region and al qaeda. gender bias, what it could mean to women in the tech industry. >> plus art illusion, we talk to a painter whose works are picture-perfect. the investigation into tuesday's plane crash in the french alps are focused on the co-pilot, authorities feel that ann andreas lubitz had mental illness. what he tried to conceal from his friends. we begin with dominic kane. >> a president pays his respects. as more information emerges about the co-pilot of the crashed plane hundreds of people at this church in the small town who is mourning 16 schoolchildren and two teachers as they were killed after a school trip to spain. >> they have lost the most precious thing to them, a child a loved one. i sat among the crowd and heard the sobbing of the people, and i wanted to mourn with them. >> people struggling to understand why andreas lubitz flew the plane into the mountain on purpose. he received a serious bout of depression for which he of he received treatment in 2009. shed new light on his mental state. >> translator: medical documents were confiscated pointing towards existing illness and corresponding treatment by doctors. the fact there were torn up sick notes among the things were found, even from the day of the crime, support the assumption that the deceased hid his condition from his employer and his professional colleagues. >> at the crash site in southern france they are still going through debris, trying to find human remains. if they do, they will taken away for dna analysis. identifying the relatives will be a slow process and then there's the question of accountability. >> translator: should it be the case that the colleague who signed off sick, we have to be very clear. someone with a sick note has no business being in a cockpit. he should have stayed home. i can't understand that. >> the families of some of the victims mostly from germany and spain have left their own tributes, near a spot where their loved ones died. dominic kane, al jazeera montabar. >> along with those circumstances, is a search for way forward especially how to deal with pilots with mental illness. pilots get regular medical exams but when it comes to mental health, the pilots themselves. lisa stark has the story. >> those systems rely on the truthfulness of the pilots themselves to tell others if they are facing problems that may make it difficult for them to handle their jobs. are with the latest revelation of co-pilot andreas lubitz, that a physician found him unfit to fly, airlines in the u.s. say pilots are extensively screened before they are hired and once on the job the faa requires commercial pilots to pass a medical exam once a year. or every six months if they are 40 or older. the exam includes questions about mental health. if the doctor suspects a problem he can call for psychological testing. but otherwise it is up for pilots to disclose any physical or mental problems and any medications they're taking. failing to do that can lead to fines of up to $250,000. still some, pilots may keep any problems under wraps and even if they are asked a series of probing psychological questions there is no guarantee that would predict future behavior. >> i don't think you can ever have 100% confidence that your psychological test is going to find every single unstable person. >> the faa has tried to make it easier for pilots to disclose problems. there are confidential problems to help pilots overcome alcohol or drug abuse depression and other issues, and return to the job. since 2010 pilots in the u.s. have been allowed to take antidepressants, the faa trying to remove any stigma and ensure pilots who need treatment are getting it. the germanwings tragedy may lead to a push for more mental health screening for cockpit crews but some in the industry are urging caution, saying however horrific this accident is, enhancing safety. >> i think what we need to do really is to wait to slow down to carefully assess what happened, to wait until all the facts are in and then look at what the true cause is and what the true change in procedure should be, in order to make flying as safe as possible. let's not rush to judgment. >> reporter: catastrophes like this have happened before but they are extremely rare. so difficult to understand and apparently to predict. the best check on pilots may be other crew members who may fly with them day in and day out and may notice something amiss. they can report that to the union or to the company and one pilot told me it is all done very quietly and confidentiality. john. >> lisa stark reporting. allen diehl is an aviation psychologist former ntsb investigator author of aviation science using one crash at a time. allen welcome. what is these patients go through as far as psychological testing? >> most of that is done 50 individual airline companies. i some that luf luft han da luft lufthansa last a very stringent screening process. i checked with the officials there about the kinds of screening procedures they use and they do get a battery of psychological tests. at least they did at that time, this is several years ago. i was surprised how well they were monitored and disciplined during that training. this is a first class airline and of course we know that germanwings was part of luft lufthansa. >> they get the testing in the beginning and things can come up in their lives that affect their mental health, so do they do any sort of testing throughout their career? >> i think it's sort of a one time thing in most airlines. but lisa brought up some very good points. there has been kind of a revolution actually, since the 1980s in this country and around the world there's a new type of training called crew resource management. it's been around for decades now. and that training empowers pilots to not only challenge authority figures like if they're questioning captain's captain's decisions, and the unions have been very good about dealing with pilots that look like they're having problems. if a pilot has an alcohol problem, for example many times other pilots will tell them, you better get into the faa amnesty program and very quickly or we're going to turn you in. and that requires the involvement of the unions, of the company and the faa psychiatrist, in washington. so those programs do exist john. >> so are they trained for a particular situation that might have been the one that happened this time, for a pilot let's say, that tries to down the plain because he wants to commit suicide if that was the case? >> well, you know, obviously pilots are not psychiatrists. one of the things that did come up the prosecutor said, the conversation, the recorded conversation from the voice recorder was very cordial. until the captain brought up the issue of planning to land at dusseldorf, i think it was at that point the first officer became his voice became very laconic. i don't know if we would expect the captain to recognize this man has got a problem. but of course the bigger issue was there anybody in the germanwings establishment whether it was fellow pilots, training officers or corporate personnel, that knew this guy was potentially dangerous and didn't report it? so i'm not saying the captain should have caught that change in speaking pattern. but they're all trained to look for this. >> yes that's -- those are some of the questions that everyone has tonight. all right allen diehl it's great to see you tonight. thanks for adding your comments. >> thanks john. u.s. military helped rescue two saudi pilots today who ejected from their f-15 fighter jets from the gulf of aden. and the word that egypt and saudi arabia have sent war ships to the coast and could be preparing to send in ground troops. another day of air strikes has not stopped the onslaught of houthi fighters. they've taken more territory in the south of yemen seizing the city of shakra, and they seem poised to take aden, the last stronghold of president hadi, who fled yemen earlier in the week. the air assaults have forced many in the capital city of sanaa, a houthi stronghold, to flees for safer ground. houthi fighters remain defiant. arab leaders are meeting for a summit the in egypt this weekend to talk about the situation. yemen's foreign minister says a peaceful solution is still possible. >> translator: there is always a chance for that. we have also stressed that dialogue is a necessity but the dialogue that is required is one that is under the auspices of the legitimacy of the president and the republic or not the coup or the militias that are seizing all state's abilities and organize everything for iran's takeover. >> on one side of the conflict is president hadi, the u.s. backed leader is receiving support from sunni allies like saudi arabia. on the other side are houthi shia rebels i linked to iran. >> the reason yemen is so important is historically it has not been a sectarian country and the iranian position which has grown in yemen over the past couple of weeks or months, is much stronger and much more of a threat to the sunni states in the region. >> iran says it is only providing humanitarian aid. its foreign minister in the middle of nuclear talks with the west have called for a stop to the fighting. >> we have condemned them, we believe they only cause loss of human life, everybody has to encourage dialogue and national reconciliation in yemen rather than making it more difficult for the yemenis to come together. >> mike license lyons is in our studio tonight, mike welcome. so let's just talk about this. we have two saudi jetstream go down today. the u.s. has rescued them. this is -- we've got boats coming up on the coast questions about whether there's going to be a ground war. i mean how significant is this effort growing and what could it become? >> yeah, the bad news, it's escalating. that's a problem i thought perhaps maybe just a couple of days with saudi bombing you would see a change in the ground but it's not. looks like the houthis are digging in, not giving up ground and can you see the situation escalate especially on the ground. i counted over 250 available aircraft of this coalition put together. if they decide to turn it into a ground war it is going to be catastrophic. >> how unusual is it for these countries to get together and put together this kind of effort? >> very unusual and it is for one four-letter word and that's iran. classic proxy war something we thought we would see when we had the who poles when we had the united states and former soif soviet union. the concern is iran, the hegelgemon in the area. >> iran and nuclear weapons but this group of countries is just as concerned or almost as concerned it sounds like, right? >> they'll mobilize if they see saudi arabia is really threatened. we can discuss whether it's existential for not. but this creates lots of problems for saudi arabia. >> what is the concern for this moving forward? what's the united states biggest fear for an outcome here? >> let's say the houthis end up winning, controlling, first of all there's going to be destruction, casualties, refugees, death and destruction number one the world should not stand by and see that happening. number 2 if this becomes a shia stronghold and an iranian satellite, they are going to do whatever is happening at yemen similar to what pakistan does to afghanistan. lots of different reasons long time providing ministerial support, we won't put troops on the ground or anything like that but we'll do whatever we can to support saudi arabia. >> good to see you mike. there are more than two sides in the war in yemen also a human factor. civilians caught in the cross fire and asylum speakers living in the area of sanaa airport. all their belongings in plastic bags. relief efforts for those in yemen are being lamb period by hampered by the conflict. men women and children are within the borders. some 365,000 are from yemen hundreds of thousands of others are refugees from somalia ethiopia and iraq. after two days of u.s. led air strikes, turn on to the i.s.i.l. held city. prompted several shia groups to pull out of the coalition. the pentagon meanwhile says it welcomes their departure. coming up on this broadcast on reasonable force an alabama police officer now charged after severely injuring an indian tourist. plus. >> it's hard to recognize people after 40 years of incarceration. >> how one man will restart his life at 70. . >> tonight, amanda knox is free since 2007. the italian supreme court overturned the conviction of nox andknox and her boyfriend. in 2011 they were acquitted on appeal. two years later she was convicted again in absentia. today's ruling overturns that and finally puts an end to her case. a federal grand jury has indicted a floifer for using police officer for using undue force. >> violateed sarash patel's civil rights. parker says he's prepared to fight those charges. >> to this day sareshbi patel is recovering. dash cam video on february 6th. >> stand up, stand up. >> patel only began walking with the aid of a walker days ago. where officer parker has now been indicted buy federal grand jury. >> this is -- by a federal grand jury. >> this is just an indictment, not a finding of guilt. >> parker violated patel's civil rights, it is alleged by his take down. he was out for a walk when he was confronted by make are parker and another officer. both officers responded to a call, of someone walking around the neighborhood. >> he is a skinny black guy. >> i told him to stop, he stopped and he was telling them, no english indian. >> the language barrier seemed to cause confusion for the alabama officers. >> he don't speak a lick of english. kept trying to pat him down but he walked away from me. >> the officer warned him he would put him to the ground if he didn't cooperate. seconds later. >> stand up, go. >> you're all right. >> stand up, stand up. >> parker is appealing his firing. and in a statement his attorney says the former officer believes he did not violate the law and will plead not guilty. but the u.s. attorney disagrees. >> this is a denial of someone's constitutional rights by someone acting under the color of law in this case a police officer. >> parker also faces state assault charges and was sued by patel in civil court. john. >> morgan, thank you. members of sigma alpha epsilon fraternity apparently learned a racist chant on a cruise with their national leaders. that is a conclusion after an internal investigation. the chant concludes references tosecludes references to black -- includes references to blacks. the justice department has filed civil rights charges against the university of mississippi, a student there accused of hanging a noose on a campus statue of james meredith. he was denied entrance twice because of his race. attorney general eric holder called the incident shameful ignorant and an attempt to intimidate black students. north carolina was first in the nation to set up a state run innocence project. the commission helicopter exonerate eight people, joseph sledge is one. he spent nearly 40 years in prison for two murders he didn't commit. new dna evidence helped set him free. sledge is 70 years old and he tells robert ray adjusting to freedom is not easy. [ cheering ] >> reporter: two months ago joe sledge became the eighth person to be exonerated after north carolina set up the incidence project. the first state organized exoneration project of its kind. >> life should be lived to its fullest. >> today joe is coping with the loss of time and reflecting on his past. >> joe, it is hard for me to understand what it's like. what's it like? >> it's like a shocker. every day you're waking up, you're wondering what you going to do, how you going to think? who you going to meet? because all the folks i've met all the folks i've known can a lot of them dead, a lot of them still living. and it's hard to recognize people after 40 years of incarceration. >> the world that joe has stepped back into is barely recognizable. >> the time last changed technology, science, that's a big plus for the civilization, i'm slow. i got a lot of catching up to do. >> yes, sir. good old guy. >> reporter: since he left prison joe has been living here with his younger brother edward in his modest home near downtown savannah. >> he's my brother and the part i know, i'm glad to see him he make me feel good i got company. >> to his own admission joe sledge was no saint before the wrongful commission of the murders. just the day before the two women were found stabbed to death in a nearby town, joe escaped from a prison work camp where he was serving two years for larceny. now the north carolina district attorney has apologized. meanwhile, joe is awaiting $250,000 in recompense. for wrongful incarceration. >> is this a happy time for you or sad time? >> this is a happy time, because in reason, it's great to be free. you know, you have to lay in prison spend the rest of your life in prison and then die. you know, the better part is, being in the world and living the life to the fullest. >> reporter: while joe soaks in peace and fishes with his brother almost every morning he has bigger plans soon he will work with youth and guide them to a life that joe only now is discovering. robert ray, al jazeera savannah georgia. >> coming up the biggest sexual bias case in the world's history. how bad the ice melt is and the consequences. >> hi everyone, this is al jazeera america i'm john siegenthaler. a high profile gender discrimination case in silicon valley and the impact on women in technology. religious freedom or legalized discrimination. the controversial new law in indiana, one of many across the country. rising tide. new research suggests antarctic ice is melting faster than scientists thought. the impact could reach across the globe. plus, true to life. hyper-real paintings that fool the eye. how the artist does it. >> the jury last reached a decision on what could be a landmark gender bias case for the technology agency. the jury found the company did not discriminate. melissa chan is inning silicon valley. >> it is not because she was a woman that powell didn't get promoted. at the end of this verdict ellen powell did come out and speak omedia, this is what she had to say. >> i'm grateful for my legal team and to everyone around the world, male and female, who have reached out to express support in so many different ways. and to tell me that my story is their story too. and they're gratefulness at me for telling this stoirt this story. i have told my story and thousands of people have heard it. if i've leveled the playing field or the women and minorities in venture capital then the effort was worth i.t. >> reporter: it is rare that we see a gender discrimination case go all the way in front of the jury. ellen pao must have seemed particularly aggrieved. jurors do not agree with the women plaintiffs, john. >> so in spite of this verdict is there expected to be any sort of change in hiring practices in silicon valley? >> well, john, you can well imagine that the hr departments in silicon valley tech companies and of course venture capital firms are rethinking their hiring policies and how they promote employees and to have that discussion with employees about gender discrimination. here is what one specialist in employment law had to say. >> every individual case can only do so much and the pace of progress has been very slow in this world. but whether it's the public works of a book like "lean in" which got a lot of attention in silicon valley or a kind of case like this with a large price tag associated with it, it's going to cause companies to take a hard he look. >> reporter: and i think it's really important to point out that regardless, there is gender imbalance in the numbers. on the engineering side 20% of engineers are women in sloven john, so there's a -- silicon valley john evenly though there is going to be change. we're not going to see it for many many years. john. >> thank you. rachel sclar, she is in our studio again tonight. hi rachel. what's your reaction? >> i was persuade persuade gob-smacked i have to say. for anyone who followed that even cursorily there were significant issues, significant ratio issue with the treatment of women and men in vc, in silicon valley and at kliner-perkins. >> what was so clear to you? >> it was the cumulative effect of all the little thing woman kill the buzz anecdote, the fact that ellen pao had complained about being told to sit at the perimeter of the conference room rather than the tabling that was perceived to be entitled rather than a perfectly loiblg perfectly logical request. she recruited someone who was then promoted her. the fact that she was by turns told she was too aggressive but then didn't speak up enough. these are very familiar paradigms for women in male dominated environments. >> there could be some men who could push back and say that could happen to men too. >> of course it could happen to men too. and yet when you look you take a step back and you look at all the numbers and you look at the fact that silicon valley vc firms are overwhelmingly white and male, and -- >> why is that? >> i mean ask them. ask them who they refer who they hire, who they prefer to work with. the whole notion of pattern-matching being able to say that well this person who looks like x was successful so then we'll look for someone else who looks like x and is successful. >> with the argument that there are not enough female engineers the argument that there are not enough women who are experienced in venture capital to do that work. >> those two ven diagrams do not necessarily overlap. >> right. >> if all of those male vcs had been engineers that would be a different thing. you get to it through a variety of pathways, law and business, undergraduate comp sci. >> sometimes if you are famous right? >> sure. if there aren't enough women who are engineers that's a disingenuous argument. >> there are six women on this jury. what happened, why didn't the women -- >> what -- >> what -- there has been some argument that women who are on juries on cases like this don't give -- they don't give women a benefit of the doubt. they look at just like they look at any other -- the fact in the case and they rule. they don't give special treatment to women. >> i don't think the purpose is to get special treatment. i can't comment on what's happened inside the jury room. >> i know. >> but i can look at the framework. first of all a gender discrimination case is difficult to make, because in the absence of i'm not promoting you woman because you oar woman you have to base what you see on what things were said. we're still in the place where it's taking some time to be able to establish these patterns and say like this is a societal problem. we are pushing back against defaults that tend overwhelmingly to favor like you know the white the male, the straight, the sort of is the -- what is considered quote unquote norm, obviously not the norm, but what has been considered the default. this is a status quo and any time you push back against status quo there is some resistance. i will say that one of the things that makes it so difficult in cases like these is the notion of who gets to be a quote unquote perfect victim. ellen pao had a relationship with someone in the firm. she didn't have the perfectly unblemished stellar record. that shouldn't be the standard. no one has a perfectly unblemished stellar record. is this woman situated similarly to a man? you will see that yes there is different treatment. >> rachel, thank you for being here, we'll talk about this again. >> i have no doubt. >> california lieutenant governor gavin newsom. i talked to him before the verdict came down. >> do you think silicon valley has a sexism problem? a problem with women? >> it's interesting. literally here we've had forums on this office, on this very topic. my wife who is prolific on the issue of women and girls misrepresentation ogoes to the core of this issue. certainly it is a big parts of it. parts of it, we are not educating people women and girls and not encouraging them to the workforce at the scales we need to. two, boards of directors are dominantly men if not white dominantly men. nordic countries require a minimum representation of women you see more aggressive efforts in more parts of the world where people are more aggressive in terms of gender equality. not particularly silicon valley. >> what do you think it takes for tech titans to get message? >> we are getting there, this is a topic of conversation all the time out here. people are focused on it, people are talking about it more and more and you're seeing some change, you're seeing some acknowledgment but it's going to take some time to get in. first time we saw transparency for the first time google to their benefit said look how badly we are doing. they were self-critical other companies followed. at least that's the first part, to acknowledge the challenge and begin to address it. >> what do you think of the ellen pao lawsuit? >> i don't know enough about it. >> we're about to get a verdict. >> i don't know enough about it. >> do you think a lawsuit was filed like this that some tech companies may be less likely to hire women? >> we broadly followed it but it's not part of the dinner conversations that i'm hearing out here in terms of being potentially a backlash. i don't personally sense that. but others may disagree. >> we will talk more to the lieutenant governor of california, hear what he has to say about a number of different issues next week. all right. indiana governor mike pence has signed a controversy bill into law. practice of religion. indiana is the 12th such state of this kind. opponents say it could lead to legalized bigotry. jonathan betz is here to explain. jonathan. >> john, a lot of people were hoping the governor would veto this bill, it didn't happen. critics say it's opening dangerous doors that could allow open discrimination. >> a long and heatdebate ended quietly in indiana. crowned bysurrounded by supporters, the governor signed it into law. a move spiritual leaders hailed. >> this bill is not about discrimination. and if i thought it was about discrimination would i have vetoed it. >> reporter: but that's exactly what many are calling it it. openly discriminate against gays and lesbians. >> i said openly on the house if this is isn't about discrimination prove it. they haven't proved it. >> tarnish its destination for supports. indiana is hosting the final four next week. saying we will work diligently to ensure student-athletes competing in and visitors attending next week's final four in indianapolis are not impacted negatively by this bill. and a computer company says it would no longer send employees or customers to indiana. a tweeting outrage saying he doesn't want his staff traveling to indiana to face discrimination. >> indianapolis leaders have been very concerned about this law, they worry it could force awayingaway everything from the nfl combine, to the disciples of christ said they which tail their 8,000 person convention to another state. >> leadership in congress. senate democratic leader harry reid says he will not run for reelection next year. libby casey reports. >> we've got to be more concerned about the senate, the state of nevada than us. as a result of that i'm not going to run for reelection. >> a big announcement by one of the biggest powers over social media, harry reid rose to the most powerful man in the u.s. senate becoming majority leader in 2005. reid lost that post when republicans took over. >> these bruises i have on my face, on my eye. >> a serious exercise equipment accident last january. he's making a political calculation. >> we have to make sure that the democrats take control of the senate again and i feel it is inappropriate for me to soak up all those resources on me, when i can be devoting those resources to the caucus and that's what i intend to do. >> targeting reid for a big election fight in 2016. but the 75-year-old says his work isn't over yet and has a direct message for his republican counterparts in the senate. >> my friend senator mcconnell, don't be too elated. i'm going to be here for 22 months and you know what i'm going to be doing the same things as i've done when i came to the senate. >> his distinctive grit nevertheless saw him through many challenges. they continue to make him a formidable opponent today. many battles including the president's signature health care law. >> that is so much of what the this president has accomplished in congress, particularly in his first two years of conscious could not have been possible without the skilled leadership of harry reid. >> democrats are already looking for who will fill reid's shoes. he is looking to chuck schumer. . elizabeth, allibby casey, al jazeera. focusing on land based ice sheets in antarctica, melting much faster than previously thought. our science and technology editor jacob ward is in san francisco with that jake. >> the study focuses as you say on these ice shelves the edge of larger glaciers, acting as a door stop and holding back these glaciers. as they go so goes the rest of antarctica. western tarveghta antarctica is seeing the greatest amount of thawing. the biggest pine island and twates are draining extremely fast. red fastest blue slower and green the slowest. they form what are called ice shelves, floating extensions of the ice that helped to hold back the glaciers. trouble is, scientists have determined that the ice shelves here have been melting 70% faster in the last decades than they were before. the speed of the flow of the ocean is increasing every year. scientists say that the smith glacier one of the smallest in this region is changing fastest and it's a good way of understanding why these scientists are so worried. not only is the glacier itself melting, the bounding line the place where the glacier is firmly attached to rock, is melting away and moving inland. here is where the bounding line looked like in 1996. now check out what it looked like in 2011, just five years later. the bounding line has moved 35 kilometers or 21 miles inland. and there is the source of even greater loorm. ifalarm. if you peel away the ice layer and look at the topography of the area you can see it's a relatively flat place the subglacial valueys valleys of this area are making this easier. enough frozen water to raise worldwide sea levels by 11 feet, the smallest of the ice shelves could be entirely melted in just 100 years and these are the moss conservative estimates. these global sea level rise, to put that into context here in the united states across the country about 5 million people or 2.6 million homes live within four feet of the high tide mark. all of those people would lose their homes when this melts. they're talking about there in a couple of centuries from now but this compounded by all the melting we're seeing in other parts of antarctica, all that has scientists extremely worried. >> jake thank you. >> thank you. >> two russian cosmonauts are on their way to the international space station. going to spend 12 months on board the international space station. nasa wants to study how the body reacts to long periods in space to get ready for possible trips to mars. kelly'skelly's identical twin will take part in experiments on earth. the space station has served as an international model for cooperation. tom arkman has more. >> one of the world's greatest engineering achievements thanks to $100 billion, more than 140 rocket and shuttle launches and 180 space walks. bigger than an american football field the international space station equals the weight of more than 300 cars and orbits the earth at 300 miles per second hundreds of medical plant and physics experiments but for nasa it's become a stepping-stone for stroants to astronauts to mars. >> make no mistake this will help our journey to mars. >> the station's original grand design. >> the element that survived throughout it all was to facilitate human exploration further in space. >> the iss was supposed to be shut down by 2020 but barack obama has committed to its operation through 2024. yet a government audit has raised questions about that objective. pointing to nasa's limited capacity to transport and solar panels wearing out sooner that happen expected. funding has been running sort and international partners have been slow to commit. private american companies have begun to deliver cargoes and are due to begin taxiing astronauts by 2017, russian officials claim their country is getting the short end of the station's commercial stick. >> translator: they're saying we want to create problems for russian rocket space industry. >> translator: the americans have been attempting to cause as much damage as possible to development of russian space. >> reporter: later this year a new russian cosmodrome is due to be developed. >> not many are make much profit in space these days and building a separate space station would be an attractive idea but a huge investment of funds as well. >> the center piece of space exploration will remain that hug lego set some 300 kilometers above earth. tom ackerman, al jazeera washington. tomorrow voters in nigeria are going to the polls a part of great instability in the country in large part due to boko haram and attempts to stop them.randall pinkston is here. randall. >> the security will be heavy because of ongoing threats from boko haram. the two leading candidates for president, the incumbent goodluck jonathan and mohamedu bahari. coming up next, we'll put these stories into context. what's at stake 183 million people fighting a violent rebel group. john. >> coming up next on this broadcast, paintings so realistic they look like photos. the hyper-realism of robert estes. plp al jazeera america. >> tonight on al jazeera america, the work of robert estes, his work is so real viewers often mistake it for photographs. jess kay may is the co-curator at the portland museum of art. >> richard estes is an active painter for going on just over 60 years now. he is the painter that ask a foremost photo-realist. a style that emerged between 1967 and 1968 where a small group of american photographers turned their attention towards using their photographs as the basis of making paintings. they created this hyper-real image of american life. throughout his career he has used his own photographs as a source material for these extraordinarily detailed just minutely rendered paintings. trying to guess or imagine how many bricks are in a painting because in many cases the numbers must be in the thousands. richard is known for painting particularly new york city streetscapes. he painted new york as a quiet empty sort of gorgeous place a contrast that many have in the city, the issue of quiet in particular. as all artists, he has a painting called candy store. and it is an unbelievably wonderful painting. and the entire surface of the painting is a reflective plate glass window behind which is the stuff of a candy store. so you get this great sense of this kind of american moment in which all kinds of candies are on offer. this is all painted. one thinks when i describe it that i'm talking about a photograph but i'm not. i'm talking about a painting in which plate glass is physically visible. i can say in terms of this sort of matter of how you translate an image from a photograph to a painted surface a lot of people assume that richard actually projects his photographs and then draws to the projection. but this is actually not the case. he literally looks at the photographs, memorizes its lines and then translates the lines to the canvas. he starts with the broad structure and goes to the details. that allows him to change some of the details. he might compress an image such that 180 degrees appears to take up a smaller amount of space on a canvas. he takes a number of artistic liberties and he had that basic insight that photographs could be interesting kind of subject matter for his paintings. and beginning in 1967, continuing literally to the present day that's been how he's spent his time and how he has created an artistic legacy. >> you can see more of richard's paintings at the museum of arts and photographs in new york. this picture of a penny worth then a cent. it sold at auction today for guess what, $1 million. i'm john siegenthaler. news continues with randall pinkston and emerald garda after this. the bombing campaign goes on. >> the operation itself, has the main objective is to protect the government in aden. >> as the air strikes continues against the houthis. the air strikes the iraqi army says it's ready to capture tikrit. police power