good evening, i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america. backing out of thursday's presidential debate. the reasons donald trump is giving for refusing to participate. also, there is no treatment for this virus. if you get infected, we can't give you a drug to cure you. a mosquito born zika virus is spreading. guidelines to avoid transmission. >> i promised the community at that time that i would find out. >> an investigation leads to the firing of six police officers after their involvement in a car chase that led to the shooting deaths of two suspects. >> and how the ban on commercial ivory trading failed to stop the

massacre of tens of thousands of elements every year. >> we begin with breaking news from oregon. several that occupied a national wildlife refuge are in custody. the fbi say five were arrested. authorities say there was a hoot out. group leader ayman bundy was among those rested. bundy and others seized the headquarters as part of a did dispute over public lands in the west. allen schauffler, who has been following the story joins us by phone. what can you tell us about the people involved in the shoot-out? >> well, this was something that happened about four this

afternoon, 4:20, west coast time. it looks like five people arrested in one incident. this is on highway 395, north of the town of burns, they were on their way to another nearby town, about 80 miles north, where they were going to give a presentation. oregon state control and federal bureau of investigation needed to stop the folks somehow. shots were fired. we don't know whether shoot-out is the right word to use, yet, at all. just reports that shots were fired, and one person that they did have reason to believe was subject to federal probable cause rest is deceased. we have, we belief. one dead. two more arrested in separate incidents in the town of burns. ammon bundy, the leader of the group was among those arrested.

he was slightly injured, receiving treatment. his brother also arrested. and the other names. brian, shawna and ryan gaen also arrested. that is five, in that one incident. joseph. was custody. and another gentlemen who we dealt with a lot who documented this whole thing, a citizen journalist was arrested. all facing a charge of conspiracy to impede officers of the united states. intimidation or threat. that's the official charge they face now. >> i imagine the concern is that there are strong passions about the cause of bundy and these other men, and what the reaction to this could be? >> absolutely.

certainly a concern. the federal bureau of investigation said he is out of the refuge. it was 40 miles or so from where the arrest happened. they are free to go and should leave. they don't have indications as to whether the folks are moving out. ammon bundy, ryan payne - they are folks that we know and who were dealt with, among the leadership of the group. exactly what that means for the rest of them. how much local command and control somebody else in the compound can exert on the group. we just don't know in this case. obviously a fluid situation. dmitri antilevski, one name that we are -- antonio, one name that we are not seeing is lavoy finican, who has been out front, a face of this movement. illegal occupation of buildings.

it is not named among those arrested. he is among people we expect to be in the presentation to citizens in another town. we have not heard what is happening to him. they will not release information about the person who died pending identification from the medical examiner. a lot of questions. >> thanks. >> now to presidential politics, and a run up to iowa caucuses. the front runner for the presidential nomination said he will not take part in the last debate. he'll skip thursday night's event on fox news after a spat between trump and the network, and margaret kelly. the billionaire is afraid to defend his record, and challenged trump to a 1-on-1 debate. the drama comes six days before the first presidential contest. we have more on the final days

of the race for iowa. >> as we creep closer to the iowa caucuses. six days away, we see two at the top of each race. donald trump and ted cruz. but there are other people running, and there's a lot at play in iowa. >> basic commonsense, live within your means. >> 7 stops with six days left. texas senator ted cruz is making a pitch to iowa was. on the republican side, iowa has been a virtual 2-man race between cruz and donald trump, with the two jostling for key endorsements. tuesday the texas senator picked up support from a favourite target of trump. there's not a candidate arriving for your support. reflecting it better, power fully nor consistently than the

next president of the united states senator ted cruz. >> backing up perry were pro-cruz super pack adds debuting in iowa. they slammed trump and tried to soften a backlash over the new york values remarks during the last debate. >> i lived in new york city. my views are different to iowa. >> it seemed aimed at winning back evangelical support. >> when donald trump banned... >> i am pro-choice in everywhere. >> for trump, cruz's strategy has the hallmarks of dispription. >> he is so nervous, such a mess, his polls have gone down. people realise you can't run for president. he was born in canada. >> any head way crews hopes to make with undecided eadvantage gellicals, with the

reendorsement may have been thwarted tuesday. trump picked up liberty university president falwell's endorsement. coming as a christian network video emerged revealing a meeting by cruz. if donald wins iowa, he has a substantial lead in new hampshire. if he won new hampshire, there's a chance he could be unstoppable and our nominee. as for the rest of the field, they gather in the hawkeye state one last time to make their case. with donald trump announcing he would not accept in a debate. it's looking like a 3-man show between cruz, dr ben carson and marco rubio. jed bush, chris christie and john kasich have virtually pulled out of iowa. as for the democrats, monday was

their chance for closing arguments. hillary clinton and bernie sanders faced off in iowa before the caucuses. the independent senator edged out hillary clinton. >> you will raise taxes to do this. >> yes, we will raise taxes. >> for clinton, it was a chance to push back at suggestions he's knew to economic conditions. >> i've been on the front lines of change and progress since i was your age. i've been fighting to give kids and women and the people that are left out and left behind the chance to make the most out of their own lives. >> reporter: tomorrow bernie sanders will go to washington to sit in the oval office with president obama, a meeting that hillary clinton had in december, and a meeting which sanders probably covets for its optics ahead of iowa.

>> the white house is getting geared up for an outbreak of the mosquito born zika virus. officials briefed the president on what is going done to respond to the disease. a young girl has been diagnosed. news broke that two tested positive. both travelled the country. the kim barnes arico case and the spread of the disease. >> the centers for disease control confirmed residence of the virgin and kim barnes arico tested positive. both travelled outside the u.s. zika is a relatively new virus, spread through mosquito bites. it appeared in the america said in 2014 and spread. they urged pregnant women or

women that may become pregnant to to travel to 24 destinations. when to take virus and do ultimate tree sounds. there's a hand of cases. the huge increase of zika in the north-eastern brazil and the rise of zika cases gives a lot of reason for concern, and the big task is to establish the link here. >> the world health organisation suspects a link between the virus and brazil and microself alley. so far the evidence is social. other countries with outbreaks have not reported cases of microcephali. >> in brazil workers fume kated rio de janeiro dome.

>> during the carnival, there'll be different groups of people. >> 18 new cases were confirmed of the zooegea virus. the majority are in the south-east of the island, and the victims are mostly elderly. >> unit airlines, say they will wave flight change fees for people that want to change trips to countries where the zika virus is prevalent. as more travellers come back to the u.s., there could be more cases. >> we'll have small, shall we say splurges or clusters. i'm confident that we will not have widespread zika virus. >> there is no treatment for this virus.

if you get infected. we can't cure you. the whole trick is to stay away from infected mosquitos. it may be more difficult. because officials spect the virus to spade to every county in north and south north america except chili. >> rick schneider calls on the government to provide medical for all young people affected by the water crisis. regardless of prior coverage or income level. major companies, including coca-cola, pepsi coe and wal-mart will donate a year's supply of water to children in flint six police officers involved in a fatal shooting lost their jobs. they were among those that fired 137 shots into a car.

killing two unarmed people. as richelle carey reports, an officer faced criminal charges and was acquitted. >> i promised the community at that time that i would find out. >> cleveland's public security director and former chief of police vowed he'd get to the bottom of a police chase ending in a barrage of gun fire. both unarmed occupants of this vehicle. >> 137 shots were fired, about 60 plus cars. went through two district. >> details of an internal investigation into the actions of police officers involved in the shooting, and announced the firing of six officers, including michael brelo, the only officer charged in the incident. he was acquitted of manslaughter last ma. may.

it led toe demonstrations. >> officer c climbs up on the trunk area. >> he was accused of standing on a police cruiser and firing 15 shots into the winfield of the car. officer c fires. as part of an investigation. it recreated a shooting incident. using trial testimony. >> officer d asks officer j to retrieve the information. officer jay refuses for the gun fire. >> another six have been suspended for their role in the pursuit. and the 13th will rer tire. it's not criminal and doesn't rise to levels firing anyone. >> the police union defended the actions of officers, and say their lives were threatened when they refused to heed warnings. >> we fired our gun. we have the right to defend ourselves and two home to our families. the police union is vowing to

appeal the dismissal the sheriff's department in orange county raised the reward for three men who broke out of gaol. officials are offering 200,000 for information leading to their capture. hundreds say the men may be holed up with friends and gang members. all three awaiting trial for violent nelonies. >> sri lanka is destroying tonnes of confiscated ivory. next, the fight to stop the poaching of elephants and whether event like this do any good. per cent per cent

>> we tend to band together,

so we have a voice. >> we're just surviving. it's really hard. yahoo is accused of encouraging internet cycling by allowing the sale of ivory on it internet net website. 12,000 was sold by yahoo japan. yahoo says it owns a third of the company. an online competition attracted more than a million signatures. on sri lanka the government is

cracking down. authorities destroy millions in elephants touch. >> this haul had been concealed among sacks of plastic waste, backed in a container moving through the port of colombo. >> to other reports. we had no way to have the information, unless it is downloaded. without difficulty. >> essentially, on the international market, ivory fetches as much as 3,000 a kilo, and one can imagine one and a half tonnes of ivory. in terms of the sri lankan authorities, they set up to driveway the ivory, the clergy had the blessings on the elephant. in different to what happened years ago. essentially asking that responsibility and custody of the tasks be travelled to his

crete air yacht. the -- secret air yacht. the government not encouraging the trade, and all 359 tusks were going through it over the course of the day. the resulting fragments that come out of the crusher will be weighed up. essentially bagged up and taken to an industrial incinerator. very much what the central team thinking behind this is there's no value for contraband, and that poaching and the international trade will not be encouraged joe walston is a former director for the asia programme at the wildlife conservation society. they join us from new york. jo, good to have you with us. kenya announced a bigger ivory burn, supposedly attended by

heads of state and major hollywood celebrities, do they have a purpose beyond generating attention to the plight of elephants? >> yes, they do. bringing the plight of evidence in and of itself is an important step. sometimes they are criticized for being symbolic. we say that they are symbolic. but that is important. it is symbolic of nations and worldwide community responding to a range of african nations for the first time standing up and saying we want the world to stop buying our ivory. the commitments by kenya and sri lanka are important. it's not also to be forgotten that by crushing and destroying ivory it prevents any of that ivory re-entering the market illegally due to corruption which we know is pervasive. >> could that backfire, that

reduces supply, couldn't that lead to higher prices encouraging poachers to kill elephants. the the encouragement to poaching is the ability to put illegal ivory on to the market, and gathering it in to sellers who are using the legal sale of ivory still to be able to mask the illegal trade. if, as is, like china, closing down the mark and our countries, all of the domestic markets that would prevent almost all ivory from being sold. as many as 100 elephants was killed. trading in ivory was mostly banned under the convention of international trade. why has it been so difficult to stop this?

>> it hasn't been difficult to stop it in the past. there were times when the ban resulted in a major recovery of elephants across africa. it was working successfully. there have been a number of illegal sales of ivory from the states to predominantly china and japan, and those legal one-off sales of ivory have allowed this marking of illegal trade to blossom. >> before we go, i want to question the case of yahoo japan, why did authorities allow it and why did yahoo allow it even if they don't have majority control of the affiliate. >> i can't talk about the affiliates, and i would point to amazon, ebay and others banned it. i would encourage whoever owns the company to not allow

advertising. they don't sell, but allow advertising. the key thing is as the elephants campaign stopping the killing and demand. that requires government legislation and community in civil society responses. >> it has to be attacked on different levels. if elephants are killed at these rates in the long run, they could become extinct. a pleasure to have you with us. thank you for taking the time a recognisable face of film and television died. abe bagota passed away, after spending decades as a stage actor. he was a gangster in the 1972 film "the god father", bringing him international fame and helped him land the role of sergeant phil fish in "barney

miller." people's magazine reported in 1972 that he died. he appeared on david lettererman and others to prove he was live and kicking. he'll be missed president barack obama promises to bring change. the latest move banning solitary confinement buildings teetering on the edge of the ocean in california.

storms fuelled by el nino left houses and apartment buildings in danger of falling into the ocean. this video shot from a drone shows the erosion. it has been hitting the coastline hard and causing damage daily. president obama is banning solidary confinement for juveniles in prison. the prisons announced the executive action in an op-ed and says the punishment could have long-term consequences. president obama set a 60 day limit on time spent in solidary, down from a full year. the f.a.a. says 300,000 people registered drones since the agency anticipated applications a month ago. anyone that operated a drone before then must register with the f.a.a. before february 19th

to keep flying legal. it's hoped it will cut down on abuse and the nuisance that drones can cause. i'm antonio mora, thank you for joining us. luis suarez is up next with "inside story". have a great night. >> they are highly prized. expensively courted voters. millennials will be the largest single group of eligible voters, 83 million strong. but these americans have underperformed even the long-term under performance of voters. and what's going to pull them off the sidelines? late to the party? it's the "inside story".