--:-- Shumita Basu: Good morning. It's Monday, September 16th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shumita Basu: On today's show, why Iran is teaming up with gangs like the Hell's Angels, a new wave of religious movies and shows are making a mark on Hollywood, and the history-making moments of last night's Emmys. But first, what we know so far about another apparent attempt to assassinate former President Trump.
--:-- Shumita Basu: It comes two months after the shooting in Pennsylvania. Trump was not injured. He was golfing at his club in West Palm Beach yesterday afternoon when the Secret Service saw a rifle barrel poking out from the bushes. Trump was four to five hundred yards away at the time.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The Secret Service fired on the suspected gunman who fled in a car, leaving his rifle and backpacks behind. A witness caught a photo of the car and the plate. Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw says that helped catch the suspect quickly.
--:-- Rick Bradshaw: And we were able to get a hit on that vehicle on I-95 as it was headed into Martin County. We got a hold of Martin County Sheriff's Office, alerted them, and they spotted the vehicle and pulled it over and detained the guy.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The suspect in custody is a 58-year-old man from Hawaii. Wired magazine found he was previously charged in 2002 with possession of a weapon of mass destruction, in that case, a fully automatic machine gun.
--:-- Shumita Basu: He pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon. An officer on the case at the time told Wired, "I figured he was either dead or in prison by now."
--:-- Shumita Basu: Reuters looked at his online history and found recent criticism of Trump and of Biden in 2020. The suspected gunman also voiced support for Ukraine in the war against Russia.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Last year, he told The New York Times that he wanted to gather a group of foreign fighters to join the battle, even though he had no military experience himself.
--:-- Shumita Basu: CNN reports on how golf courses have been a longtime security challenge for the Secret Service, since Trump and many past presidents have been avid golfers.
--:-- Shumita Basu: They are generally the largest outdoor area a president is allowed to visit. Other common features like trees, hills, proximity to public roads make them very difficult to secure.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And with Trump and other presidents, the Secret Service has not typically shut down a whole golf club. Same goes for nearby roads. Instead, agents ride in golf carts ahead of and behind the former president the whole time, and they sweep the area as he goes.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Sheriff Bradshaw talked about guarding Trump while golfing.
--:-- Rick Bradshaw: At this level that he is at right now, he's not the city president. If he was, we would have had to hire a golf course around it. But because he's not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.
--:-- Shumita Basu: So I would imagine that the next time he comes at a golf course, there probably be a little bit more people around the perimeter.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The Secret Service did exactly what they should have done. Trump later went home to Mar-a-Lago. His campaign sent several fundraising emails referencing the incident. Trump said his resolve is only stronger after another attempt on my life.
--:-- Shumita Basu: President Biden said he's ordered that the Secret Service has all resources needed to keep Trump safe. Vice President Harris said violence has no place in America.
--:-- Shumita Basu: You can follow all of the developments from this quickly moving story in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Exiled Iranian journalist Puriya Zaraati is a vocal critic of Iran's government. He broadcasts a show seen by millions in Iran, even though it's banned there. And that put a target on his back, even though he was living in London.
--:-- Shumita Basu: British authorities moved him in and out of safe houses and gave him a secret way to call rescue units. But none of that prevented an ambush that took place earlier this year in March.
--:-- Shumita Basu: He was on his way to work when he was attacked in a plot that Iran is suspected of planning. Washington Post investigative reporter Greg Miller told us about it.
--:-- Greg Miller: He sees a figure out of the corner of his eye who looks kind of disheveled and asks him for money. And Puria thinks this is maybe just a homeless person, kind of odd to see in a kind of wealthy suburb like Wimbledon, but he doesn't think too much of it.
--:-- Shumita Basu: But as he continues to get into his car, a second figure emerges, a second man who holds Puria's arms while this first individual starts stabbing him in the leg.
--:-- Greg Miller: They plunge the knife into his thigh over and over again and then basically toss him to the ground, and he's left there bleeding.
--:-- Shumita Basu: He survived the attack, but the hitman escaped. Even though we don't know who these attackers are, I think it's important to say that U.K. authorities and U.S. officials I talked to really don't have any doubt that these were assailants who were hired or put up to this task by Iran.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Puriya, this wasn't a theft. He had a watch. He had a wallet. Nothing was taken from him. He was just stabbed and left to bleed on the street.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And he is one of a number of broadcasters and journalists and employees of Iran International who have repeatedly been threatened by Iran.
--:-- Shumita Basu: A new investigation by The Washington Post reveals there have been close to 60 Iran-backed attacks and plots against dissidents abroad since 2014.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The largest number of attacks were in the U.S. and Britain. And authorities say Iran is working with criminal networks in the West to target its political enemies.
--:-- Shumita Basu: They have hired Hells Angels. They have hired affiliates of Russian mafia organizations and members of other criminal syndicates to carry out attacks.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Iran denies planning assassinations. Part of the reason investigators believe Iran is outsourcing these attacks to gangs in the West is logistics.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Iranian agents can't move around the world in the same way as local criminal gangs. For example in Puriya Zarati case the suspects from Eastern Europe cleared airport security checks in London and flew out just hours after the stabbing.
--:-- Shumita Basu: It also has the advantage for Iran of kind of muddying its responsibility. It makes it somewhat more deniable.
--:-- Shumita Basu: If these are, you know, hell's angels from Canada who are carrying out an attack in or around Washington, D.C., then it's harder work for investigators to link these attacks back to Iran and for Iran to pay a price for them.
--:-- Shumita Basu: One of the more disturbing accounts detailed in Miller's investigation involves Masi Ali Nejad, an Iranian-American journalist living in Brooklyn who's denounced Tehran's treatment of women.
--:-- Shumita Basu: For a while now, Iran has been trying to silence her. One plot, very elaborate, several years ago involved a plan or scheme to abduct her from her home and escape by boat from New York Harbor somehow.
--:-- Shumita Basu: This all sounds a little crazy to drag her to Venezuela and then get her aboard a flight to Iran. The more recent plot simply involved hiring members of a gang called Thieves-in-Law, one of whom was arrested with an AK-47 very near her house in Brooklyn.
--:-- Shumita Basu: That marked at least the third time she was targeted. Alina Jad said that she's moved between more than a dozen safe houses to avoid potential assassins and kidnappers.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And as for Puri Azarati, the stabbing victim, he and his family left London for Jerusalem, where they say they feel safer.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Let's turn now to Hollywood and look at a broader entertainment trend, the new wave of religious movies and series backed by rich investors.
--:-- Shumita Basu: People are really noticing that there is an appetite and a craving for these kind of stories, and they're also seeing a business opportunity. That's John Jergensen, a Wall Street Journal entertainment reporter.
--:-- John Jergensen: He's been tracking the rise of movies and TV shows targeting Christian viewers, like The Chosen, a TV drama about the life of Jesus and his apostles. It's become one of the most popular series in the world.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Or the movie Sound of Freedom, which racked up a quarter billion dollars in global ticket sales.
--:-- John Jergensen: Jurgensen traveled to Greece recently to visit the set of House of David, an upcoming drama backed by Amazon MGM Studios.
--:-- John Jergensen: It aims to retell the story of David versus Goliath at a Game of Thrones type scale. If someone can tell a biblical story in a lavish, epic style that also, you know, incorporates messages of faith, that it will pull in people who watch that stuff as kind of their main diet.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Now, that being said, I think there is a significant amount of audience members who say, oh, biblical show, not for me. And that may be true, but I think that's their aim and that's the business model.
--:-- John Jergensen: Jurgensen writes about the group of filmmakers, producers and independent studios who believe Hollywood has overlooked an underserved audience.
--:-- John Jergensen: They're trying to tell stories that don't come off as too preachy, but do lean into Christian values. The creators believe that make them more palatable to broader audiences Some people just want to make stuff that families can watch together
--:-- Shumita Basu: Other creators are making stuff because they feel like what coming out of Hollywood is straight up evil. And they're trying to reclaim culture.
--:-- Shumita Basu: If streamers and studios can do this well, they and their investors are betting they can turn the faith niche of Hollywood into the mainstream.
--:-- Shumita Basu: One filmmaker said it's not about any single movie's success. It's about building an industry.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories being featured in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Let's start with an update from Springfield, Ohio. Last week, we talked about conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants there spread by the Trump campaign.
--:-- Shumita Basu: A woman whose Facebook post helped ignite the spread of false claims of Haitians abducting local pets now says she regrets it.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The Springfield resident talked to NBC. She now says she didn't have any firsthand knowledge of an incident involving pets, and she deleted the post.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Springfield's mayor, police, and Ohio's Republican governor have all said claims of Haitians eating pets are false.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Trump running mate and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance defended his own spreading of the story, saying it drew attention to the situation in Springfield.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Abroad, Israel's military now says that three hostages found dead in a Gaza tunnel were very likely mistakenly killed in an Israeli airstrike.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The attack late last year also killed a Hamas commander. The hostages' remains were recovered in December.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The Israeli investigation concluded there was a high probability that they died in the airstrike.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Earlier this year, Israel's military had rejected Hamas's claims that the hostages were killed by Israel.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And finally, at the Emmy Awards last night, one show came up over and over, making history in the process.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And the Emmy goes to Shogun. It won Best Drama. The epic story of feudal Japan is the first non-English language show to win that top prize.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Shogun smashed Emmy records with 18 wins in a year. Also, Liza Colonzeus became the first Latina to win Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy for her performance in The Bear.
--:-- Shumita Basu: You can find much more Emmy coverage from the other winners to the fashion and the biggest moments in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Shumita Basu: WSJ Magazine spent time with the creator of the notorious Fyre Festival, Billy McFarland.
--:-- Shumita Basu: You might remember he famously promised a luxury concert experience back in 2017, only to deliver nightmare stuck on an island conditions.
--:-- Shumita Basu: McFarlane went to prison for fraud. And now he's working on a sequel, Fire Festival 2.
--:-- Shumita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
