opened it up for more questions. that is when realised that my story was interesting and inspiring. it could lead to inspiring other people. i definitely faced roadblocks from a young age. not speaking english for a start.

what was it like when you turned up in florida and couldn‘t speak the language? difficult. much more difficult from my father but i was young and i took up the language fast and i was around kids that spoke english. little children speak all the time! and i learned from them. i never really went to school to study english. that was part of training, practising tennis was learning the language. and you learned from the tv. i did, i watched barney and all these little cartoons. tell us about your dad, yuri. he seems like the classic driven tennis parent like andre agassi‘s father who saw the talent and made it happen. as my father as an incredible example because the decisions he was able to make was a selfless. he did it because i was young enough to tell him, to say,

i want to be a wimbledon champion. he had that vision as well but he realised i had the skill to become that and he did all he could to get me there. he knew he wasn‘t a coach. he didn‘t have the finances. so he took me to places that could help me, help bring me to the level i needed to get to. he convinced this academy to take you and through your sheer talent they did. but all the other parents and little girls were jealous of you, you say in the book. what was that like? i always felt i was the youngest one because i was, when it was time to compete, i always find myself the younger one competing against the older kids, or when i was boarding i was always younger by a few years. it was an isolated time in my life. also you weren‘t paying fees, because of your talent you were taken on for free. that made everyone mean and jealous and envious of you. junior tennis is a cut—throat

world in florida. exactly. when you are very young you don‘t know to what extent that goes, but when i had a coach call me up at 7pm, turned on the lights and had investors looking at my tennis game you sort of realise there is more to this than tennis, there is business surrounding it. the wheels are turning. and there‘s a lot of business in tennis and in other sports as well. it comes with the territory. when you were a kid in florida the williams sisters came to one of the academies that you were at, at and even then you had this huge competitive streak. tell us about what you say in the book, about how you would not watch them like everyone else. i remember both venus and serena were coming to the nick bollettieri academy to practice. and all the kids were given a free afternoon to watch them practising. and my father told me, you have to watch them and study

them, study their game and their focus and determination. and i said no. i don‘t want them to see i am studying them. i wanted to watch them but i did not want them to see me watching them. you went into a shed and watched through a peephole. yes, there was a video shed behind the court that they were practising and i watched through this little hole, literally watching the next 25 years of my life without knowing! and years later finding myself transported onto centre court at wimbledon to face serena in the final. not face, aged 17 you beat serena in the final at wimbledon. how did she respond? it was an interesting dynamic relationship. it started when i was young and i was so inspired by what they were doing, i wanted to beat both serena and venus on that stage. when i got there i was the 17—year—old that had zero

to lose in the match, and she was the two—time defending champion coming into the tournament, everyone expected her to win. everyone knew, everyone basically determined that she would win and i think as i won the first set, in the second set that‘s usually when she stepped it up. she knows, you see her determination switch. you see the switch in her eyes she is going to come back. and i really sensed during the end of that match that she wasn‘t going to do at that time, and i stepped it up and i was able to win it. what was that like winning wimbledon as a 17—year—old? it was extraordinary. it was so special, perhaps because i never expected it to happen at that point in my life. seeing so much of the work pay off, from a very early age, and being able to share it with my father in the stands, who continued to coach me for the next couple of grand slams that i won and then stepped down because i wanted to feel i did it

on my own as well in my career, which is an important step of the process as well. you have a very antagonistic relationship with serena williams, you say in the book. you say it all stems from you beating her when you were only 17 and she expected to win. what happened in the locker room afterwards? i think the moments in the locker room after a grand slam or any other moment, after a tournament, it is such an intimate experience because there are only the athletes and when there are only two of you left in the tournament this pretty much no one around you, so you feel it‘s you and your opponent and you are isolated and yet everyone is watching you... so i came back to the locker room, she was devastated by the loss, and i hear itand i see it. she‘s crying? yes. i think that‘s when i realised that there was so much on the line for her to win that match. it made me realise how i was able to stay calm and fearless throughout that match.

every experience doing that tournament was incredible. i could have lost the semifinal, lost the final, just been a happy camper, left the tournament extremely happy. a great line in the book is that serena‘s strengths are like puzzle pieces that swap into my weaknesses. is that why as a career record you have beaten her twice and she has beaten you 19 times? last time i beat her was at end of that year. she owns that record. and yet for many years you were the highest—paid female tennis player. you earned more in endorsements and serena and yet she was the better player. why? i don‘t think that it‘s for me to determine. i don‘t know the numbers and who is counting them. i think a lot of it is media play. we‘re always ranked against each other. the only rivalry we should ever have is on court because the success serena has can only help other

players on the tour, the success i have off the court can only help other players. it grows the sport and makes it better, it is not about who makes more, who makes less. the fact is that you have been one of the most successful businesswomen in tennis. not only are you a superb player, you are a savvy businesswoman as well. is a lot of that to do with being blonde and beautiful as well as bright? i think i am still learning how to be a better businesswoman. i‘ve only really known how to be an athlete from a young age. i have been very smart and had a great team around me making good decisions and thought of the business development aspect and the brand association that i‘ve had. and a lot of it is because i have made a smart decisions, ones that revolved around my career and tennis because that‘s always been a number one priority. i think everyone can see that when i play. the passion with which i play and train.

everything i have had is ultimately because of my tennis. so as long as i‘ve kept that priority as that motivation everything else takes care of itself. at grand slams, women players get the same amount as man, that is not true and the rest of the tour. is it fair, should women get the as men at every level of the game? absolutely. why doesn‘t it happen? i think as women athletes we face roadblocks and in the sport of tennis, i believe billiejean king is the pioneer of why we are even able to earn the amount we earn today. and then venus williams and serena also took over and really took a stance and made it happen for us, that we are close to receiving that. yet we still face roadblocks and criticism, we still have a long way to go but we keep fighting for it and by our actions on court and our professionalism. tell us about the grunting, one of your signature catchphrases, how does it help you in your game?

i wish it did, and i wish i knew! it is something i have done for so long, i think the british are always fascinated by it, more so than any other place in the world, because it is a subject i have not spoken about in any other place except london. you have won five grand slams, with so many players in their 30s, the mid—30s and beyond, roger federer, venus, nadal, can you win another grand slam? i would love to. it is my goal. it‘s up there with a lot of other things i would like to accomplish. i‘ve been fortunate to win five majors and complete a career grand slam but in my mind i like to think that i haven‘t won any, to have that motivation, as if i still have many more to win. in the book you say that before your suspension you were thinking about retiring. around your 30th birthday.

what‘s changed. i think the understanding of the motivation that i still have, and the discipline that i still can give, and i allow myself to have. also, the understanding of the body, as a 30—year—old woman, can still do and the grind it can still take. tennis is a very physical sport, but if you treat it the right way, and also in terms of training that are so many smarter ways to train now that don‘t include heavy weights or long—distance running. so a lot of that plays a big part into extending a career. you say in the book that you will play until they burn your racquets and take down the nets. will that be you? i hope so, absolutely. maria sharapova, thank you for talking to us. thank you. hello. it felt 0k in the september

sunshine, but the temperatures were still below par for the time of year. we did have a faded of sunshine to go around, the best in western parts. but, we also had a fair number of showers. you can see how they developed, close to the north sea coast, it works inland across the midlands, central and southern england and the south—east as the day went by. somewhere heavy with thunder and hail, this was one of those downpours as it went through harrogate. 0vernight, showers will continue to pester the central and southern areas, but then will begin to fade away. as temperatures begin to fall overnight, an area of low cloud will form of the eastern southern parts of england, with that will come some mist and fog. we will keep the clear skies across the north—west, this

will be the lowest temperatures, particularly in the countryside, getting close to freezing in scotland, northern ireland, and northern england and parts of wales. an autumnal chill in the air for monday morning. a fine day for most of this with some sunshine. we will see the showers breaking out in central and eastern england, the north—east scotland, thicker cloud works in later in the day which will bring persistent rain and cooler air. 0therwise, temperatures more typically around 15—18. a ridge of high pressure builds in fort you stay so tuesday looks like a dry day for the majority of us. temperatures around 15—18. on tuesday night we see a switch in the wind coming from a south—westerly direction, pushing milder atlantic air in. we will lose those low—temperature milder atlantic air in. we will lose those low—temperatu re is milder atlantic air in. we will lose those low—temperature is overnight, evenin those low—temperature is overnight, even in the countryside, they will

be close to double figures. wednesday, a change in the weather, along with the south—westerly winds, we will have a slow—moving band of rain, localised flooding is a possibility. the south—westerly winds also bring cloudy skies weather cloud breaks up, and sunshine breaks through, the temperatures could reach the low 20s. temperatures could reach the low 205. it temperatures could reach the low 20s. it will certainly feel a lot warmer over the recent days. the week ahead, warmer from tuesday onwards. 0utbreaks week ahead, warmer from tuesday onwards. 0utbrea ks of week ahead, warmer from tuesday onwards. outbreaks of rain in the west at times. this is bbc news.

the headlines at five. the terror threat level has been lowered to ‘severe‘ from critical — where it was placed after friday‘s bomb attack on a london tube. police are searching a house in stanwell — near heathrow airport — after arresting a man in connection with the attack. the home secretary has accused boris johnson of being a ‘backseat driver‘, following his newspaper piece setting out his views on brexit. i don‘t want him managing the brexit process. what we have got is theresa may managing that process, she is driving the car and i will make sure that as far as i am concerned and the rest of the cabinet are concerned, we will help her to do that. also in the next hour... the un warns myanmar‘s leaders to end the offensive against the rohinghya muslims. the campaign has forced four hundred thousand people to to flee