>> and now "bbc world news." gmt on "bbcatching world news." i am takes over tim. 50 years since the formation of the african union, leaders meet in ethiopia. coming together at a time of new optimism. are we at a turning point? global power in their hands. in india and china sort ou their differences? 100 years of the world's biggest flower show, but how do you tell your petunias from your tlips? jamie is looking at yahoo and its latest business acisition. >> the search engine is is expected to announce that they want to buy a website called tumblr. $30 revenues of around million but barely any profit, it wants to pay over $1 billion for it.

>> it is midday in london. 7:00 in the morning in washington. 2:00 in the afternoon out west. 50 years ago this week, the african union was created. it aimed to promote an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful africa. in five decades, the continent has undergone rapid change, particularly in ethiopia, a country once known for its famines and international aid. it is now registering some of the fastest growth rates in the world. we report. >> or get what you thought you knew about ethiopia -- forget what you thought you knew about ethiopia, and take a look at this. it is cocktail hour. the bright young things can look forward to a future that their parents could only dream of. nowhere is the change in the country's prospects more obvious than the commodities exchange,

the first on the continent. i was given the honor of taking off the days trade. once might have reached out for help -- for help are now reaching deals nearing 700 million pounds a year. the exchange cuts out the middlemen, leaving farmers better off. british air helped set it up. >> we need to help unleash their own entrepreneurs to create their own wealth. that in time means they will have the tax base that funds their own basic services. that is how you create sustainable economies and that is how you create a future for these countries where they are no longer dependent on aid. ethiopia is the home of coffee. one family says the real money is made abroad in the roasting. what is wrong with exporting this? >> there is nothing wrong with exporting the beans, but the

larger portion of the margin would be received outside. >> more money is made by foreigners? >> correct. >> that is about to change. with the help of british investment, the company has taken over delivery of the new roasting machine. coping with the expansion will mean >> the workforce. >>as soon as this is operational, we should have about 10 times the capacity we currently have. >> when this plant is up and running, the company will become the first large-scale exporter of roast coffee from ethiopia. walid told me, foreign investments, including those taken by the british taxpayer, will be crucial. ,n the outskirts of the capital this small-scale shoe factory is making a big name for itself. the government's gradual and marx totransition from the market is creating new space for the private sector. the company now has outlets around the world. >> we are crating opportunity

here in ethiopia. here in eg opporunity -- opportunity here in ethiopia. we are empowering the people in our communities. >> success stories like this have helped ethiopia notch up double-digit growth figures for much of the last decade. that there is a catch. this is an economy starting from a very low base. there is a long way to go. >> let's hear more from ethiopia, and george joins us now. george? >> kate, thank you very much. welcome from the capital. i just want to show you a graphic example of how much both this continent and if you like this country have changed. behind me, just over there, the yellow building, that is the old headquarters of the organization of african unity as it was back in 1963 when a smaller group of countries came together and said they wanted to form a

powerful union, be a powerful force on the world stage. of course, that did not happen. we have all those lost decades. as we have been reporting, this is now a time of optimism. this new building behind me, the shiny new building, this is the headquarters of the african union, which is the successor organization that is due to meet at a summit next week. ahave been talking just now couple of hours ago to the prime minister of ethiopia. we were talking about how much aid has done for ethiopia. you saw in my package the way aid has changed. i also asked him what ethiopia was doing right now and what africa had done wrong in the past. i asked him where africa had made mistakes. >> most of them, they started with manufacturing industries where there is no capability to

assimilate the technology and also implement those technologies in a proper way. therefore, those were not profitable. they were not competitive. therefore, the economies became bankrupt in many ways. we are now shifting from agricultural-based economy growth to industrial basting -- economic growth. simply because this transformation is possible because you cannot stay fast- growing in the agricultural sector. >> if you had to choose a model, prime minister, which would it be, the american model, or the chinese model? >> we are learning from fast- , likeg asian tigers korea, taiwan, singapore, malaysia, all those east asian economies. they've got a very important lesson that we can learn, practices we can learn. the chinese also have some

important lessons that we can learn. they have focused on human development. human capacity development and the team elation of human capital. they also are doing well and technology development. >> what about the role of government? what role should it play? >> government cannot be considered only as a watchdog or a police. the government has to intervene in certain areas where there are economic failures. market failures. >> you've made the case for stronger government. i would be interested to know what you think the private sector should do and the relationship between the two. >> this government has to intervene in a selective manner, in areas where the private sector is not able or willing to go in. if the private sector is able to thelling to go in economy, i think the government should restrain itself from intervening into that system.

of course, the growth of the private sector -- >> the allegation against her government is that you have been willing to open up economically, but you have been much more reluctant to open up politically. >> if you take democracy in this country, we have understood and we still are very much committed. democracy is not a choice for this country. you can choose a number of ways of governance in the country. but we say that there is no choice. it is an existential issue. there you are, the prime minister of ethiopia there. of course, that argument over human rights is very important. there are many organizations who say that has been set aside, the political sphere, the human rights. the government says it acknowledges there are shortcomings, but actually, in a country that has known such poverty, such difficulty in the past, its prime purpose, its prime job is to bring the economy on. as you were hearing earlier on,

double-digit growth figures. it is difficult to argue with that. that is all for the moment from ethiopia. i will be back a little bit later. >> george, thank you very much. we will be finding out how small businesses are really helping them to boost the country's economy. the new chinese premier has met the indian prime minister in delhi on his first foreign trip since taking office in march. li keqiang has pledged to build trust with india following recent border tensions. he said his visit shows how important the relationship is. what's take a look at some of the details. together they make up more than one third of the world's people. trade between china and india is worth $66 billion. they hope to reach $100 billion in 2015. but there has been a recent flareup in border tensions print last month, india accused china of crossing the country's effective border.

north is indrew delhi. let's start with the border issue. how much of an influence could this be on the talks? >> it has really overshadowed the whole visit, even though both sides are trying to play things down. this is a dispute that really goes back over 50 years to 1962 when china launched a devastating surprise attack on india, defeated its forces along their himalayan frontier, and in the process, took large chunks of indian territory. india still wants that back. for its part, china is claiming an even larger slice of indian territory in the northeast. with all of these issues, they have not been able to agree on their border, their joint border, which stretches thousands of kilometers. this is always there in the background. nonetheless, they have managed to boost trade significantly in the past few years. as you were hearing in the figures. that is the common ground they

are trained to emphasize, saying that they have shared interests. but there is still the likelihood of yet more tensions along that border. >> one does wonder how they are going to work that out with the diplomacy. is it going on at the moment? >> there are also other issues that divide them. for a long time, china has been unhappy that india provides sanctuary to the dalai lama, the tibetan spiritual leader. there are issues of water. on this visit, they said they made progress over that, the sharing of water resources. there is also some concern on the chinese sign is what it sees as an indian tilt towards the u.s. and what china sees as a gradual u.s. policy to try to contain it. that respect is trying to reach out and build better ties with india. but it is very complicated between the two giants of the world. they -- there is still a long

way to go before they can see eye to eye on things. >> andrew, tha you very much. do stay with us on "bbc world news." still to come, getting a bit more sunlight can help with your asthma. find out why. the nigerian military says it militants are in disarray after coming under attack by both air power and ground forces. the military made a major offensive against the group known as boko haram. the bbc learned that nigerians are fleeing across the border in fear of getting caught up in the fighting. we report from the nigerian capital of niger. >> this whole notary operation is taking place in two very different environments. on the one hand, there is the remote, rural areas of northeast nigeria. whichere are the pounds

are known to have a significant presence of boko haram supporters. the military tells us can spin the rural areas have been hit, and militants had been sent into disarray. we cannot independently verify any of that information because there has been no evidence to back up what the military is saying so far. the army is telling us that many of the militants are fleeing towards the country's borders. as borders with cameron, chad, and knee-jerk,, are notoriously -- and niger are notoriously porous. -- byalso told by the map the army the militants are trying to move vehicles, among them with heavy weaponry mounted on the backs of them. that is a sign that the fighters are better resourced than many people thought. in the urban areas, it is very difficult to get any information because the curfew is in place 24 hours in some areas, and also all the communication on mobile phones has been cut off.

no information is coming out by that means. there are concerns that civilians will be very vulnerable to abuses by the army as the soldiers try to root out the boko haram fighters living amongst the civilian population. >> police in iraq are now saying that for the six people have been killed, and many more injured, a series of car bombings. the attacks happened in predominately shia-muslim areas off the capital of baghdad and in the southern city of basra. elliott mccool is in baghdad for us. bring us up-to-date on the situation there now. >> as you say, the official toll still stands at 26, at some other officials besides from the police are talking about much higher death tolls.

things now appear relatively quiet. evil are getting on with burying their dead, treating the injured, clearing up several different parts of baghdad. all of the explosions happened within the space of an hour. we heard one of them after 9:00 this morning. then it was followed by many more in eight different districts, and all but one of them was a car bomb. four of them were targeting marketplaces, though the two bombs that you talked about in basra, one targeting a restaurant, the other a bus station. clearly civilians were the target, and many have been killed. most of them were shia. >> a worrying development with basra. that had been relatively calm. >> that's right. iraqis to fear-- about where this is heading. they do not see light at the end of the tunnel. shia and sunni politicians are not working well together. of course, there is a regional die mention to all of this.

there is this rift between shia and sunni that we have seen in syria that is affecting the situation in lebanon, perhaps even jordan, but really iraq is one of the most vulnerable in terms of syria's neighbors. iraq is saying, look, we've seen this rise in violence, we've seen over 700 dead in april, which is the highest number of dead nearly five years. we see the violence continue, but they do not see see any urgency from their own politicians in terms of finding a solution, and they do not see any urgency from the outside world in terms of getting involved in trying to mediate between shia and sunni politicians, because surely if that was better, if there was better consensus, then perhaps the violence would receive. >> thank you so much. a lookollow that up with at some more top stories. north korea has fired another short-range missile into the sea off its eastern coast, the fifth launch since saturday comes at

a time of tense standoff with its neighbor south korea and the usa. pyongyang's relationship with the rest of the world worsened after it tested a nuclear device months ago. the taliban says it was behind a suicide attack that killed at least 13 people in northern afghanistan. a prominent local politician known for his tough stance against the taliban is among the dead. the bomb went off in a music -- in a municipal council headquarters. hundreds of people attended the funeral of a senior pakistani official, zahra shahid hussain. she was buried at a mosque in karachi. she was shot outside her home by gunmen on motorbikes. newbury's or suggests that not getting enough sunlight could worsen symptoms for those with asthma. college londongs

said those with high vitamin d, which the body is able to make while in sunlight, are better able to control asthma symptoms. they have now discovered that the vitamin works by by suppressing part of the immune system, which can trigger a narrowing of the airways. with us is a spokesperson for this research could tell us a little bit about this. first, how many people are affected by asthma, and exactly what does it do? >> in the uk, it is thought that 5.4 million people have asthma. asthma is a condition that affects the lungs. what happens in asthma is when a person who is predisposed to having asthma is in contact with something that triggers their symptom, something relatively innocuous, like dust ,r pollen, the immune system which is there to protect the body, attacks instead. when the trigger enters the airways, the immune system

triggers a series of events, which leads to the tightening of the airways. they become swollen. >> how can someone help? the vitamin d more specifically. -- what the team is proposing is that the vitamin makeually helps to perhaps other medicines more effective, and also suppresses this chemical. >> you mentioned steroids because that is a big worry for a lot of people. they take the steroids to help with the condition. they can have harmful side effects for some people. would it mean less use of steroids, more people taking vitamin d? >> the idea is to use it as an add-on treatment.

, the idea would be that by taking tightening the a taking vitamin d, it means lower dose of steroids. i should also say that at the moment, there are no real alternative treatments. for the moment, taking steroids, the benefit would outweigh the risk. y nations,in sunshine do they not have asthma? >> researchers now think there are different causes for asthma for different people. this is one of the routes where people could perhaps help, it might help. ?> ginseng also can help >> that is at the very early stages of research. what the research found is that it appears that ginseng might help, but much more -- but much more research is needed. thank you very much indeed

for coming in. large, violent, and extremely dangerous, that is how weather experts are describing a tornado, whipped up by storms in the midwest. oklahoma, at least one person died, and several others were him -- were injured. a mobile home park was completely destroyed. tornadoes have been reported in iowa, kansas, and texas. the chelsea flower show has been described as the most prestigious event of its kind in the world. it attracts visitors from all over the globe. the show set in central london celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. the seer, prince harry has been involved. philippa thomas joins us from what i think is known -- there it is -- prince harry garden. , you're right. to give it its full name, it is

the forget-me-not garden. it was partly designed by prince harry will be showing his grandmother, the queen, around here in just a few hours time. the designer is with us now. ginny, you did go back and forth with prince harry about the design, didn't you? >> he left me to it. he realizes that my expertise might be gardening and his might be soldiering. i wouldn't go and help him out. we certainly had a very good report. we have lots of correspondence between the two of us. we met up and had a good look at the plans. really, it is a garden with a very strong message, that his charity he started with the prince of lesotho to help with the appalling hiv and aids epidemic that struck that poor little country. i think it is one of the poorest countries in africa, if not the world. that does not detract from its beauty. it is an astonishingly beautiful place. >> it's not the most obvious material for you.

in designing a garden, you are in a poor mountainous country, talking about awful problems, so how do you translate that? >> when i was told it has the climate of wales, and it is cold and wet and very mountainous and not much grows up there, that is not what one thinks of when one thinks of africa if you are european, because we think of wildebeests and giraffes and elephants. it is not like that at all. it is a pastoral country. i looked at the country, and i thought, there were these repetitive things occurring. mountains, a beautiful terrace that people built to grow their crops, the traditional roundhouses that they live in. we have different skills available to us. i thought i will do that is a contemporary european take, if you like. i made this. i wish the summer off. that would be glowing. it wouldn't be looking great. >> it will do. tell us what is in the middle. >> in the middle, i have marooned in the middle this

representation of the base of a rhonda bell, which is a lesotho house. this is covered in a clay designer thomas -- design, people make their houses out of that. this is very important for me and harry for people to realize that lesotho is a kingdom in its own right and not part of south africa, even though it is landlocked by it. or not not know whether we can show here, but under our feet, we have what? >> we have hearts and crowns. actually, it was the two mothers. queen mama hotel of lesotho -- she designed this blanket design, because the desoto where blankets against the cold and wet, and it is also, i think if you are english, you know that hearts and crowns were very much associated with princess

diana. i like the idea very much that both princes have taken their hearts and crowns and are protecting their people and helping their people. >> think you very much for showing us around. you have a huge amount of symbolism in one small show garden. thank you very much. there are so many people coming to see this already. i think ginny will be overwhelmed with visitors as the chelsea flower show gets underway and open to the public. for now, back to you, kate. >> thank you very much indeed. ,oming up in the next half-hour historic art or powerful rhetoric? we explore a new exhibition that delves into the many forms of propaganda. i will be joined by the man that put the show together and ask them how propaganda was used then and now. do stay with us.

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coming up, deborah potter on the divisive issue the scouting movement faces this coming week. should it let boys who are gay be scouts? plus, lucky severson

examines how the government's sequester is affecting the very poor. also, an old washington hand with a new seminary degree who wants to change how washington works. and sikhs enjoying a turban showdown. how to wrap a turban and what it means to wear one. major funding for "religion & ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lilly endowment, an indianapolis based private family foundation, dedicated to its founders' interest in religion, community development and education. additional funding provided by mutual of america, designing customized, individual and group retirement product. that's why we're your retirement company. d the corporation for public broadcasting.