Forward and shot him in the head. His death was confirmed on social media by current president guillermo lasso. Mr lasso vowed that this crime will not go unpunished. He called for an an urgent meeting of his top officials to address the killing. The countrys attorney general� s office said on social media that the suspect in the attack had died from injuries sustained in a shoot out with police. Ecuador� s election is scheduled to take place on august 20th. Live now to samantha schmidt, Washington PostBogota Bureau chief. What is the latest you are learning about this attack . This is a really abrasive assassination that is stunning ecuador. It is unprecedented in this country which is a historically peaceful country that has recently begins doomed by Drug Trafficking and violence, in the aftermath of this attack two other president ial candidates said they are suspending their campaigns. In response to this, to the security threats, but also to respect this event and the president is meeting with all of the Security Cabinet right now and trying to decide what comes next. Whether he will call for a nationwide state of exception, it is still unclear, we are seeing reports from Mr Villavicencios campaign, the Campaign Offices in quito are also under attack by armed men. Clearly this is still ongoing and developing incident, that is shaking this country. A, incident, that is shaking this count. � ,. Incident, that is shaking this count. �. , incident, that is shaking this count. �. ,. , country. A brazen attack, do we know anymore country. A brazen attack, do we know anymore about country. A brazen attack, do we know anymore about the country. A brazen attack, do we i know anymore about the suspect . We do not have much information about the suspect, we just know that at least one of the suspected gunman was shot entertained by authorities at the scene and dialled while in police custody. What we do know is Mr Villavicencio had received threats as recently as earlier this month, and some of the threats came from one of the threats came from one of the most powerful Drug Trafficking groups in ecuador. It is unclear if that had anything to do with the killing but he had been very vocal about these Death Threats against him. And he said he was not afraid to confront these groups and vowed to combat Drug Trafficking if elected president. The president has said on twitter, Organized Crime has gone too far, but the full weight of the law will be applied to them. How much of an issue is Organized Crime in ecuador . This really is the issue in ecuador right now, this country was relatively peaceful until a few years ago, but being located between the two biggest cocaine producing nations in the world, colombia and peru, ecuador is really become a crucial Transit Point for cocaine going to the us and europe. And an influx of mexican cartels, as well as Albanian Mafia working with local gangs are sent Drug Trafficking and violence spiralling out of control. We have seen record homicides, record Drug Trafficking, terrible levels of terran cities that previously had never seen this kind of violence, and just weeks ago the mayor of the city of Marterer A Port City was assassinated as well so we are seeing many of these threats been targeted to politicians in particular. I been targeted to politicians in particular particular. I know it is difficult particular. I know it is difficult to particular. I know it is difficult to assess particular. I know it is| difficult to assess right particular. I know it is difficult to assess right now. As the country is reeling from what has happened. Are there any indications as to what this might mean for the Upcoming Elections . We might mean for the Upcoming Elections . Might mean for the Upcoming Elections . ~. ,. ,. , elections . We already have two candidates elections . We already have two candidates who elections . We already have two candidates who have elections . We already have two candidates who have said elections . We already have two candidates who have said they i candidates who have said they are suspending their campaigns, it is unclear whether others well as well, we know the Electoral Council is meeting on the Security Meeting with the president tonight, we will see what they decide copy its possible this will become a very militarised election with a Security Forces trying to take control of the country. That is all still to be determined and what we do know is it will be a very tense and probably unprecedented election in ecuador and its recent history. In ecuador and its recent history in ecuador and its recent histo. , ,. , history. Undoubtably well and we know seven history. Undoubtably well and we know seven of history. Undoubtably well and we know seven of the history. Undoubtably well and we know seven of the eight i we know seven of the eight president ial candidates including Mr Villavicencio were under police protection, could we see a situation where they could potentially be risks to other candidates . Definitely, we see as other candidates . Definitely, we see as you other candidates . Definitely, we see as you mentioned other candidates . Definitely, l we see as you mentioned they were all under intense security precautions. And one of the things two candidates who have said they are suspending their campaigns steady needs to be a National Discussion about what this means and what comes near to make sure to protect political candidates. This really is a huge threat to democracy if it is having a Chilling Effect to the remaining candidates. Cement thing schmidt, remaining candidates. Cement thing schmidt, washington remaining candidates. Cement. Thing schmidt, Washington PostBogota Bureau chief, thank you for being with us. Cement fishermen. Wildfires are raging across the us state of hawaii. Officials there say that at least six people have died and many are injured, with some in a critical condition. These are the scenes out of maui and the big island. The Historic Town of lahaina was one of the hardest hit, with reports that its now mostly reduced to ash. Crews there and across the islands are engaged in Search And Rescue, with evacuations under way for more than 13,000 people. But as residents try to escape, some are finding that many of the major roads are blocked and too dangerous to use. Lieutenant governor sylvia luke issued an emergency proclamation, saying officials are working day and night to contain the fires. Intense winds from Hurricane Dora south of hawaii are helping the fires quickly spread. Crews are tackling wildfires across multiple sites, but the winds have grounded firefighting helicopters. The Us Coast Guard says it rescued 12 people who jumped into the ocean to escape the fast moving flames. Thousands are facing Power Outages and Mobile Phone Service is down across maui. Hawaiis Lieutenant Governor says shelters are overrun and resources are stretched thin. Meanwhile, us President Biden has ordered all available federal assets in hawaii to help with the response, including providing us marine Black Hawk Helicopters to fight fires on the big island. The Department Of Transportation is working to evacuate tourists from maui by air, and the Department Of The Interior and Department Of Agriculture are ready to assist in post Fire Recovery efforts. The president also urged all residents to follow evacuation orders. A short time ago, i spoke with adam weintraub, a spokesperson for hawaiis Emergency Management agency in honolulu. Adam, thank you so much for taking the time during what must be a very stressful situation. Just to begin with, if you could bring us up to date with what people are seeing on the ground. From what we have understood from our contacts on maui and on the big island, we have confirmed six fatalities as a result of the wildfires, as well as about a0 injuries, some of whom were airlifted to hospitals in honolulu, others whom were treated on maui at the hospitals there. It looks like there is widespread damage. The fire risk continues because we do continue to have high winds and low humidity here, and the fire control activities are still under way. The state governor sylvia luke said in a briefing, we have shelters that are overrun, we have resources being taxed, we are doing whatever we can. How stretched are authorities right now . What do they need . At the moment, we know that there are more than 2,100 people in five shelters on maui overnight. There were about 2,000 visitors who arrived at the airport yesterday. We anticipate that in order to free up space to accommodate the folks who live in the community that have experienced fire damage, we will need to evacuate about 4000 people from maui. This morning, our office, working with the 0ahu Department of Emergency Management, the state Department Of Transportation and the American Red Cross began making arrangements to set up a travel Assistance Centre which will be at the Honolulu Convention center and we expect that will be a Clearing House where folks who either work in hotels and have to evacuate, arrived on maui and were unable to get to their hotels, or who may live in areas they are unable to return to until they have been secured, to make sure that the fire is fully out, and that we have completed our Search And Rescue operation, that they can be placed either in hotels on other islands, in temporary shelters or we can assist them to return to other destinations. Our partners in the airlines have added Additional Service and made some accommodations to bring in extra crews so that they can assist with that effort. It must be a terrifying situation. Youve mentioned some of those high winds which have been further fanning the flames. I know that in some places power has been knocked out. You are there in honolulu. I mean, are people able to get to you, who need to evacuate . How difficult is it actually evacuating people, and will people be able to get on time . Well, fortunately here on oahu, we had scattered effects. There were Power Outages, there were traffic disruptions. The neighbour islands, including maui, have got a more limited Transportation System and there were significant obstacles to accessing some of the areas that needed help. The weather did not help with that. It is only this morning that we have been able to confirm that the firefighters in maui have been able to get aerial support. It was too windy yesterday to put the helicopters in the area to do aerial water drops. So, i know there was a lot of confusion, a lot of panic as people try to identify what was going on, and a lot of First Responders were stretched very thin yesterday on maui. Were still trying to assess a full picture of what happened because some of the communications on maui also went down. Were working with our federal partners to bring in additional resources, both for communications and with boots on the ground to help bring that situation under control. Of course, the fires are still burning. What do you anticipate happening in the coming days . What are you preparing for . Fortunately, our partners at the National Weather service tell us that we should see the high winds start to reduce as we get into tonight and overnight we should return to a more normal trade wind pattern. Unfortunately we are not seeing a lot of evidence of more rain showers in the forecast. The low pressure System Associated with Hurricane Dora drove up our normal trade winds which are usually in the 10 20 miles an hour range, Up To 30 A0mph and some areas recorded gusts of as much as 80mph and that combined with the very dry fuels from the dry season here in hawaii, created a tinderbox and it did not take much to spark these wildfires. We have seen these kind of wildfires in california, weve seen them in the west coast become ever more present. Is that something that hawaii is now banking on having to face more wildfires like this in the future . We know that there is research that suggests that when you put Additional Energy into the climate system, it means your High Energy Events become more powerful, it means dries are dryer, that storms are wetter. We are concerned that we may see some changes in the storm tracks that we have typically experienced here. Were not sure if this is a normal seasonal variation or if this is part of a larger pattern, but clearly the extremes of climate are being felt here in the pacific. Adam weintraub from the hawaiian Emergency Management agency, thanks for taking the time to be with us. Thank you. Around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. Lets take a look at some other stories making news. Un secretary general Antonio Guterres says he is concerned about the reported deplorable Living Conditions of nigers president Mohamed Bazoum and his family who have been held in arbitrary detention following the Military Takeover of their country. Reports say that the president is living without electricity, water, food or medicine. The secretary general is calling for the unconditional release and reinstatement of the head of state. American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were freed on wednesday nearly two weeks after they were kidnapped in haitis capital. Ms dorsainvil was working for a Christian Relief organisation when she and her daughter were taken. The Us State Department says it remains unclear who kidnapped the pair and why. Heavy rains on wednesday caused a norwegian dam to partially collapse, causing widespread flooding. More than 3,000 people have been evacuated as rivers in the country swell to their highest levels in 50 years. A power plant on the glomma river was submerged by the waters was also rendered inoperable. Youre live with bbc news. Its been nine years since 18 year old Michael Brown was fatally shot by a Police Officer while walking down the street with a friend in ferguson, missouri. Browns death sparked weeks of protests and marked the beginnings of the black lives matter movement. His family continues to call for accountability after a grand jury. Saint louis prosecutors and the Usjustice Department all declined to bring charges against the officer who killed brown. Earlier, i spoke with justin hansford, a law professor whos representing Michael Browns family and the family of rekia boyd, a 22 year old unarmed black woman who was also killed by police. Hansford is trying to bring their cases before an International Court of law. Justin hansford, thank you so much forjoining us here on the bbc. Today, as you know, is the ninth anniversary of the killing of Michael Brown. What are your thoughts on this day with regards to Michael Brown and also how Black Americans in this country encounter police, encounter the criminaljustice system well, first thanks for having me. I think today, nine years after mike brown was killed, we have most reflect on. In my view, the uprising of 2020, after the killing of george floyd, was in many respects something that builds on the response to the killing of mike brown in 2014, so the organising, the creation of hashtags, the use of twitter to spread the message across the country and across the world, activists on the grounds leading protests and, ultimately, Pushing For Policy Change all of that really began in earnest in 2014 on august 9. So i think that legacy is something we can reflect on as a meaningful, enduring legacy of this day nine years ago. Well, nine years on, you are now representing the families of both Michael Brown and also rekia boyd who have turned to International Law in a bid for accountability. Why did they do that . Well, we began this process actually even back in 2014 with the understanding that oftentimes when you are appealing for justice from the same people who created the injustice in the first place, you are likely to run into a dead end. So we said that we are going transcend whats happening locally, even nationally, and take our case to the global forum as part of our acknowledge of our ancestors, people like malcolm x and others have called for this approach for many years. Some people who have tried to do it, including randall robinson, some other African American lawyers who are my heroes, so for me, it was an honour and a privilege to be able to, nine years later, continue the tradition and we let the entire world know we are not going to give up ourfight forjustice. And through that mechanism, that legal trajectory for the families, what would accountability look like for them . For the families, oftentimes there is a case to reopen the case, for both these cases, the mike brown case and the rekia boyd case, these Police Officers were not held accountable, and there is a call for accountability, but also, both families have, over the past nine years, experience a number of Mental Health issues that are inevitable when someone who is part of yourfamily is killed by the government and you dont have accurate redress. So theres a call for the provision of Mental Health services to be given to these families, oftentimes by the government, so that they can begin to put their life back together and move forward to try to make sure that we have not only accountability, but also, healing that takes place in these communities. In the years since the killing of Michael Brown, we have seen the killing of brianna taylor, george floyd, you have touched on protest rocks right across the world, we have had conversations, yet at the same time in this country Black Americans are killed by police at more than twice the rate of white americans. Is anything changing . Over the past nine years, i have to sasy that we have not seen the major change when it comes to the rate of violence and killing against Black Americans. Remember, it is not only killing, but everyday violence that is an epidemic. So i can imagine one yearfrom now when we have a ten year anniversary, there is going to be a great deal of conversation about the progress or lack thereof on the merits. But i do want to say that we have seen a change in our culture and that cultural change, the way that celebrities and artists and people around the world think about racialjustice and Police Violence, there has been a shift, and a lot of that is a result of the organising that took place at the beginning of august 9, 2014, which Trayvon Martin was killed there before, but this was the time when people took to the streets en masse, used twitter and social media for Process Organising in a way that we have never seen before, Live Streaming and, ultimately, staying in the streets almost 300 days straight after the killing of mike brown in august of 2014. So there were a number of historic things that took place that we do remember on this day. You talk about some of that cultural shift that weve seen, but going beyond that, meaningful change in both policing, the criminal justice system, what would that look like to you . Well, to me, i think meaningful change will include a number of reforms that would allow us to make sure Police Officers are held accountable, and it also would include a redirection of resources away from beefing up police when we see challenges to our Public Safety mechanisms and redirecting funds to other methods of creating Public Safety, things like building more safe spaces and public spaces for communities to gather, finding things for students in school to do after school, all of these different approaches are ones that we have not tried as of yet. So theres a lot of room for creativity. Ultimately, what would you say on this day is the legacy of Michael Brown . The legacy of Michael Brown is, i think, yet to be fully determined. Nine years later, we know that the world did forever change, notjust for Black Americans, but for people around the world in terms of the creation of brand new platforms, working in the international platform, weve got International Un mechanisms on Police Violence that did not exist before. Youve got people like myself who are exploring new ways to use the justice system, activists, organisers, people thinking about black lives matter in a way that they did not think about on august 8, 2014. So he changed the landscape of how the voice of the people was amplified all around the world, and thats a great legacy to have in and of itself. I hope one day we go to a place where we can say that his legacy is the end of Police Brutality and the creation of Safer Communities for people, notjust in the united states, but for people around the world who are facing racist Police Violence. But were not yet as of yet. Thank you so much for being with us on bbc news. All right, thanks for having me. We all know that walking is good for your health. 10,000 steps has long been the daily gold standard. But a new study says that in fact, you can get away with far fewer steps and still see the benefits, as howel griffith reports. Its the exercise you can take in your stride. Walk, jog or run, doing your daily steps is fun for some. For others, almost an obsession. I do, generally, about 24,000. 24,000 a day . Yeah how many steps do you think you need to do every day to be healthy . 10,000 . I was going to say more 20. 10,000, and i do a lot more than that a day. Because myjob is active. If youre really active, sometimes you cant fit in 10,000 steps a day. For years, 10,000 steps a day has been many peoples goal, but this Study Suggests there is no optimum number and theres no known limit to the Health Benefits of walking. Put simply, the more you walk, the better it is for you. It means all that effort hasnt been wasted, even if you have already done 10,000 today. We were working far too hard i mean, i could have got away with sitting on the sofa for most of the day, couldnt i . Of course, not everyone has the time to climb mountains. So how low can you go . Traditionally, walking less than 5,000 steps a day is considered sedentary and bad for your health. But actually, less than half that just under 2,500 steps a day still helps reduce the risk of dying from heart disease. And just under 4,000 steps a day still helps reduce the risk of dying from all causes. And every single extra step helps. So the question is how much more . Well, for every extra 500 steps, theres a 7 reduction in the risk of dying from heart disease. Every extra 1,000 steps is associated with a 15 reduction in the risk of dying from all causes. For shabina and abdul, that is good news. Theyre aiming high and taking the family up this mountain in preparation for ben nevis. I dont count my steps. Ijust walk, i get off a stop earlier and i walk. Part of myjob involves a lot of walking and going up and down stairs. So i think i pretty much maybe do it, but i dont count the steps. This study looked at over 200,000 people of all ages and genders across the world. It finds doing more of this benefits every walk of life. Hywel griffith, bbc news in the Bannau Brycheiniog national park. Stay with us here on bbc news. That is all from us here in washington. We leave you with these live pictures of london as we hand over eto our colleagues there. Thank you for your company. I will see you soon. Hello there. Heatwave conditions across the globe have been dominating Weather Headlines in recent weeks. And this week, we saw a return to heat across iberia. On wednesday afternoon in southern spain, we saw a high of 44 degrees, 111 fahrenheit. We are tapping into some of that warmth across the uk not as extreme. It was a pleasant day on wednesday. Thursday will be warmer still, with temperatures perhaps peaking at 27, possibly 28 degrees. Thats 82 fahrenheit. But widespread warmth is expected generally across the country, and thats because weve got High Pressure with us for another day. However, this frontal system is going to start to push in late on thursday. A beautiful start, lots of blue sky, lots of sunshine coming through. Little bit of cloud and mist and murk down to the southwest may linger first thing, a little more cloud into Northern Ireland and southern scotland as we go through the day. But on the whole, with light winds and a warm, muggy start, those temperatures will respond widely into the mid 20s, possibly, as i say, as high as 27 or 28 degrees. But that cold front is expected to arrive during thursday evening, pushing into Northern Ireland, and then it will really start to pep up as it moves its way across scotland. Itll be quite light and patchy through central and southeastern england. A band of cloud through the night, but the rain, the brighter colours denoting the intensity, will be sitting in Scotland First thing on friday morning. With the cloud, the wind and the rain and still that southerly breeze, its going to be a muggy, sticky start, really, to friday. Some of that rain will take its time to clear as well in scotland, clinging onto the Northern Isles with a stronger breeze here. But elsewhere, with a Light Southwesterly wind starting to pick up through the day, its a case of sunny spells and blustery showers, the showers few and far between. Most of us will continue to see sunshine and, again, some warmth, temperatures widely into the mid 20s. Now, as we move out of friday into the start of the weekend, we see a return to low pressure once again. Closest to the low, thats where were likely to see the wettest of the weather and the strongest of the winds once again. Its not going to be quite as severe as the weekends just past. And in fact, parts of england and wales should stay largely fine and dry, but a noticeable drop in the feel of the weather, with the risk of some showers the further north and west you are. Take care. V0|ceover this is bbc news. Well have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. Welcome to hardtalk. Im stephen sackur. From Record Temperatures to ice melt, the data is damning our planet is warming fast, thanks to man made Greenhouse Gas emissions. For years, politicians have ramped up the rhetoric of concern and pledged to speed up emissions cuts, but now there are signs of a political backlash. Uk Prime Minister rishi sunak is championing new Oil Exploration and reining in spending on climate aid. That prompted my guest, zac goldsmith, to quit suna k� s government. But, in an age of populist politics, has going green become another ideological faultline