who were stolen and sold by the georgian doctors. what the hell is happening? who is that girl? georgia is coming to terms with a black market adoption scandal spanning decades. it's believed tens of thousands of babies were stolen, some as recently as the mid 20005. and while some are connecting with lost family...

i texted her first. i have been looking for you. ..many are still fighting forjustice. i woke up one day, i had the feeling that i have to get a piercing. the video ended up on tiktok and a week later, my friend messaged me, saying there's a girl who is looking for you. she looks exactly like you. what the hell is happening? who is that girl? i said, "can you show me her on facebook?"

i texted herfirst, "i have been looking for you". and she said, "me too". i'm coming up from the escalator and it's like my heart is like — it was pumping so much blood. i was in shock. am i looking in the mirror? am i in the train? or could someone slap me in the face? exact same person, exact same faces, exact same voice. i'm like, "i need to hug you". she doesn't like hugs but she did hug me. then, we took a couple of pictures and i posted it on facebook. then, my mother's friend texted me. "did you find your sister?"

i'm like, "who? "what. . .what sister?" amy and ano were not the only ones making strange discoveries about their past. so, this is my one birth certificate and it's written that i was born on tenth august. and this is new one, which i took in 2017, and it's written that i was born in tenth october in 1984.

unfortunately, none of them are the real dates and i don't exactly know when i was born. i am tamuna, i am journalist, and i am the first one who started talking about baby—selling scandal in georgia. in 2016, my mother died unexpectedly. she was only 64 years old. one month later, i wasjust looking in her documents, just organising some stuff, and ifound my birth certificate where it was written my name, my surname, my parents' names and surnames. but it was said that my birth date was not the day which i knew. tamuna went to the archives to find a document that in georgia every woman receives after giving birth,

but no document existed. her mother hadn't given birth to her at all, and it meant she must be adopted. when her family refused to talk about it, tamuna set about finding answers. i think that this is a mission which was made for me, or maybe i was made for this mission. she wanted to find out if there were others in the same position as her. so she and a friend set up a facebook group called i am searching. everything exploded, message after message after message. mothers looking for children, children looking for the mothers. one of those messages was, like, oh, my...

she suspects her mother was involved in other cases of baby—trafficking, working with corrupt doctors and criminals. nato's mother said not everyone was involved, but many people were.

black market adoptions and child—trafficking were rife in georgia between the 19705 until the mid—2000s, when adoption became

more regulated. lia believes the practice thrived because of a culture of shame around adoption, which pushed it underground and a lack of questioning authority under communism. later, after georgia gained independence from the soviet union, a period of turbulence followed which allowed criminals to cash in on a more organised system of illegal adoption.

it's now known that no hospital cemeteries ever existed and that mothers were lied to. it's believed tens of thousands of babies were stolen, but with no exact records, the true number is unknown. even today, no—one knows for sure exactly how connected these criminal gangs were or to what heights the corruption reached. tamuna believes the very top. international child—trafficking in georgia has been investigated by authorities twice since 2003. some people did face jail time,

but they were just the tip of the iceberg. there are reports that some of those who were accused of being involved are still working in hospitals today. with tamuna's facebook group gaining momentum, in september 2022, the georgian government launched a new formal investigation into child—trafficking. led by the ministry of internal affairs, it set out to investigate hospital employees and gather evidence. amy and ano now have serious questions to ask theirfamilies. my mother. god! and i'm like, "what i'm

going to say to her?" and for the first time, i hear my mother cry. and i'm like, "0k, you're making me cry, "so i can't... no, i can't talk to you." she said that..."|'m sorry." and i'm saying, "you're sorry for what?" "i didn't know that you had a twin sister." my whole life is a lie. that was the first feeling i had. the twins posted their story on the group. within a few days, they received a message from a woman called anna. she said, "i also have twin sisters "and i am looking for them." anna's mother had been told her twins had died in 2002, but now she had doubts. then we decided to get a dna test, and it turns out

that the woman, who lives in germany, is our biological mother. as you see, there are almost 36,000 posts and comments in two months in our group. and you can also see the views of the group and there are more than five million views. i am searching now has over 230,000 members. i get messages every day with new leads. they are from all over georgia and even people based abroad. tamuna's research has found that the trafficking of babies was happening right across georgia. she's found multiple allegations against at least 20 hospitals, many in rural areas.

tamuna is meeting a family in kvareli, a small town in the east of the country. she wants to hear what happened to irina more than a0 years ago. a few days after giving birth, irina was told her twins had died. she was instructed by doctors to find something to bury them in. unable to access a plot for the children in a cemetery, the family buried the suitcase in their garden. it remained there for more than a0 years.

the family were so suspicious that they decided to dig up the suitcase. more than a year after the investigation was launched, very little seems to have happened. with frustration building, tamuna has gathered women the family were so suspicious that they decided to dig up the suitcase.

more than a year after the investigation was launched, very little seems to have happened.

with frustration building, tamuna has gathered women from the group to meet lia and discuss legal action. meanwhile, the twins are grappling with whether to meet their biological mother in germany. meanwhile, the twins are grappling with whether to meet their biological mother in germany.

this is my biggest moment in my life. i want answers to my questions. adopted children have that feeling that everything, it's her fault. you know? it's our fault. it's their fault. no, it's not. and it's not but we felt like that. we all our life thinking about it, "oh, it's my fault." it's my fault. because i wasn't enough. and you don't... and you don't know why. i just want answers. i can't change the past. i can change my future. 0h!

they cry 0h. 0h. during their chat, amy and ano's mother said that after giving birth, she was unconscious and it was only when she woke up that she was told her twins had died. i felt something

like i've never felt. i don't know what that's called, but, yeah, i'm shaking. ijust want to comfort her because i know what she's feeling.

ministry stage amy and ano are among the few to have reconnected with family. elsewhere, irina and nino may have had a breakthrough in their search. they found someone who lives nearby who they think could be one of the twins. they are awaiting dna test results. nato often thinks about finding herfamily. lia's group legal battle continues to gather pace. they plan to begin legal action this year. lia's group legal battle continues to gather pace. they plan to begin legal action this year. meanwhile, tamuna continues

to search for her biological family. she is due to meet the president of georgia to lobby on behalf of all the victims. the saddest part of my story is that i have reunited hundreds of families and i cannot find my biological parents. but i will. i'm sure i will. i will find them. the weekend's weather is looking relatively quiet, certainly quieter than we started the week with all that stormy weather.

still quite breezy with a few showers, particularly across parts of scotland. but for most of us, a dry weekend in store and things turning milder, particularly by the time we get to sunday. so to start off saturday, i think temperatures will be around about one or two degrees in the south and south—east of england. quite a chilly start here, a touch of frost, perhaps a few mist and fog patches around. they should clear away pretty quickly. windiest weather will be in the north and north—west. we could see gusts 60, even 70 miles an hour up towards the northern isles through saturday morning. some rain lingering mainly to the north of the great glen, i think for scotland, perhaps the odd, light spot of rain for northern ireland as well. but i think for southern scotland, england and wales we're looking at a dry day with some long spells of sunshine, areas of cloud drifting around, particularly towards the west, and highs around nine or ten degrees. into saturday evening then, it's again going to turn quite chilly in the south and the east for a time with those lighter winds. but more cloud rolling in towards the west, could be the odd spot of drizzle coming out of this cloud as well. and it will be turning milder. belfast, plymouth, eight

or nine degrees first thing sunday, but only round about three there in norwich. and through the day on sunday then, we've got a high pressure sitting out towards the near continent. this frontal system moving its way in from the atlantic that is going to draw in these southerly winds all the way from north africa. could be some dusty conditions in the skies as well as the mild air that we're going to be seeing. so things, i think, a little bit hazy with all that saharan dust around on sunday for some of us, some of it coming down in this rain that will arrive across northern ireland and western scotland later on in the afternoon. but a good deal of dry weather before that arrives, perhaps a little bit more cloud through parts of the midlands, south—west england as well. sunny spells either side of that and the top temperatures in the west up to around about 13 for the likes of glasgow and belfast. into monday, that frontal system has slipped its way a little bit further southwards and eastward, so it's likely to bring some rain across much of northern england. i think wales perhaps down towards the far south—west, just across parts of scotland,

it'll turn to snow for a time, perhaps over the highest ground of the southern uplands and to the north and the cooler air we're looking at single figures, seven or eight degrees, still not particularly cold, but 1a, possibly 15 in that warmer air down towards the south—east. so the week ahead still fairly unsettled in the north and west. showers at times, drier conditions further south and east. and for all of us, it's a mild week ahead.

live from washington, this is bbc news. victory in court: a new york jury awards writer ejean carroll $83 million in the defamation case she brought against former president donald trump. the un's top court orders israel to take all measures to prevent genocide in gaza but it stopped short of telling israel to stop the war.

plus, new york's museum of natural history is closing two exhibits dedicated to native american objects. we'll talk to the museum's president about why. hello, i'm azadeh moshiri. we begin in new york, where a jury has ordered former president donald trump to pay $83.3 million in damages to writer ejean carroll for defamatory statements he made, denying he sexually assaulted her. in a statement, the writer said the decision was a "victory" but trump said he would appeal, calling the decision quote "absolutely ridiculous" in a post on truth social. the court awarded carroll $65 million in punitive damages and $18.3 million in compensatory damages. that sum includes money for repairing her reputation and emotional harm. here's the moment that carroll left the courthouse, flanked by her legal team.

mr trump had been in the courtroom