voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. my mother hasn't given birth in 1984. this birth certificate is not real. i'm helping parents to find their children 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 her first, "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? 0r...could someone slap me in the face? exact same person, exact same faces,

exact same voice, exact same thoughts. 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 august 10. and this is new one, which i took in 2017, and it's written that i was born in october 10 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 was just 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 herfamily 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 their families.

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 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 from the group to meet lia and discuss legal action. 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.

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. 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.

hello. we're expecting a real mix of weather over the next couple of days. for some northwestern parts of the uk, it's going to turn sunny and very warm, but further south for southern england and south wales, we're expecting some heavy rain. perhaps in one or two locations, a month's worth of rain in just a couple of days — that could cause some disruption. it's all because low pressure is continuing to swirl to the south of us, this band of rain here becoming quite slow moving, particularly, i think, across the southwest of england. but around that area of low pressure, we're drawing in some humid air, so further north and west with some sunshine it will feel very warm. now, during thursday, these southern parts of england and south wales will see some rain at times — that rain turning heavy and persistent

in the southwest later on. further north, a lot of low cloud, mist and murk, some spots of drizzle, but the best of the sunshine where you get some shelter from the breeze. western scotland and northern ireland, temperature—wise, well, maybe along some north sea coast just 15 or 16 degrees, but elsewhere, 18—21 with a slightly more humid feel. but as we head into the evening, this heavy rain affecting southwest england, clipping into south wales, and overnight, it looks like we will see more rain pushing along the south coast. so with that rain really totting up, there is the risk of flooding, some disruption. further north, largely dry, some mist and murk and low cloud for north sea coast. quite a muggy start to friday morning. more rain through the day on friday across southern england, perhaps pushing northwards into south wales and the midlands, perhaps east anglia as well as we go through the day. further north, while still some areas of low cloud, mist and murk for some northern and eastern coasts, but further west, some good spells of sunshine, and look at the temperatures — liverpool at 26 degrees, parts of western scotland

at 25 degrees, so feeling warm and quite humid into the weekend. 0ur area of low pressure continues to swirl to the south of us, throwing some showers northwards. still quite a lot of mist and murk and low cloud. could be some fog around to start saturday morning. should see some spells of sunshine and, again, in the sunshine, feeling very warm with those temperatures, perhaps up to around 25 degrees. into sunday, more of the same, really. some showers, particularly in the south. some sunshine, too. still feeling warm and muggy.

live from washington.

this is bbc news. israel's prime minister insists forces will not leave a key strip of land along gaza's border with egypt. it's the latest obstacle towards a ceasefire with hamas. police in the us state of georgia say a 14—year—old student will be charged and tried as an adult after four people are shot dead at a high school. ukraine's president orders a government shake up at a critical moment in the fight against russia. hello, i'm sumi somaskanda. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is facing sustained pressure to secure the release of hostages held in gaza. protesters took to the streets of tel aviv for a fourth—straight day on wednesday, as families of israeli hostages call for the return of their loved ones. diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire and hostage release deal are at a stalemate. hamas says that is partially

due to mr netanyahu's demand