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is provided by... woman: a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your passions and the way you enrich your community. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter um kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" ín washington and this is bbc world news america. the suspect involved in sunday's apparent assassination attempt on donald trump is charged with federal gun crimes. the united nations most senior official overseeing aid efforts in gaza says the catastrophic humanitarian situation can only

be fixed with a cease-fire deal. looking at the status of women's rights in iran. ♪ caitríona: hello and welcome to world news america, i'm caitríona perry. the suspected gunman in sunday's apparent assassination attempt of trump has appeared in court. he was charged with two federal gun crimes, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm with unobstructed serial number. he was near mar-a-lago for nearly 12 hours before the secret service spotted him hiding in the bushes with a rifle. before he could fire any shots,

officer fired several shots in his directive and the suspect fled on foot. authorities say an eyewitness helped them find and arrest him. although the investigation continues, the former president has since blamed the biden-harris administration for these apparent attempts. he told fox news that the gunmen had acted on their rhetoric. he said their rhetoric is causing me to get shot at. he -- biden has called on congress to act and provide the secret sources -- secret service with more sources. he reiterated there is no place for political violence. present biden: we resolve our differences at the ballot box, not at the end of a gun. america has suffered too many

times the tragedy of an assassin's bullet. it solves nothing and tears the country apart. we must do everything we can to prevent it and never give it any oxygen. caitríona: tom bateman, our correspondent, was in court earlier and joined us now. what happened in the court hearing today? >> it was very short, 10 minutes and we got a bit of a chance when ryan routh was brought into the courtroom to observe him. he was led into the courtroom wearing a dark blue jail jumpsuit with chains around his waist and he was handcuffed and he was next to his defense attorney. for a few minutes we cannot hear what was said between them but as they spoke, i could see ryan routh was smiling and laughing in some moments.

his mood seemed to change significantly when the judge came in and things became more serious and he was asked a series of questions, first to confirm his name and identity, and then after being sworn and there was an exchange between he and the judge where the judge was trying to ascertain his financial status to determine if he needed public defense. he talked about having zero funds, other than a couple of trucks in hawaii which she said are worth $1000 each so we got an insight into his life, very limited, and then the charges you mentioned were read to him. no plea was entered because this was simply a first appearance before a magistrate and a chance for the authorities in palm beach to lay charges against him while the fbi and department of justice put together what might be a more serious indictment. he is due back in court next

monday. caitríona: there were many agencies involved in the investigation and they have been given a press conference today. what more did we learn about the circumstance, possible motivation? >> we have learned a couple of significant things. his background also came up in the court case because one charge was a legal ownership of a gun by a convicted felon so he does have previous convictions. that was reaffirmed in the news conference, numerous previous convictions for stolen goods and weapons offenses. i think the other significant confirmation we have had is about what led up to what the fbi has described as an apparent assassination attempt. from phone records they say the suspect was in the woods on the perimeter of our -- of

mar-a-lago for nearly two hours. then they shot at him when they saw the barrel of his rifle sticking out. the other significant thing is when out there was an exchange of fire. it had been reported in the early moments of the breaking news but now we know that the secret service saw the rifle, fired on the suspect but no shots were fired by the suspect toward anyone. they believed donald trump was out of ght of the suspect while he was hiding in the woods. caitríona: tom bateman in florida, thank you. this alleged attack is the second the threat on trump's life in a little over two months and questions over the safety of presidential candidates have intensified. our analysis editor looks at the level of security surrounding trump when he was on his golf course. reporter: the trump

international golf club is 330 acres and trump please there regularly. in west palm beach, florida, the golf course is 10 minutes from his home of mar-a-lago and the club's perimeter is more than 3 miles long. this is one part of it, right by a public road. there is chain-link fence. beyond that, you can easily see the golf course. this was the root donald trump was taking during his round. he reached hole five. as he played, secret service agents walked one hole ahead, which is standard. they spotted a rifle sticking out of the fence. it was somewhere in this area, later cordoned off. police say donald trump was between 300 and 500 yards away, within range of the rifle. they also released this image showing a rifle fitted with a scope, to backpacks, a cocoa --

a go put -- go pro camera attached to the fence. his safety is already under greater scrutiny because of a major security failure in july. at a rally in pennsylvania, a gunman shot at trump, hitting his ear and killing a bystander. the head of the secret service resigned days later. the secret service said they had increased the amount of assets protecting trump but mr. trump is not president. and that is a factor here the local sheriff says if he was, we would have had the entire golf surrounded but because he is the areas that the secretted to service deems possible. it raises questions about what is possible and if they candidates in this election can be kept safe, especially in locations they are known to visit frequently. while americans seek answers, authorities say the threat level remains high.

caitríona: the acting director of the secret service has spoken with trump and is aware he has the highest level of protection from the agency. >> we constantly evaluate based on thrt and yesterday what we showed is that our agents and are protected methodology with tactic assets, these things put in place as a result of what happened 60 days ago, those elements are working and demonstrate the redundancies so we constantly evaluate and we of course will look at this to see what lessons can be learned but as of now we are constantly evaluating the threat and if we need to ratchet up additionally, we will. caitríona: jason russell is a former secret service agent. thank you for joining us on bbc news. we are told a secret service agent was walking one hole ahead of the president -- former

president. was this an effective plan he managed to stop the individual or was it a failure that the individual got that close with a rifle? >> this would have been treated as off the record movement, which means it was not on the schedule so the amount of advance work done would have been a lot less then four an official campaign visit so they try to limit the impact on surrounding areas and have a moving bubble that travels around the former president. obviously the agent spotting the threat and neutralizing it or least causing the threaten her to leave was effective, but having it happen in the first place is concerning at secret service will look at the protocols and re-examine what they need to do going forward. caitríona: saying it was off the record in the unplanned, does not mean it was last minute, a couple of hours in advance? >> it is hard to say when he

decided but the difference of this as an off the record movement and other off the record movements, sometimes they go to an ice cream stand or do something as part of a campaign visit, this is a place where he typically goes so even though it was technically off the record, it is very predictable which is why the attacker was able to lay in wait for 12 hours and predict that donald trump would play golf that day and he ended up being right, and was able to get within firing range. caitríona: is it odd that they were there for 12 hours? >> it is very odd. i think either he was really good at guessing where trump would play golf, it was kind of a predictable thing for trump, he plays golf a lot on the weekends so being able to guess that he might play golf is possible. it seems like that is what happened and unfortunately he

was able to get into the bushes and stay there for a long time without being noticed by anybody. caitríona: is it possible to fully secure a large open space like a golf course? >> it is extremely difficult because obviously you were trying to limit the impact on nearby roads, you do not want to close traffic everywhere because it causes issues so you try to limit the impact will also still trying to secure this person and it is difficult to secure an outdoor venue, especially when the person is moving because every move creates additional risks and different sightlines so it becomes really difficult to create a secure area when the person is moving outdoors. caitríona: the acting director of the secret service has said donald trump's level of security is at the highest level. given that we have seen this apparent attempt on his life again, is there anywhere further that protection could go or

anything else that could be done? >> i think you will see more leveraging of technology, drones, cameras, certainly may be increasing the perimeter to what we typically would view as outside the perimeter will now be encompassed so that is going to inconvenience traffic on things but in order to make sure that the candidates are secure, they will have to increase the amount of area that they protect. caitríona: given that we have seen these two incidents and there is a lot of tension in this close race, do you expect we might see more violent acts like this, political violence? >> i tnk it is possible. these events tend to attract copycat so it is entirely possible we cod see someone else make an attempt or try to get into a venue. it is very difficult to do, even though this was a close call, secret service did identify the threat and neutralized it or

eliminated it from being a threat so the methodology ultimately worked, but certainly too close for comfort. caitríona: the biden administration has contacted congress today to have extra funds released to the secret service. how under resourced do you think it is? >> i do not think it is a funding issue, i think it is a personnel issue. being able to hire agents, get them trained, get them out where they need to be has been difficult for not only the secret service but other law enforcement age and around the world so the secret service is not immune to those struggles. so it's not necessarily money, it is people. they might need to be creative with using nontraditional secret service resources, whether it is private companies, retired agents, other agencies to make sure they can secure the areas properly. caitríona: ok. plenty more to come discussing this and the investigation but

for now, jason russell, thank you for joining us on bbc news. a reminder, you can find out the latest on this apparent assassination attempt on the bbc website and the bbc news app. hugh edwards has been given a six-month suspended -- suspended prison sentence after making indecent images of children. he previously pleaded guilty to three charges after being sent 41 illegal images by a sex offender. his lawyer told the court mr. edwards was profoundly sorry and recognize the repugnant nature of the images. the bbc said he betrayed not only the corporation but also the audiences. the united nations most senior official overseeing aid and reconstruction in gaza says the

world is collectively failing innocent civilians after nearly a year of war. the senior u.n. coordinator for humanitarian action and reconstruction in gaza described the territory as the most unsafe place in the world. they were appointed nine months ago to improve the delivery of aid and has bn speaking with our international correspondent. >> my main message is of a very somber and dark nature but humanitarian conditions in gaza is well documented and reported our achaean -- are akin to significant catastrophe. we have built all systems to be in place but theres no substitute for political will and political choice to improve matters. the cease-fire and release of the hostages is desperately needed. not much else can be improved until we reach that point.

reporter: is the u.n. failing the people of gaza? >> it is too easy to say we are failing. what we are doing collectively is failing the innocent civilians in gaza and that comes out of the political environment. the u.n. is working around the clock. we have lost a large number of our own staff. the so-called enabling environment in gaza is actually counter to anything else we have witnessed in other plas. caitríona: women in iran tell the bbc online activity has been spied on by authorities, leading to arrests, threats, and beatings. this testiny comes to years after the freedom protests and one woman died in -- after one woman died in police after being

arrested for wearing her hijab to loosely. >> they took me to a dark room. he started hitting me all over my body. it was very painful. i did not want to show weakness. reporter: ts terrifying testimony comes from inside iran . this anonymous woman is one of five who told us she was arrested by the state for social media activity. they are not allowed to report freely. they are taking great risks speaking to us. in one interrogation they forced to give me their -- my phone. they accessed all my photos and saw i took part in the protests. they were recording me. he said, so you do not regret your actions, and i said no. then he threatened me and said, since you are so stubborn, i

will try and get you the maximum sentence. reporter: shortly after the revolution in 1979, women were legally required to cover their hair. but the death of mahsa amini while in police custody in 2022 unleashed civil disobedience. on social media and on the streets. women, life, freedom, became the rallying cry for women's rights in iran and now the move is being met with a harsher clock down on dissent using state surveillance. experts say iran is learning from surveillance states like china and intensifying methods to catch women who refuse to wear the hijab. >> they have developed mobile phone application forolice or those volunteer who are also -- already vetted by the government.

reporter: the law allows people to report women for not wearing his job. -- not wearing the hijab. activating it requires authization. >> they can have these application on their mobile phone so what we are seeing is a passenger or driver who is a woman not wearing the proper hijab,, they can report on it. they can put the license plate number, time, location. reporter: it has been widely reported that tens of thousands of people have been arrested since the protests in 2022. >> if you look at the charges, they call it propaganda against the state. what propaganda against the state? i say you did this to me.

it is not propaganda, it is the truth but the truth makes them look bad. reporter: the iranian government did not respond. demonstrations have stopped but people are protesting in more subtle ways in this movement, led by women and driven by a right to life and freedom, shows no signs of stopping. caitríona: for more we can speak to iranian women's rights activist who has been in witness protection after experiencing a threat from the iranian regime. thank you so much for joining us today. how have things changed for women in the two years since mahsa amini's death? >> first of all, it is an honor that you named me mahsa by mistake, but i appreciate it because she was brutally

murdered and we say that we are all mahsa. we all call ourselves mahsa. it is a symbol of resistance. i am mahsi. many people in the west do not see things in the headlines or the newspapers about what is going on in iran and they might think it is gone but the anger is still there. what has changed is the bravery of iranian women. i remember when she was killed it was because of inappropriate he job -- haijab, just because she was not cap covering her hair properly according to the morality police. but now the number of women walking the streets has increased. we have seen extreme brutality from the regime. more than 700 people got killed in the uprising and more than

2200 got to -- got arrested. more than 100 women and men were intentionally blinded. at the same time the revolution woman life freedom happens inside the hearts and minds of people. caitríona: in iran today the president has promised to make sure the morality police do not bother women. what is your response? >> it breaks my heart. i am not referring to you but a lot of people in the west, they are buying the lies and the narrative of this president but clearly islamic republic, like taliban, like isis, cannot be reforms. these three extremist are islamic people. you do not reform. that is why i strongly believe the power of morality police is

more than the power the so-called reformist president has. so basically this is something that always, they say that in public, in the media to get more attention from the west, but at the same time, i am telling you nothing will happen because i experienced it. i was part of the reformist media in iran. many of us lost our hope and we believe even if they get rid of the morality police, the woman life freedom uprising is to get rid of the islamic republic. so many political prisoners. different political views, they all have one simple demand. we want an end to the gender

apartheid regime in this 21st century. caitríona: thank you so much for joining us here on bbc news. lovely to speak with you. remember you can find all about the days news on our website, bbc.com/news but that is it today for world news america. i am caitríona perry. thank you so much fowatching and do stay tuned here on bbc news. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. good evening. a second apparent assassination attempt on donald trump