this ... welcome to al jazeera america. i am del walters. these are the stories we are following for you. overshadowed by the kidnapping of over 200 school girls, the world economic forum goes on. nigeria's president saying the presence of global leaders is a blow to terrorism. pro-russian activists moving forward with their vote to separate from ukraine. also, untrained inmates taz clowns and cowboys. this rodeo held every year at a prison in louisiana. and this, the computer simulation that allows you to see the evolution of the

universe millions of years in the making. we begin with another day of waiting and worrying in nigeria. hundreds of families wondering whether their children are safe or, for that matter, dead or alive. at the same time, delegates of world economic forum about to break for dinner in a couple of hours. theed leader of the forum saying terrorism must not set their agen agenda. there are those who take issue with the meeting when more than 200 school girls are still missing. nigh ye niger nigeria's president promising a way forward. >> i believe the kidnap of these girls is the beginning of the end of terror in nigeria. >> in nigerinigeria, the contro grows. anothertac by boka haram. some parents are accusing the government of abandoning their

daughters. al jazeera has the first international journalist on the ground in the area where that kidnapping occurred and the people are outraged claiming the abductor never happened. >> a traumatized mother, ester still has not come to terms with the ab deduction of her 15-year-old daughter. she thinks it is a bad dream she will awake from. her daughter is among the 270 girls taken by boko haram fighters. more than three weeks on, they remain missing. >> i prefer they should come into my mu house, burn my house, that would be better for me than taking my daughter. if they take my life, i think i am satisfied rather than to take my daughter. honestly, i am not happy at all. i just feel like indicating

myself. >> pain is shared by most of the families in this once vibrant community. for them, life will never be the same. government officers were set on fire by the attackers but the sharpest pain was here at the girls' secondary school. >> a month ago, this school was full of life. hundreds of girls here were looking forward to fulfilling their dreams. and now, italy ins ruins and the girls -- it lies in ruins. >> more than 3 hundred girls were bundled on to trucks. 53 of them escaped. among them, this girl whose father insists we hide her identity fearing she might be targeted, especially after the arrest of some protesters in the nigerian capitol. >> translator: after they attacked the town, they then took us to their camp. i and three other girls lied to them saying that we needed to

use the toilets. >> that's how we ran away. they chased us, but we kept running. . >> there is a sense of fear in the community, but people are outraged at the suggestion that the abductor never took place. >> not only baffling. it is heart breaking that the tragedy, a global calamity is politicized. >> the news from foreign powers is underway is reassuring. scars of the april 14th tragedy are deep and longlasting al jazeera, northeast earn nigeria. earlier, i talked to the former u.s. ambassador to ni niger nigeria, robin sanders from nigeria's capitol. he addressed the claims that the kidnappings are made up. >> it is not a concocted story. there is enough evidence to really underscore that not only

has this happened, but that there is enough reaction to the tragtee that shows that there is a commitment, a galvanization of the nigerian nation to try to get these girls back. >> while nigh i can't's -- nigeria'smist was supposed to be looking. boko haram attacks and is this an indication that the government has no control over the northern part of nigeria? >> i think that there is a number of things at play here one of the things to keep in mind is there are a lot of -- it's a big area. i think that some from the west, we tend to for get how large this area is. the military is stretched pretty thin in a number of places, and i think you have so many soft targets that they are going to have to really look at a way of trying to coalesce these soft targets so they all are better protected by police and by

military. the situation here is, you know, very, very serious. everyone here is quite galvanized. i am really, really happy that the nigerian government has accepted the assistance from the united states government. there is a lot that we can do to help them try to address not only the general security issues in the north but really try to help them find the girls that were abducted. sanders went on to say that hosting the world economic forum is a positive thing. she says it galvanizes support for those security efforts. there is pushback in ukraine. this time against russian president vladimir putin. pro-russian separatists are ignoring a request from putin to put off the vote to separate from ukraine. >> vote is scheduled for sunday. >> yet, putin ask that it be suspended to encourage dialogue with the west. separatist leaders say no, saying people there want to move ahead with the referendum. jonah hull has the latest from donetsk. >> reporter: the people's

republic of donetsk has as a result of the nammus vote decided to go ahead with the referendum scheduled for may 11th, this soming tunnelled. we have come from a press conference where that was announced by the chairman of the people's republic. he said that he respected the attempt by president putin to try and calm the situation, to find a solution for the situation, but he said with increasing violence in the east and the south of the country, with the ukrainian army carrying out what he called the criminal orders of kiev, there was no choice. he said, we are the hand of the people and the people's will must be respected. he then handed the microphone to somebody who is described as the head of the central election commission of the people's republic of donetsk. he said 3 million ballot papers have been set. everything was set to go. it would be carried out, he said, according to international norms and standards. he said on a matter of principal, if we had not gone

ahead with this referendum, we would have lost the trust of the simple people. the contrary indications are that this movement is very much a minority. however, there are no monitors to watch what is going on. there is no government structure involved here, no formal structures at all really. so, no way of monitoring what the result or the ver acity of whatever is announced. >> that's jonah hull. the house foreign affairs committed issued it is now ready to issue new sanctions against russia. mike viqueira is live on capitol hill. mike, break down what happened inside the meeting today? >> reporter: policy makers in washington have been focused on this question of when and what those broad sectoral sanctions of the west are threatening to impose against russia if they continue with their aggression in ukraine and it appears from everything we have just heard that they are, in fact, doing that. when would they be triggered? this is the key question. and policy makers have dodged

all around that question, perhaps, mindful of the fact that it's difficult for get europeans to go along as dependent as they are, much more so than the united states with trade with russia. a little bit more clarity today. victorian newland, the assistant secretary of state for european and eurasian affairs testifying before that house panel today said one trigger would definitely be if the russians sought to disrupt those elections the united states has emphasized these elections in a couple of weeks on may 25th that are scheduled for ukraine. as to what will be sanctioned, the west has talked about these broad sanctions against broad sectors of the russian economy. today, much more specificatioit from newland. let's listen. >> as we develop the sectoral approach, the idea here is, as i said, to use a scaleable rather than -- a scalpel rather than a hammer to focus on high-tech and other investment where russia needs us far more than we need

russia, whereas europe trades 9% with russia. russia's trade is 50% based in europe. so they are far more vulnerable. >> reporter: very interesting way to get around those concerns from europeans who are so rely ant on russia principal for their energy needs. one thing that occurred in this hearing today, victoria nuland talking about the threats of the baltics and poland, president obama scheduled to meet po land, a brand-new nato ally, someone who is a former -- a country that is a former member of the soviet block and slat light. president obama will go there in about a month's time in a show of support. nuland said these states are now front line states. she said she never thought she would be using that phrase again in her career. >> mike, is it your sense that the hawkish rhetoric coming out of washington is being toned down? >> reporter: it's interesting because president obama, himself, you recall in his asia trip, he was asked time and time again whether the so-called

obama doctorine of talk as opposed to launching airstrikes against syria, for example, in his foreign policy, was a sign of weakness. and so the ironic thing is that president obama is trying to emphasize glom attic pressure -- dmrot diplomatic pressure, as many critics here on capitol hill, john mccain, perhaps foremost among them calling for more strenuous sanctions and arming the skraifrnians. there is a divide here it's largely along partisan lines. there is no consensus here in washington on how to deal with this issue. >> mike viqueira for us on capitol hill. syrian state t.v. is reporting a hotel is blown up in aleppo, the carlton hotel used by several troops. rebels using under ground explosives to attack the hotel. >> same hotel was also the target of an earlier tack in february, at least 10 people were killed in today's blast. secretary of state john kerry is set to meet with the

president of syria's opposition within the hour. akmed jarva is expecting to discuss arming the syrian opposition. speaking yesterday in waingt, he said the only chance for a political solution in syria is if the military balance on the ground changes. rebels have been asking the u.s. for lethal aid now for close to two years. the white house has refused fearing is it could fall into the hands of terrorists. the university in a computer ahead on al jazeera america. we are going to take an amazing trip through space and then, as millions of megabytes in the making. >> next well, talk about the challenges of day-to-day life one-half year later after typhoon hyan

we are following breaking news out of mexico city where there are reports of a strong earthquake said to be a 6.8 on the richter scale according to the u.s. geological survey. there have been no reports of injuries. we will bring you more on this story as it develops.

also, oklahoma's attorney general disagragreeing to a 6-m moratorium on the death penalty following last month's botched execution of clayton locket who died of an apparent heart attack 43 minutes after he was given the lethal drug cocktail. a mrinz report indicating those drugs were incorrectly injected in his groin instead of his arm and that his vein collapsed. in a rare move, congress issuing subpoenas to the secretary of the department of veterans affairs. congress demanding e-mails related to allegations that patients waited too long for healthcare. there are reports those delays led to deaths at several va centers including phoenix, a retired doctor said at least 40 died and the hospital tried to cover it up some members of congress have called on susheky to resign. >> a bill for the first state marijuana banking systeming.

it would be similar to creditun yuts. they are shunned by banks and forced to operate mostly until cash. the banks are worried pot's legal in colorado but a federal crime. the federal reserve has to sign off on the plan. man-made marijuana under the microscope. the drug enforcement administration arresting 150 people in 25 states since january, including a major bust just yesterday. natasha ganan says why the push is made. >> sin threatic drugs have been a stable of the clubbing seen, k2, spice and bath salts. they are mostly made in asia. they are often sold legally in stores in packets like this as her balance incense or pope pope p. >> poppourri?

>> many have to be on life support. >> between 2010 and 20 eleven visits to emergency rooms more than doubled to 28,500. one of the scald designer drugs, synthetic marijuana is popular among young people. according to a university of michigan study, one in nine high school seniors used it in 2012, putting it just below marijuana and hashish in popularity. >> dr. randy katz is the er director in hollywood, florida. he says the danger of these synthetic drugs is that no one knows exactly how the combination of compounds being cooked up in a lab will affect the body. on top of that, each time the federal government baningz one product, makers modify the res pay, and back on the market it goes. . >> a lot of the drugs are unknown. the dea can't keep up with the number of different compounds

out there. some of them are not even listed as controlled substances. >> many are not expressly prohibited but are using a law that allows the drugs to be categorized as controlled substances. since the beginning of the year, drug enforcement agencies have been raiding businesses, and warehouses seizing synthetic drugs and arresting people. on wednesday, agents conducted raids in 28 states. the dea says prosecutions are rising as agencies across the country adapt to the rapidly evolving landscape of the designer drug industry. natasha ganane, al jazeera, miami. >> 6,000 people died, lives of millions more changed in an instant. it's been six months since typhoon hyun slammed into the philippines. many are still struggling to recover. >> survivors of tie off and on hyun say they want to be heard. hear farmers are upset about

just how long the recovery in their town is taking. they accuse the local government of being too slow. they say they still needy merge emergency assistance. >> i think we are gaining ground. everybody's opening. the civic centers, the news cal structures are being put back. >> but people like gilbert are still hoping for some government help. he still hasn't recovered from what he lost when his coconut farm was destroyed of the pests like these are finishing whatever is left of it. >> farmers are going hungry. they need food, shelter. we need to be given capitol to clean our farms, gasoline, seedlings. this is like second hyun for us. we are unable to to do anything at all. >> reporter: these sentiments are repeated 100 times over.

across the island, most fishermen have reported thoir their boats and gone back to sea but they are catching far fewer fish than they used to. around 14 million people were affected when the strongest tie off and on to ever made make landfall struck the central philippines last november. over 6,300 people were killed. over 1,000 are still missing. for many of the survivors, finding decent housing remains a pressing concern. more than 2 million people are still living without adequate shelter. most of them are living in tents, still hoping for help with rebuilding their homes. >> access to basic services like water and sanitation is also a problem. schools ahave re-opened. around 1.7 million children have been displaced living in disaster zones where they are vulnerable to an exploitation >> reporter: >> what do we have six months later? a population that wants to take

their destiny in their hands, who are proud to conserve whatever is left of their d dignity after being so much beaten up by this typhoon on the 8th of november 6th months ago. >> international aid organizations say there are signs of improvement. it's no longer an emergency but a recovery. for many survivors of typhoon hyun, that isn't good enough. al jazeera, central philippines. an update of the day's top stories just ahead and then terror. >> i am in louisiana at a different kind of road yeah. this one is at a state prison and the inmates are the cowboys.

welcome back to al jazeera america. i am del walters. these are your headlines. we are following breaking news out of mexico. we are hearing reports of a strong earthquake. the quake was a 6.8 on the richter scale according to the u.s. geological survey. it happened about 200 miles but

was fet in the capitol. there have been no reports of injuries. we will bring you more as the story warrants. global financial leaders are in nigeria today for the world economic forum. in the wake of that attack in northeastern nigeria where 300 people were killed. >> that's in addition to the kidnapping of 200 school girls, both attacks being blamed on bo boka haram: apartment asking to postpone the vote for does independence. activists say they will move forward with sunday's referendum. thanks to super computers and cooperative people, we can take you back to the beginning of the universe. jake ward is our guide >> reporter: if you play video games, you may have heard ofeve online. it's one of the most popular video games in the world. it's set in a massive place the game's designers built an entire galaxy made up of 7,500 star systems for gamers to explore

and fight over. flying from one end of the game to the other takes the better part of a day and each world in eve on line has a sneaking climate and experience. it's pretty incredible. >> game is nothing. i 19 nothing. it is just a tiny spec compared to what researchers of mit concentrated. a software simulation of not a planet, not a galaxy, but of the universe. they call it illustrous. it's an amazing piece of software. illustrous doesn't model the whole universe. all known space and matter is about 10 billion light years across and for the sake of time, these researchers build a coup that's 350 million light years across and only about 13 billion years of evolution. well, that's pretty lazy. right? well, no. it's that the cube is big enough to be representative of the rest of the universe. they can look at visible f phenomenon like the tours of gases and the disposition of dark matter, which is the

unknown energy that supposedly binds the universe together. there is really no other way to watch these kinds of things in scale. we can't just step back and check them out. this simulation now gives researchers god-like powers in observation. small and detailed or enormous through gesturing. this gets to do both. >> that's what makes it hard to build. to generate the whole simulation, it required several months running inside a super computer that's 8,000 processors working on it simultaneously. compare that to a high-end gaming computer like the kind of big rig on which a fan atical gamer would spend thousands of dollars to play eve online as fast as possible. to run on even that kind of amazing desktop, the same simulation would have taken 2000 years. take that, gamers. >> that's our jake ward, and from a fan of fantasy universe to fantasy fwool, the 2 2014

season getting ready. the radio city hall south carolina's defensive star, quarterback johnmy manziel and linebacker michael sams could who become the first openly gay player of houstonan texans have picked. >> a road yes in the south has been called inhumane because of the people who participate. the people in this case are inmates from angola prison in louisiana. now, the untrained cowboys are some of the state's most violent criminals. some are calling this the most controversial rodeo in the world. >> reporter: it's billed as the wildest show in the south and for good reason. take a convict, an event that pits nerves against the raw power of a raging bull. the last man sitting wins cash. these are inmates at one of louisiana's most secure prisons? >> today, they can be king for a

day. the victims would say: who cares? but what's important is we have to try to rehabilitate them before any of them get out so that they don't hurt you again. this is part of the rehab i w l willtative program and part of our reentry. >> the prisoners of angola or "the farm" houses some of the country's most dangerous criminals including murderers and rapists. the rules are somewhat relaxed. >> show up. >> inmates run their own arts and craft stores and are allowed to make money to keep their businesses going. but it's the rodeo that attracts the most attention. >> they are those who say this is nothing shorts of an inhumane spectator spoke. more than half of the prisoners inside here are first-time offenders who will never see the outside of these prison walls and injuries are commonplace. >> they wouldn't give us any information about how many

prisoners have been hurt over the years. they say every precaution is taken and there is little sympathy. >> they have nothing to lose, i guess. just something fun and different for them to do. >> they've got a choice just like they had a choice when what they was doing. they made a choice to come here. >> none of the prisoners are forced to take part in the road yeah. the $500 for the finleye called "guts and glory" assure participation is high. for many, it's a highlight of a life behind bars. >> i came out here, i was instantly hooked. i think, jie god in jesus' name for me to come out here and find this rodeo. it's been a joy for me, for my family. my family comes every year. >> at angola prison, the average sentence 95 years. most of these men will die and be buried here for them, this road yes is a taste of freedom even if it's only for a few

seconds: al jazeera, angola, louisiana. thanks for watching. i am del walters in new york. "talk to al jazeera" is next. i think one of the big things where we have to recognize that we are complicit. i am only talking about the negatives here because i think we have far too comfort addicted >> his perform applications on screen have made him one of hollywood's most respected act orders. oscar freedom? >> i think the press needs to have absolutely freedom. the whole culture needs to respect itself >> we will discuss his roles as an actor, activist and his controversial relationship with hugo chavez? >> he was an electric personal thety.