he led the liberal democrats for over a decade and was the first leader after the liberal party merged with the social democrats in 1988. he also served as international high representative to bosnia herzegovina following the war which saw the break—up of yugoslavia. from across the political spectrum, tributes have been paid to lord ashdown, including from former prime ministers sirjohn major and tony blair. police investigating the drones at gatwick search a house in west sussex following the arrest of a man and a woman from crawley. now on bbc news, one of the highlights of 2018 from our documentary series, our world. earlier this year, katie razzle travelled from france to reunion island, with two women searching for the families they were taken from as children more than 50 years ago. 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. 0ur 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 ocean, 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

marise is one of the newest members of a group that has been battling for years to find out why 2,150 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's19—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, moving 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. jesse has spent years trying to discover the background to her family story. but her care files from this children's home have disappeared. 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 is no one to greet marlene. five decades have meant huge change on an island that is culturally creole and very french. 0nce uninhabited, reunion now has a population of nearly 865,000. it is 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. 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's not 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. 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. with christmas just around the corner, the weather should be settling down for most places, after a bit of rain on sunday. on saturday some of our weather watchers spotted these clouds. kelvin—helmholtz clouds. they're formed when the air is moving quicker on the top of the cloud than the bottom of the cloud, causing the cloud to break a bit like a wave on the ocean. some rare but beautiful clouds captured during the day on saturday. sunday brings us a change in the weather because we've got a front moving from the west, which will bring a soggy start in northern ireland, northern england, wales, down across southern england. some drizzly rain is likely here for much of the day. looking pretty soggy and also mild to the south—west. here we have temperatures in the low teens. further north, much fresher but more sunshine on offer across scotland and later it should brighten up for northern ireland. but we keep the cloud

and the drizzly rain in the south for much of the day on sunday. looking ahead to christmas eve on monday, high—pressure building the country. we've got mild air holding onto the south—west with a front dividing the much milder air from the cooler conditions across the rest of the country on christmas eve. likely to see some frost and fog for many areas. for scotland into northern england and the midlands, some of those foggy patches may linger all day, bringing some chilly conditions on monday, and christmas eve. milder to the south—west where we have got the cloud and patchy outbreaks of rain. 12 degrees in plymouth, just a degree or so above freezing in edinborough where we could see some of the mist and fog lingering through the day. christmas eve night and into christmas day, high pressure builds across much of the country, so things are looking dry and settled for christmas day for most places. a lot of dry weather. there could be patchy frost and fog. cloud amounts will head on increase

going into christmas day. a bit of drizzle in the west but there may be some spells of sunshine. this is how christmas day is shaping up. quite a lot of cloud on the map but they will be some brighter spells, in the south—east of england, eastern scotland as well. temperatures a bit cooler than they have been, especially in the east. 6—9 degrees. we are looking at double figures holding on in the west. when christmas day is over, going into boxing day, high—pressure sticking around. a lot of dry and usable weather if you're going for a festive walk on boxing day. some rain in the forecast across the north—west of scotland, a front trying to push in but for the rest of the country we have quite a lot of cloud again, some mist and fog patches. temperatures not far from what we'd expect for the time of year for many of us. looking further ahead towards the end of the week, thursday, and a case of spot the difference. a lot of dry and settled weather, some foggy patches around, quite a bit of cloud but some sunshine breaking

through here and there. highs of 9—11 degrees again. heading into friday, you'll notice these yellow colours approaching as we move into next weekend. that is milder air starting to push in from the atlantic, with a south—westerly influence to the weather, the wind working around an area of high pressure which is still holding onto our weather through next weekend and into the new year. with that high—pressure it is mostly settled, largely dry and often fairly cloudy. that's it for now. this is bbc news. the headlines at 10pm: the former leader of the liberal democrats lord paddy ashdown has died at the age of 77. he led the liberal democrats for over a decade and was the first leader after the liberal party merged with the social democrats in 1988. he was a very formidable man. it is

dairy sad that we've lost him. he was politically active and really very dynamic and full of ideas, write to the end. —— it is very sad. he also served as international high representative to bosnia herzegovina following the war which saw the break up of yugoslavia. from across the political spectrum, tributes have been paid to lord ashdown including from former prime ministers sirjohn major and tony blair. police investigating the drones at gatwick search a house in west sussex, following the arrest of a man and a woman from crawley.