>> this is it al jazeera america, i'm richelle carey in new york with a look at the top stories two key cities in eastern ukraine are hours away on voting for a breakaway referendum. >> my husbands and i are outraged and heartbroken over the kidnapping of more than 200 nigerian girls. >> outrage and overwhelming heartbreak as nigerian girls spend another day in captivity. n.f.l. history - an emotional moment for michael sam

and his partner. growing old in america - we look at the tough issues facing seniors. we are hours away from voting on a referendum in parts of eastern ukraine. the question at hand - whether to ses seed. many call the vote illegitimate, some saying it may be the only way to bring peace to the region. earlier today firefighters worked to put out flames burning from the deadly fighting. up to 20 were killed when ukranian troops clashed with separatists. in the middle of the violence, officials say they'll proceed with sunday's referendum. paul brennan reports. >> reporter: it looks like an election with ballot boxes and voting booths being assembled. 1500 polling stations have been promised in donetsk and luhansk.

there are no international observers. the voters' register is out of date and there's abundant opportunity for electoral fraud. nevertheless, the man overseeing it says it's too late to stop now. >> my task is to give every resident an opportunity to vote. and inform the mass media and community about it. how the people will deal with the results, i don't know. the crimean example is appropriate. >> voters will be asked one question, whether they accept the creation of the donetsk people's republic, which is a self-declared entity. talk of the crimean scenario hints at what might follow. a vote in favour of the pro-russian people's republics is widely predicted. the town of slovyansk is republican, a no vote is not

thinkable. >> it's hard to say. probably no less than 70% will vote yes. >> but away from the barricades and balaclavas, sentiment is more nuanced. a poll finding two-thirds of people dislike the authorities. 18% wanted the eastern region to ses seed to russia. >> of course we approve the referendum. what else can we do. i'm so worried about how ukraine, our country. we want peace and calm and want to work as we did before. >> if i go, i would vote no, because i find the referendum totally unacceptable because there are no observers, control, no voters' lists, one can vote as many times as he wants. it's not a referendum, it's a mess. >> a mess is what it is here in mariapolt after a raid by ukranian security forces.

seven were killed. though the circumstances are disputed, the aftermath is clear to see. people here were hostile to the kiev government - now they are seething with rage. on sunday the anger will be vented through the polling stations. i speak with richard white, from the hudson institute, and i ask fundament it could be considered legitimate. >> there's no guarantee of multiple voting. there's not going to be international sprfgs. it's spontaneous separatists to draw up support. >> what are the implications once it happens. >> it's unclear, because of the stance taken by the russian government. he asked that the referendum not

take place, and then you have to basically put out a hypotheses about why it is occurring. perhaps he doesn't have the proxies or said he didn't want to do it or does want to do it. we will not know what is going on until after the vote takes place, and then we'll see what kind of statement they make, whether they declare that there's legitimacy, or whether they ignore it. >> he believes that if ukraine's presidential election is allowed to take place, a legitimately elected government could result in an end to the conflict. >> two girls that escaped boko haram kidnappers shared their story of captivity today. >> the following day we were sent to fetch water. that's when we seized the opportunity and bolted. when they shot at us, we took the chance and god helped us arrive. >> they made it home safely.

more than 270 did not. listening to the girls' story of survival were some of the parents of the girls missing. they gathered in a force to get the government to step up in attempts to find the girls. >> for the mothers in northern nigeria desperate to get their daughters back, their anger is raw. they came together to find the 270 school girls snatched by book , and to hear the girls who managed to escape. revisit a harrowing ordeal. >> when they came in, they asked us together at one point. then they started asking for the location of the engine block. we told them we did not know. they threatened to kill us if we didn't tell them. >> another girl gave on emotional account of how they decided to run for their lives.

>> translation: when we got to the push, they asked us to get out of the cars. i told my friends it's better to be killed. we got out of the car and started to run. >> the families hoping to see their daughter are calling for more government reaction. this woman asked the crowd what they wanted. the answer "please help us, we want our children found." their appeal has been echoed by many outside nigeria. u.s. fayedly president obama said she is outraged and heartbroken. >> unconscionable act was committed by a terrorist group determined to keep the girls from getting an education. grown men attempting to snuff out the aspirations of young girls. i want you to know that barak directed our government to do everything possible to support the nigerian government efforts to find the girls and bring them home. >> and the head of the

organization for his lambic cooperation, the world's largest block of countries describes the kidnappings as barbaric saying groups like boko haram disavow islam. for months the families have been left to wait in anguish. with boko haram threatening to sell the girls into slavery, the desperation cannot be contained. >> the threat of boko haram has many nigerian families living in fare, forced to make heart remembering decisions. we have more. >> reporter: a mother of four - lost her husband to boko haram a few years ago. she dreamt of children becoming doctors and lawyers. boko haram attacks on schools forced her to change her mind. >> i wanted them to go to conventional schools. abduction made me rethink. i pulled them out and put them in a koranic school.

it's painful what the mothers are going through. >> our youngest daughter said it was a painful decision. >> i feel sad when i see my mates going school, and i am not. i am afraid of what is happening in scauls. but i go to a koranic school. >>. >> her story is echoed why sending girls to school is proving a struggle. dozens of schools have been destroyed. schools like these in the state are closed, except for students taking final exams. they were shot after boko haram stepped up attacks. parents say how the action is wrong, and giving in to threats will have consequences. >> they don't want anyone to go school. particularly women. we cannot train our women or daughters to become engineers,

doctors, lawyers or whatever. it means our society is doomed. >> despite the government promise to secure schools, the attacks and killings continue with a significant impact on school enrolment and numbers. more than 10.5 million children are out of nigeria's education system, and the attacks on schools in the north means many face a stark choice. >> when hillary clinton was secretary of state she tried to get them declared a terrorist organization, but met with resistance. >> boko haram was a top priority early on in the barack obama administration, under the leadership of hillary clinton. the fta designation is legal and a foreign policy school that

there were debate about within the administration. >> the foreign terrorist organization designation would have provided extra finances to combat them. earlier tonight a tornado touched down in north-west missouri, responding after a super cell thx was taken after the twister rolled through. you can see parts ripped off its home, and buildings damaged. 800 live in the town. there were no reports of injuries. assistance on the fine day. that's rare. we saw it today. it came down to the final round. mikael samuelsson now has a clans to play -- michael sam is now has a chance to play professional football. >> reporter: it was an emotional day for michael sam. he made head lips for coming out in -- head lines for coming out

in february. on the final day of the draft michael sam got the call. >> the 249th pick in the 2014 n.f.l. drift, the st. louis rams, michael sam from missouri. >> with that his dream of getting drafted became a reality. as you can imagine, he was overwhelmed with emotion. it was a touchy moment. the 24-year-old sam wanted to be judged as a football player. the st. louis rams will give him a chance, taking him to the 7th round. there are some concerns that sam would not get drafted after a disappointing performance. the kid played in children, made plays, a high energy player. one thing that proscouts cannot measure, a player's heart. sam plays with passion. the next step, the st. louis

rams will fly him in to meet the media. then it's time to go work and learn the system. to find the roster and become an open reply gay player. >> still ahead - americans are living longer, ageing is more expensive. we look at the challenges facing baby boomers. plus the offer of a new look exploring the relation ship between u.s. and afghanistan: we'll tell you why i'm not happy about

we'll take a deeper look - tonight the focus is the elderly in america. they are about 43.1 million people over the aim of 65 living in the united states. that's nearly 14% of the

population. 9% in 1960. when the population was what it was now. the medium income of elderly americans was under 40,000. by comparison the medium households for the country is around 50,000. we ask the correspondents across the country to look at the story. we have reports if pennsylvania, texas and florida. >> i'm julia in fort lauderdale. for stom a golder majority is fading as they care for relatives. judy begins most days preparing coffee, breakfast and medicines for her 95-year-old aunt. last year, due to failing capabilities king moved in with her niece. >> it's not just an adjustment for her, but for me. when she came in, she was very

disoriented. king says she's thankful her niece takes care of her. >> i don't have children. i'm lucky, you know, that i have her to take care of me. >> st. john hamilton is one of a growing number caring for relatives and thought this time in life would mean slowing down. instead she's spending time energy caring for her. it's a daily challenge. emotionally, financially and logistically. traversing the medical system. it was a challenge. i never had to do that before. >> caring for st. john is not how her life was visualised. it's teaching her to prepare. >> i'm dallas. >> 10 children, 22 grandchildren. here is what 50 years of

marriage looks like. and this, too, is what 50 years of marriage looks like. >> he had colon cancer, quad resumele bypass, is a kidney patient, he's had two knee replacements, back surgery. >> this day, for 71-year-old brenda barnes mirrors every day. >> right now he's on 10 different medications. >> levy was in good health until 2010, when he suffered a heart attack, forcing his wife into retirement and the couple into financial straits. >> i don't have any leisure money. >> the barns received food stamps and social security between the two brings in under 1700 a month. >> it pays for the rent, the light bill, two telephone bills,

gas, credit cards and the things that we are involved with at our church and doctor bills, so you have to be studious about what you buy, and do comparison pricing. >> keeping tabs on where every dollar goes. it's the harsh reality they had to come to terms with. >> reporter: i'm libby casey, a trio of women it pittsburgh found an alternative to living alone. they are housemates. when they started their golden girls household they saw group houses like theirs on tv. ♪ thank you for being a friend ...♪ >> they were in their late 50s, travelled and thought about sharing a house. >> it would be so economic am, efficient, fun. we said "why wait for retirement, why not now? ". >> they sfound a house, split the mortgage and moved in. they had doubts. >> it was an unnatural situation

to think about living with other people who are not family members. >> the benefits started right away. >> it frees up time. >> now you are sharing the chores. >> you are sharing - you are paying for services you used to do. >> as they got older baby boomers found themselves independent and willing to find something new. >> the boomer generation on down are more innovative and willing to experiment with different lifestyles. >> the pittsburg golden girls got so many girls about living together that they wrote a book. >> we are different people. >> right. who have shared values, lifestyle and responsibility. that is the core. >> louise, karen and jane are having more fun together and are better prepared for what is ahead. >> earlier i spoke to marilyn moon, the director for the center on ageing. and janice a senior writer.

i asked if it was more challenging to be an older american now, than in the past. >> i don't know if it's challenging, there are different demingss. the cost of health care is greater. people are coming to this age with better education, a sense of what they want to do. it's a mixed bag. let's talk about that, living longer means you have to have more money put aside. how do you prepare for that? why is that more challenging than it has been in the past. >> one of the ways it's more challenging is that people used to have traditional pensions that paid a certain amount of money. most of us have to save ourselves through special vehicles like 401 ks, bs, et cetera.

when we accumulate a large amount of money, we have to figure out how to use it. the longer life spans create additional challenges. >> janice, the money that marilyn talks about that we have to put aside. does a lot of that end up going health care costs? >> people are surprised how expensive it is to pay for a home health aid, if you wind up in a nursing home environment. there are a lot of pocket expenses as you age. and the cost of becoming more isolated for people that don't have large families. in addition to the financial cost there's the human cost. >> let's talk about the financial challenges that seniors face. lisa stark did some reporting. let's take a look at this and we'll paying it up on the other side of her story. >> reporter: when karen conka works it's as a volunteer, she

retired at age 52. after three decade as a county government worker. >> one of the main reasons for taking the job was the excellent retirement that fairfax country had. >> her 28-year-old daughter has a management job with a small company. but has not been able to start saving for retirement. >> does your company offer a retirement plan? >> not at this time. >> have you worked for a company that offered a retirement plan. >> no, i haven't. >> more than half do not have a workplace retired plan. middle income workers offered a plan at work are likely to start putting money away, than those withoutcompany plans. people making between 30 and 50,000 pay if they have access

to a plan. if they don't. less than 5%. >> she said having money deducted was key. >> i did not factor that dollar amount into my budget. >> the retirement situation is dire for blacks and his panics. a recent report found those families have 30,000 socked away, compared to 120,000 for whites near retirement age. >> let's do more to help americans save for retirement. >> president obama highlighted the issue and through executive order created a new-type of retirement fund called a my ra. >> businesses can offer the programme at little or no cost to the company. money would be ab ducted and workers can save with awes little as -- as little as $25. here is a low risk, low cost,

low balance alinterpret tv for folks that haven't started. >> sandra says between living expenses and paying off loans, saving for retirement is tough. >> it worries us. our hands are tied. >> her mum supported new options for young workers. >> this gives them the opportunity to think about the future. it's never too early to do that. >> okay. it's remarkable that she was able to retire at 52. that is not the norm. i mean, she may have another 40 years. that's great. most people are not in that situation. when the money runs out, people's families have to step in, if they are lucky enough to have families. >> if you can speak to how difficult it can be on families, when you have to take care of the older people, because it's your responsibility to, but talk

about how difficult that is on families. >> well, one of the things that is important is the family ties that people have, and focus do count on that. but it means you have people who often still have children at home, or children in college having to help support their parents, sometimes called the sandwich generation of people that ghet a bind. it -- get in a bind. it can put their own stamp on retirement and create a problem that can occur in the future. >> it's a difficult challenge and hard to convince people in their 20s and 30s when you face other responsibilities to put people away. >> that is so important and essential in the current system. >> can you pick up on marilyn's point. it's about trying to plan.

>> it's hard for people to plan for things that are not an immediate risk. it's easier to plan for what you'll have for dinner. i think we need to talk about redefining family for people. my generation had fewer children and we'll have fewer care givers. women that never married and don't have children will have fewer available. we need to rethink who the community will be to care for older adults when they face that time of life with no family to turn to. there's not enough people. >> it's a great point. >> it will be a change. >> that's a great point. a wonderful story that libby casey pointed out - the golden girls story that she did, the three women decided "you know what, we'll move into a great house and take care of each other", and that redefines family. that's a great point.

it starts an important conversation that we need to continue to have. thank you so much. next on al jazeera. it's a book looking at the involvement in afghanistan. we'll talk to the author about the makes america made and the damage down. a victory dedicated to nelson mandela. what the a.n.c. are saying about his landslide election.

welcome back to al jazeera america. here is a look at your top stories. the first openly gay college football player was drafted by the n.f.l. michael sam has a chance to play professional football. the missouri lib backer was -- linebacker was chosen by the st. louis rams. eastern ukraine will vote in a couple of hours on whether to ses seed. germany and europe are threatening deeper sanctions to

russia. >> my husband and i are outraged and heart broken over the kidnapping of girls from the school dormitory. >> president obama uses the presidential address to speak for the missing girls in africa. a report was denied by the government that it was warned about the report of kidnapping hours before it happened. vote ners south africa are keeping the a.n.c. for another term. the margin of victory is smaller. many are expecting more from the party that liberated the nation. we have more. >> the african national congress celebrates its fifth win. jacob zuma is upbeat, beginning his second term. millions in south africa has given his office another chance. the president described it.

>> who can defeat us if you are with the people. would can? no one. those not with the people, the people are not going to vote for them. >> that is what happened. that's why, as a party. those who spoke so violently in parliament - they have been reduced into little puffs in parramatta. the party of liberation has been voted back into power. this time with a reduced majority. >> the jacob zuma administration lost the a.n.c. in two elections. it fell from 70% to 66%, and from 66% to 61.5-62%. so the big question you have to april is we are unhappy with jacob zuma, and some of the behaviour. >> the new kid on the block, the

economic freedom fighters got more than 20 seats. the main opposition party, the democratic alliance increased its share of the votes. >> reporter: they are celebrating their win. they'll likely head to the drawing board and plan their way forward. the government elections are 2016. they can't afford to lose support. >> the african national congress is more than 100 years old and is seen as a party that liberated apartheid. it's a wake up call to officials that south africans have other options if the a.n.c. is scene to fail its electorate. in yemen a government crackdown on al qaeda is drawing fierce resistance today. a bomb went off near the president's home in the city of aiden. the president was not there. it killed even alleged members

of al qaeda, and state department officials confirm that two workers from the u.s. embassy shot and killed two men during a kidnap attempt. last month 7 million afghans went to the polls, but the top two contenders, the minister and world bank economist didn't get a majority of the vote. he was barred from seeking a third term in office. a new book, no good men among the living explores the history of that country. i spoke to the author and asked him why he wrote the book and who he spoke to during this time reporting. >> well, you know, a lot of us don't realise this is the longest war in american history. >> indeed. >> despite that we know little about what afghans thing about the war.

i wanted to find out how does the war look and feel from the afghan point of view. and how it looks from the point of view from our enemy. from our ally, from the hamid karzai government and someone caught in between, who is a housewife who has to navigate between the sides. >> someone we can connect with. >> what surprised me is there's ways to connect with all three. even the taliban commander. the taliban are repressive. what surprised me about how he fought, he wasn't always in the taliban. he quit when the u.s. invaded in twp. because of various -- 2001. because of various forces and warlords, he fought again. that was surprising. >> you spent years living, reaching in afghanistan - something most americans will not have the opportunity to do or choose to do. what might surprise people about

afghanistan. >> there are two afghanistans. there's the one we hear about in news reports. we heard about the elections. they went off well in the cities. in the countryside, where the war is fought, it's a different afghanistan. there people are caught between two sides, between the taliban and between warlords and powerbrokers on the other side. it's not something that comes about and is something that surprises me. >> there's a sense in the book that the u.s. made a lot of basic mistakes in its approach to afghanistan. is your thinking that the u.s. made a mistake in invading period, or that the strategy was wrong once they invaded? >> the strategy flows from the war on terror. if you remember what president bush said - you are either with our against us. we decided the world into two categories, and we prosecuted the war on that basis.

what that means is in 2001 a lot of the taliban fighting against the u.s. surrendered. they dropped their weapons and tried to switch sides. they did this every few years. >> every few years. >> this is a country at war since 1979. you learn to surprise and such sides. >> a lot of former taliban fighters switch sides. you came to karz and said "we want to join you. the u.s. tried to kill them or anybody that tried to accuse them of being taliban. that helped to restart the war. >> what lessons will the u.s. learn, that afghanistan will lerp from this? >> we should learn you are either with or against us or the wore on terror divides the world into two categories is probably not accurate. for afghans they are caught

between people that have guns whether it's people we support. civilians are the ones to suffer. we need to think what it means to prosecute a war on terror, saying we should stop supporting guys doing these things. >> what do you say to the criticism. one critique said you were a little too soft on the taliban in your book. what do you say to that? >> i have a chapter in the book about crimes on taliban. there's a distinction to be made between calling tensions to the reasons why the taliban reconsfituated themselves. these are the reasons why the taliban came up again. it's a tragedy for afghans and americans. different from justifying the actions of the taliban. >> another criticism is the

review says that you didn't connect the dots enough between pakistan, united states. what do you say about that. >> i have a chapter about that. to talk about pakistan which come like to do shifts the focus away interest us, and we bear a lot of blame. we killed a lot of africans in 2001, 2002 and 2003. it laid the ground work for the insurgency which pakistan came to support. gunfire in caracas, tear gas fired. demonstrators are demanding the release of opposition activists some of whom have been detained since february. the protests were triggered by rising inflation, food shortages

and high crime rate. pro-government protesters in thailand warned of the possibility of civil war. the red shirt movement was demonstrating against the removal of prime minister ying where are from office. she -- yingluck shinawatra, from office. she was accused and has stood down. the pope is butifying a former pope. two weeks after a double canonize ailings, pope francis has given cause to a miracle by another pope. beautification ceremony is set for october 19th. the senate refused to consider a democratic proposal to raise the minimum wage to

$10.10. courtney kealy has more from a march and pray in at new york city's riverside church. [ chanting ] the marching workers chanted their demands for a higher working wage in spanish and english. [ chants ] >> faith leaders joined filing into the riverside church for an interdenominational, interration racial international service. >> we are here to stand in solidarity with low wam workers and families. >> the programme was filled with testimonials by workers. >> they have no respect for us. abuses are too many. >> sermons - i want to the say yes to fair wages for all workers and showing up for the change that has begun. >> and songs. >>

[ singing ] >> the nearly 16 underpeople in attendance have been given the pledge written in english and spanish. what you do is policemen to join the fas food strike and take a bus to albany. >> the clear political message that new york city has the greatest income in equality according to leaders. more than 3 million men and women are working. but still live in poverty because the state's $8 minimum wage is to lou. not enough. >> she says something needs to change. >> changing legislation will allow cities and counties to supplement the minimum wage. polls show 73% of new yorkers support the measures. >> opponents say there are other ways to help the poor.

raising wages will make it harder to hire unskilled workers. >> president obama called for a minimum wage hike making it clear that income inequality would be the focus. some think it's too late. we thought president obama would do something. his book is written. he's out the door. >> the most continues on. >> let's march to albany in the spirit of joshua. let's march on in the spirit of jesus. let's march on in the spirit of mohammed. >> police have recovered the body of a second person that died in a hot air balloon accident in virginia. three from on board when it hit a power line, caught fire and crashed to the ground. the balloon and the remains of one passenger have not been found. two have been identified as staff members from the university of richmond.

>> smoke seeping into your plane cabin, not what you want to see on a flight to hawaii. people saw that when a cabin fire broke out. it was put out and the 757 turned around and made a safe emergency landing in l.a. before that it was chaos with oxygen asks dropping, giving passengers on board a major scare. >> by then honestly we said our prayers and were passing candy to the kids, that we knew was scared. my husband was awesome. he was trying to talk to the people and help them stay calm. none of the approximate 140 were injured. in new york it was a solemn day in lower manhattan. the unidentified remains of those killed in the 2001 world trade center attacks were returned to ground zero and will be placed in the museum.

many of the victims' families are not pleased about the move. >> reporter: early saturday morning and ground zero is bracing for an emotional return. some of the unidentified remains are brought back to the world trade center site for the first time in 13 years. this is one of three kaz kets transported to the 9/11 memorial museum due to open next week. the family members are not hope about it. black armbands cover the mouths to signify that they were given no voice or choice where the remains, amounting to 40% of all those that died would end up. they are angry at the city of new york for putting remains in a vault. they've been put inside a pay as you enter museum, on a floodplain. they are asking for a more

reverential location. >> i think they deserve something beautiful because they never got a chance to go home to their families. >> of all the remains from inch, these are the ones given the most interufl, dignified place to rest. >> president obama will be at the opening ceremony next thursday. >> they will consult family members, but they are here today to see them come back to the place they die, say they'll boycott the museum until a more sued ible resting place is found. >> coming up, in mexico mother's day is filled with sadness for thousands of women. the reason why when al jazeera america

in arkansas, it was a day of celebration for same-sex couples. christ in and jennifer of fort smith were married, the first couple to make it official after a state judge struck down the 10-year-old constitutional ban on gay marriages. the attorney-general is vowing to appeal the ruling. several hundred activists took to the streets in cuba to press for more gay rights. >> the country approved sex change operations, and banned workplace discrimination against lesbian and gay transsexual. gay marriage and civil unions are not allowed. among the participants - the

president's daughter. >> cuban society is making progress. each time there are more institutions and social groups that support and unite with us. we says resistance from people that do not understand the nature of the cuban revolutionary progs. under the previous president fidel castro parades were not allowed on the island. for some mexican mothers today is a day of anger. we go to mexico city for more. [ chants ] >> reporter: where are the children - demands this woman, marching in mexico city on mother's day. many travelled from all over the country to protest against the government for not doing enough to find their sons and daughters. >> sara's 31-year-old son disappeared last september. a successful chef and father, he planned to open a restaurant with his mother. after having dinner out, he

never came home. >> i don't have anything to celebrate, because i'm missing one of my kids. i miss him. i don't know where he is, authorities are not investigating. >> reporter: there are thousands of mothers searching for their disappeared children. the president promised that his government would help them find loved ones. these women feel frustrated, angry and let down. more than 26,000 people have gone missing in mexico since 2006. that is when the former government declared war on the drug cartel and violence exploded. after the president took office, he formed a special missing person's unit to help him vet the disappearances. it's been a year since the unit was created but sara is waiting for help.

investigators have not collected evidence, tracked down phone or email records or traced her son's bank accounts. >> every time a mass grave is discovered, she calls the forensic experts and gives them details about her son. >> i'm the detective. i'm looking for him alive or dead. i don't want to give up hope. i have to consider he may be dead. otherwise his body may be in a mass grave turning to dust and i'll never find him. >> not enough cases have been sold. they haven't created a database for the missing. there is lots of frustration. >> translation: it doesn't matter what we do, even if we kill ourselves. unless we find the children alive the mother will feel we are not doing enough. >> her wonders may sound offensive, but they are accurate. >> sara and the other mothers

say all they know is their children were taken alive, and that is how they want them back. >> a programming note. a special episode of "borderland" ends tomorrow night. up next - a superstar gayser shows you what power it takes to discover a 13 billion-year-old star. russian president vladimir putin takes to the ice, in his impressive showing at only amateur hockey game. vé

ation iing welcome back, astronomers made a discovery, a 13 billion-year-old star, one of the oldest found. the team that made the discovery

is in the chile desert. nick clark focuses on the 127 tonne telescope that made the incredible discovery possible. >> reporter: to explore the cosmos you need to capture star light that could have travelled billions of light years. to do that you need a clean mirror. it's made from 7 tonnes ever glass, with a surface film of aluminium, one ten thousandth of a millimetre thick. in six years time it will be overshadowed by a powerful telescope. it's been built 250 metres higher up, right over there. >> reporter: the pace of the astrological discovery appears deep in the universe. it knows no bounds. here, it has been blown apart and flattened in a quest to answer pressing questions like the nature of dark energy and

dark matter, the story of black holes, and how stars and galaxies evolve. >> this is how the telescope will look. it's approaching 1 billion in mirrors. it will produce images ten times faster than the hubble telescope. an incredible tomb. >> this will open up the skies for us and allow myself to go after dwarf gal amies that are -- galaxies that are swirling out and about, which we current ci have trouble -- currently have troubles. >> as the sun drops, they set out to film the light from the galactic center of the milky way. >> it's fascinating to combine

the research and images giving us information about the cosmic objects with the beautiful images that the sky gives us. >> this is a fairly nearby galaxy. >> fellow aft ron omer mark phillips is on the funt pore sup super-novemberi tracking back. >> we see the super-nova and the post-galaxies the way it was. it took 3 billion years to get here and you can mention the expansion of the universe at this point. it was discovered that the expansion university is accelerating now, instead of desell rating, which is what we expected. >> a few hours later, more incredible pictures of our home galaxy. >> we have a nice movie clip of the rising milky way, especially the galactic center.

you can see the structure and this is the spiral arm backlit by the galactic center where there's a lot of gases and staff. it's very bright. that is what makes it special in the southern hemisphere. >> another night's observations are over. more data, expect re and knowledge. bit by bit we build on our understanding of the universe and our place in it. finally - a different look at russian president vladimir putin. here we go. on skates, yes. he's wearing number 11 during the festival of ice hockey in sochi, an amateur game in the 9th hockey league that he formed three years ago. it was created to give businessmen that work in the day a chance to fulfil their dreams of playing saturday. if you are the president and created the league - how do you think he did - yes, scored six goals. how shocking. no one is going to stop the

president of russia, folks. looks like the crowd had fun though. >> thank you for joining us. i'm richelle carey. stay tuned. "consider this" is up next. thank you for your time. have a great night.