News Wrap: U.S. inflation moved up in July, ending a year of monthly declines

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• Ali Rogin:

  Ecuador's presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio moments before he was assassinated in broad daylight.

  (Gunshots)

• Ali Rogin:

  In the hours after the attack, police hunted for the assassins across Quito. They say one suspect died of his wounds in police custody after a firefight.

  Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso suggested this attack could be linked to organized crime and declared a state of emergency.

• Guillermo Lasso, Ecuadorian President (through interpreter):

  The armed forces from this moment are mobilized throughout the national territory to ensure the safety of citizens, the tranquility of the country, and the free and democratic elections of August 20, as planned.

• Ali Rogin:

  Villavicencio, a journalist-turned-politician, may not have been a front-runner in the polls, but he was one of the most vocal candidates on organized crime and its links to state corruption.

  On the campaign trail just days before he was killed, he said he wore a sweaty shirt, not a bulletproof vest. "Let the drug lords come," he said.

• Fernando Villavicencio, Slain Ecuadorian Presidential Candidate (through interpreter):

  I am not scared of them. I have spent 20 years taking risks in this country against these criminal structures. And, I repeat, I am not scared of them.

• Ali Rogin:

  Ecuador, a coastal country on the western edge of South America between Colombia and Peru, was relatively safe, but has seen an unprecedented spike in drug trafficking and gang violence led by foreign mafias in recent years.

  Villavicencio's assassination marks a shocking escalation, 10 days before the August 20 presidential vote.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Ali Rogin.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Fernando Villavicencio was 59 years old.

  Meantime, Ukraine's government has ordered nearly 12,000 civilians to leave the eastern part of the country, as Russian forces launch a new push. Authorities say 37 towns and villages in the Kupiansk district of the Kharkiv region are being cleared out, with fighting getting markedly worse. Russia had occupied Kupiansk until last September, when Ukraine recaptured it.

  The West African bloc ECOWAS announced today that it's activating a stand by force to restore democracy in Niger after a military coup there. But the group gave no details on when that might happen. ECOWAS members held a summit in Nigeria.

  The president of Nigeria, who chairs the bloc, urged diplomacy, but left the door open to military action.

• Bola Tinubu, Nigerian President:

  No option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Also today, the Associated Press reported that coup leaders in Niger have threatened to kill the ousted president if there's any military intervention.

  Back in this country, the CDC reports there were 49,500 suicides last year, the most ever recorded. That was up 3 percent from the year before. Older adults and white men had the highest rates. Suicide experts cite the availability of guns and higher rates of depression.

  And on Wall Street today, stocks managed a small advance after the inflation report. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 52 points to close at 35176. The Nasdaq rose 16 points. And the S&P 500 added a single point.

  And Virgin Galactic has joined the ranks of space tourist flights. A twin-fuselage carrier took the space plane aloft this morning from New Mexico, then released it. From there, the plane rocketed to the edge of space, with three passengers and an instructor, before gliding back to Earth after 15 minutes.

  Still to come on the "NewsHour": a new report details Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas secretly benefiting from a network of wealthy patrons; alcohol-related deaths rise at a faster rate among women than men, particularly for the elderly; Antarctic sea ice falls to a record low this year as a result of rising global temperatures; and we assess the economic juggernaut that is Taylor Swift's Eras Tour; plus much more.

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