this is bbc news, the headlines: a syrian rebel group says it shot down a russian fighterjet near the city of idlib. tahrir al—sham said the plane had been hit by a shoulder—launched anti—aircraft missile. moscow says the pilot ejected but was killed by rebels on the ground. italy's prime minister has urged the country to reject hatred and violence after six african immigrants were injured in a drive by shooting. the suspected attacker, a former candidate for the far—right northern league party, has been arrested. the local mayor has described the attacks as racist. the hollywood actress uma thurman has claimed that she was sexually assaulted by the film producer harvey weinstein in london in the 1990s. two other women have contacted british police to say they were also attacked by him. mr weinstein denies all the allegations of non—consensual sex. now on bbc news, our world. katie razzall reports on the shocking story of how children were resettled from reunion island in the indian ocean

to repopulate rural areas of france. they were taken from their island home as children and moved thousands of kilometres to france. they were taken from their island home as children and moved thousands of kilometres to france. now, france is facing up to a scandal that rocked more than 2000 children of everything they knew. an story starts in

central france, just outside the city of limoges. marlene moved to the area more than 50 years ago as an orphan from the tiny island of reunion in the indian 0cean, after french social services sold her a lie. did you ever see your sister again? unlike marlene, marise was too young to choose her new french life. her biological mother

had put her into care in reunion when she was just a month old. marise was resettled by social services to mainland france aged six. marise is one of the newest members of a group that has been battling for years to find out why 2150 children were uprooted from their island and moved to france. in a vicarage near toulouse, they're accounting their stories. not everyone had a bad experience, but many suffered terribly. there was racism, sexual abuse and violence, as well as loss of their culture and identity. marlene is here too. both she and marise will soon travel

back to reunion for the first time courtesy of the french state, which is perhaps finally listening. for two years a government appointed commission has been investigating what happened to these men and women at the hands of france. many here have shocking stories to tell. once a french colony, reunion became one of the country's overseas departments in 1946. by the 1960s, with an exploding birth rate, this desperately poor island found its orphanages filling up with children, many of whom weren't orphans at all. their families simply

couldn't provide for them. the islands french mp michel debre introduced a policy he thought would solve the problem. from 1963 until 1982, social services oversaw the resettlement of children to rural parts of mainland france, where populations were in decline. some were adopted, others put into children's homes and religious institutions. amongst the footage from the time, in tv reports that portray the children of reunion as lucky to have been given a new life in a better place, marlene‘s 19—year—old self. when she'd first arrived four years before, she was given minimal schooling. instead, she says, she worked the land in a rural convent. in the end, the education marlene was promised amounted to an agricultural diploma. she ended up working as a supermarket cashier and on a production line. she'd already done

that in the convent. the nuns had had her glueing boxes for factory produced sugared almonds. was it racist? was it well—meaning, but with dire consequences? through the modern lens, uprooting children from their culture and whatever family ties they might have, leaving them thousands of miles across the world and then not fulfilling your promises, it looks, at best, illjudged, and at worst wrong and cruel. and it went on into the 1980s. jesse and her younger brother

and sister were in the first resettled group from reunion to arrive at this children's home in south—western france in 1967. jessie has spent years trying to discover the background to her family story. but her care files from this children's home have disappeared. do you think you can judge what happened back then through modern eyes? i came to paris to find out how the french government views the scandal now. in 2014, the parliament accepted the state's moral responsibility for it. those who were exiled hope president macron will apologise for what happened once the investigating commission delivers its report. it's a big moment. marlene‘s first visit to her island in 52 years. she's brought her daughter, aurore, for support. the scandal of reunion‘s exiled children has become a story across france. the government's now paying airfares

and some expenses so exiles can revisit their island every three years if they wish to. and some of marise‘s sisters are at the airport to meet her for the first time. but there's no one to greet marlene. five decades have meant huge change on an island that's culturally creole and very french. 0nce uninhabited, reunion now has a population of nearly 865,000. it's still much poorer here than mainland france. the economy is underpinned by french aid. in an attempt to help exiles find out about their past, the french government has demanded any documents the authorities hold are handed over to the individuals involved. next, it's marlene‘s turn. marise‘s biological

father died in 2006, before they had a chance to meet. his daughters are the living link in her search for an identity. but their first meeting didn't deliver the resemblance for which she yearned. it's a big step so soon after meeting sisters with whom she clearly already has a bond. what will happen if the dna test is negative and you're not related? marlene‘s come to pay her respects to giselle, the sister who tried to persuade her not to go to france. though she's been dead for years,

there is only a bare plaque. but marlene knows she has another sister, marianique. she's desperate to find her, but she isn't sure whether she is alive or dead. we went to the town hall looking for clues. so you have an address for your sister. two hours later came the phone call marlene had only dared to dream of. from marianique herself. so what is it like to see her now? with their suffering now starting to be acknowledged and the french government paying their airfares, 11 exiles returned to reunion in 2017. another 30 are already planning trips this year.

for many of them, the experience will be bittersweet. you might be hoping for some sunshine on sunday after that grey, rainy saturday. if so, it's not looking bad at all, some sunshine on the way. certainly a brighter day compared to what we've just had and this is what we had — a weather front very slowly moving across the uk, grinding to a halt pretty much by the time we got to saturday night across the uk, raining itself out so it could rain no more and the skies in one or two areas starting to clear as well, so just little pockets of rain, but clear skies too. temperatures will be around 2 or 3 degrees in city centres very early on sunday morning. let's have a look at the forecast around 9am in scotland — it will be pretty chilly, only 3 degrees for glasgow, edinburgh, a couple of degrees there in aberdeen. a little bit less cold we think in belfast,

maybe 5 with some sunshine and look at that, not looking bad at all for manchester, kendall, manchester, wales, the south—west, in fact, if you're lucky we could be waking up to blue skies in southampton. but notice in east anglia and the south—east, a bit more cloud there and that really will be the trend for the rest of the day. that wind you'll notice is strengthening across the south—east here, coming all the way from scandinavia. it's a cold wind. it'll drag in cloud off the north sea and also some showers, so it could be raining on and off at least from time to time in norwich and london. this is what it'll feel like with that wind, around zero degrees. how about the rest of europe? you know, i mentioned that wind coming from scandinavia, it's not stopping across the uk, look at that — it goes all the way down to the bay of biscay and then turns around and moves all the way to morocco so they're feeling some cold there as well, it's not looking great across that part of europe. back to the wind — look what happens when it drags in those showers during the course

of sunday night into monday — some snow showers get into kent, sussex, essex, norfolk, suffolk, possibly the london area, which means first thing monday morning, there could be a little bit of snow lying around across the south—east all the way up into lincolnshire so don't be surprised, and just in time for the rush hour. this is what it looks like tuesday — a weather front this time moving across the north and west, and on this day, we could have some snow in north—western parts of the country down to wales and maybe the midlands, as well, and still cold, 2, 3 degrees at best. the summary for the week ahead — it's going to stay cold, cold enough for some snow, widespread frost. as i said, cold enough for some snow. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: syrian rebels say they used a shoulder—launched missile to shoot down a russian fighter plane. the pilot ejected — but was killed in a ground fight. siren wails

six african immigrants are injured in a drive—by shooting in italy. officials say the attack was motivated by racial hatred. more assault allegations against harvey weinstein. uma thurman's the latest hollywood star to say she was attacked. # the critics is it right or is it wrong. and disappointment for devoted fans as illness forces lady gaga to cancel the last ten dates of her world tour.