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woman: a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" ♪ host: hello. this is bbc world news america. hundreds of pages used by hezbollah have exploded at once, killing thousands in lebanon. hip hopp mogul sean diddy combs is on bail.

instagram starts restricting accounts of young teens after years of pressure. ♪ welcome to bbc world news america. we are going to begin with an extraordinary story in lebanon. the lebanese health ministry says at least nine people have died and nearly 3000 have been injured after pages used by hezbollah exploded simultaneously. iran's ambassador to lebanon is reported to be among those hurt and hezbollah says two of its fighters and an eight-year-old girl are among those killed. hezbollah and lebanese officials are blaming israel. israel has not commented. we have heard from the u.s. state department spokesperson matt miller, who denounced the incident and said the u.s. was not involved. he urged against anything that could cause further escalation in the region.

>> since october 7, we have seen any number of incidents that have led to the heightened risk of escalation. that has been a feature of the conflict across the blue line since october 7. we are always concerned about escalation, about any type of event that may cause further escalation. it remains our message to both israel and to other parties that they need to do everything they can to reach a diplomatic resolution. host: hezbollah is an armed group backed by iran and this explosion comes at a time of heightened tension between hezbollah and israel. we know the group had been advising its members to use pages -- pagers because of concerns israel could tamper with or access mobile phones. here is more on today's events from paul adams. paul's report contains distressing images from the start. correspondent: this was a

devastating attack. in supermarkets. on the street. in cars, at home, and even in barbershops, scores, perhaps hundreds of hezbollah members simultaneously injured by exploding pagers. [sirens] incidents reported from all over lebanon, from beirut to even neighboring syria. each explosion was small, but some left terrible injuries. israel is saying nothing, but yesterday the defense minister told american envoys that only military action would resolve the situation in the north. >> a message repeated by the prime minister, the status quo will not continue, mr. netanyahu said, this requires a change in the balance of power on our northern border. correspondent: the situation there remains extremely volatile. exchanges of fire every day

between israel and hezbollah. civilians on both sides exhausted by almost a year of tit-for-tat fighting. one place has been hit several times by hezbollah rockets. yesterday for the first time israel said its gaza war aims including allowing israelis to return to homes evacuated close to the border. today's wave of attacks would have injured hezbollah's fighters, wrecked communications and damaged morale, but will it change the course of the war? paul adams, bbc news, jerusalem. host: let's talk to the senior fellow in the washington institute and former managing editor of lebanon's now news. thank you for joining us. what is your reaction to today's developments? guest: good evening. obviously this reaction, this operation today is a huge blow to hezbollah, and it shows that

israel has maintained its upper hand when it comes to military, advancement but most importantly hezbollah is now very much exposed to israeli intelligence, to israeli reach. even if israel is not in lebanon or using the traditional military operations, hezbollah has lost the element of surprise and israel has regained it. the problem in the midterm, if not long-term, is that they cannot use cell phones because their leadership realized that the cell phone network in lebanon has been intercepted and monitored by israel. that is why we saw a huge number of assassinations happening at one point. that is because of the intelligence. that is why they switched to pagers. they ordered a new shipment of pagers that they had ordered after they decided that they do not want to use the cell phones. their communication system is

the main target today. hezbollah does not really have a communication system anymore. no more cell phones, no more pagers. they still have to figure out how to do their communication without inviting israeli intelligence to monitor them. this is a big blow in that sense because they really need communication to, in case israel decides to launch a full-scale war in lebanon, not having functioning communication is a real deterrence for hezbollah. it is a serious problem they have to navigate. at the same time we now have 4000 injured. 500 of these 4000 are in critical condition, which means that a major part of hezbollah will go to senior level. the ones now at senior level are

now out of service. host: you are giving us your analysis of hezbollah's perspective. also share with us your analysis of america's perspective. the u.s. state department has denounced this perspective but you are on the assumption that israel is behind this and the israel and -- and israel and the u.s. are allies. guest: israel has been coordinating with the u.s. for a while. we have seen statements like this from the state department, saying either they denounce it or deny any previous knowledge of anything israel does, especially today, because this happened while the u.s. envoy to this conflict is in israel, trying to push the israelis, or convince them that the de-escalation with diplomacy is the best course of action.

it is a big blow to diplomacy. it is an escalation that goes against everything the u.s. has been trying to do. it's kind of like saying to the americans that we will do whatever we want. state department has been denouncing more and more of these actions. it does not mean that the u.s. is going to stop supporting israel. this goes without saying. the conflict with the netanyahu government is becoming more apparent than before. host: let me also ask you about iran, which backs hezbollah and supplies them with an awful lot of technology. what does today's developments mean for it? guest: one, that the iranian ambassador was also a victim of this operation. the shipment that came, these new shipments of pagers that was intercepted probably by israel, came via the iranians, so they are involved in the communication system of hezbollah. the most important thing on the

longer-term, the bigger objective of this war, nothing really has changed. there will be a response like any other response we have seen, may be more barrages of missiles from lebanon, but nothing has changed in the sense that iran still does not want to escalate, iran does not want to invite israel for a full-scale war. hezbollah's main military assets that i have not used yet in this conflict are still iran's insurance policy in lebanon, and they don't want to use them because exposing iran is the last thing they want to do today. they will walk this thin line, the iranians and hezbollah. the iranians will continue holding on hezbollah from escalating or responding in a bigger sense, because they still want to walk this thin line of being part of this conflict and the negotiations that come from it, but at the same time not inviting israel to hit iran and has bullet's assets -- and hezbollah's assets. host: that is a senior fellow at

the washington institute. now florida's governor ron desantis has announced that state authorities have opened an investigation into the apparent assassination attempt of donald trump. not just that, he also cast doubt on the federal government's ability to conduct its own impartial investigation. this follows sunday's events when an armed man hid for nearly 12 hours near a golf course in florida where donald trump was playing. the suspect has been charged with federal gun crimes. this appears to be the second attempt to assassinate the former president in as many months and now the u.s. congress is considering whether to boost the secret service's funding. lawmakers say they could do so by including emergency funding in a short-term funding bill that congress must pass by the end of the month to avoid a government shutdown. for more, here is tom bateman in west palm beach. correspondent: as more emerges about the suspect, so do more questions arise here.

key to those are what exactly happened on the perimeter of this golf course. we now know, as investigators have revealed from mobile phone records, that ryan routh spent nearly 12 hours hidden in the bushes until 1:30 sunday afternoon when the secret service spotted the barrel of his rifle. how was he able to remain there for so long undetected? also a question being raised about whether or not he had any information, because investigators have said this was an unscheduled appearance by donald trump on the golf course on sunday, and yet here was this suspect apparently waiting for him to be there. more questions for the investigation. and at the same time we are seeing the increasing politicization of the investigation itself. we had ron desantis, the republican governor of florida, say he has appointed a statewide investigator to look into this. he spent a fairly lengthy news

conference recasting doubt on federal agencies to do this. and his republican attorney general in the state described it in her words, awkward, that the same agencies that were prosecuting donald trump are also those seeking to investigate and prosecute the suspect in this case. meanwhile, mr. trump himself has continued to try to lay blame on democrats, on kamala harris and joe biden for what he describes as the rhetoric around all of this. for their part but i have always said they have described donald trump as a threat to democracy because of his failed attempts to try to overturn the 2020 election, but fundamentally donald trump bringing this incident to the front and center of his election campaigning. host: bbc verifies established that a viral conspiracy theory about the suspect in the attempted assassination of donald trump is not true. this is ryan routh, the suspect in florida.

this is thomas crooks, who shot at donald trump in july. . and this post on social media claims ryan routh also appeared in a backdrop commercial just like thomas crooks. the post is being viewed 3 million times. black rock is a u.s. investment company and crooks did appear briefly in this promotional video for blackrock. the video was a profile of one of his teachers. this video highlighted by the viral post does feature routh, but is not a blackrock commercial. this is how we know. bbc verifies searched for keyframes from the video to find out what previous versions are posted online and we confirmed it was actually posted from a political rally in the ukrainian capital kyiv in 2022. host: in the video we can see banners of the azov battalion, a ukrainian military unit. routh supports ukraine's fight against russia. has for blackrock, it told bbc verify this is completely false,

ryan routh has never been an employee of blackrock, nor has he appeared in any blackrock ads. the post on social media has gone viral, but his claims are untrue. a judge denied sean diddy combs bail andr uled he -- and ruled he will remain in detention after the rap producer pleaded not guilty to several charges including racketeering, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and transportation to engage in prostitution. prosecutors accuse him of trying to change his business empire into a criminal enterprise. these developments in manhattan follow raids on two of his properties in march. during today's press conference, prosecutors were announced why they had taken so long to arrest mr. combs. in answering, they emphasized the charges he now faces. >> our investigation is ongoing. we are committed to bringing justice and everyone has been

victimized by the defendant. i can't tell you why it took so long. i think the better focus is on the fact that we are here today and are committed to making sure justice is done. host: let's speak with our north america correspondent. what reasons were given for not granting bail? correspondent: this was a nearly two hour long hearing on -- long hearing. on sean combs' side, they outlined the sexual activity alleged by prosecutors was consensual, that he stayed in new york in anticipation of charges and was offering a $50 million bond and should be allowed from detention. but prosecutors had argued that he was known to obstruct justice. they say he had tried to tamper with witnesses, that he has a history of kidnapping and arson,

to try to coerce others not to reveal anything incriminating about him, and that he is a billionaire who has used his vast wealth and powerful position to be a serial abuser to exploit women. ultimately the judge sided with prosecutors, deciding he was a flight risk, there was enough there to warrant him remaining in detention and july trial. his lawyers came outside of court and said they will be appealing that. there will be a hearing tomorrow afternoon on that request for them, the judge, to take a second look at their bail request. host: when do we expect trial could begin? correspondent: look, this is going to be a long process of hearings, exchanging discovery between the two sides before we do ultimately get to the trial. this is i would say very similar

to another case i covered, that of r. kelly, another high-profile musician in the industry, who also faced these charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, these allegations that were proven in court with r. kelly that he used his associates, his staff as this committal enterprise to exploit women -- this criminal enterprise to exploit women. when you look at the charges against p. diddy, his lawyer said these encounters were consensual, that he himself is not accused of unwanted sexual activity, but the indictment does outline what are called freak-offs, forcing women to engage in prolonged sexual activity with sex workers that were transported in across state lines. prosecutors have said they have mountains of evidence to prove his guilt. testimony from over 50 witnesses, 90 devices that were taken in the raids on his home.

they say all of that they believe is strong evidence to prove their case. host: thank you very much indeed, live with us from new york. more details emerged today about the titan submersible which sank on a visit to the wreckage of the titanic. a former employee of the company that made the submersible said the firm wanted to train the vessel's pilots in one day. david lockridge was giving evidence to the u.s. coast guard's investigation into the disaster. he claims he was ignored when he warned of potential safety problems as far back as 2018. the submersible imploded during a dive to the titanic, killing the five people on board. our science editor reports. >> it was heading into the depths of the atlantic to see the titanic, but ocean's titan sub suffered a catastrophic failure, killing all five people on board. >> nothing but the truth so help you god. >> a public hearing has heard

from the former director of marine operations with more than 25 years of submersible experience. it is the first time he's spoken publicly about his safety concerns. >> you have to have the confidence in the equipment to do the job. it's like every other industry. if you don't have the confidence in it, you don't do it. >> did you have confidence in the way the titan was being built? >> no confidence whatsoever. i was very vocal about that, and still am. >> ocean gate was told about significant problems with its sub. on this full-scale model you can see the viewports. its main effects were said it is meant for 1300 meters but the sub was diving three times deeper at 3800 meters. titan has an acoustic monitoring system, in-built microphones to listen for signs the sub was cracking so titan could resurface, but any failure would happen in milliseconds, leaving

no time to act. ocean gate said the sub was experimental, but it made 13 previous dies to the titanic -- dives to the titanic so passengers thought it was safe. the material it was made from was getting damaged with every dissent. so counterintuitively, people were safer on the first dive rather than on the last. david lockridge warned about the poor quality of the five inch thick carbon fiber. on the left you can see where the layers are coming apart, and on the right he has shown a torch through it. he asked why ocean gate ignored his warnings. >> cost-cutting and engineering decisions. those are the two main things. the desire to get to the titanic as quickly as they could to start making profit. there was a big push to get this done. a lot of steps along the way were missed. >> ocean pushed on, but david was fired in 2018.

>> i was phased out in the project completely. it was not my intent. i did not want to lose my job. i wanted to go to the titanic, you know? it was on my bucket list, but to dive it safely. >> the hearing continues for the next two weeks. host: the owner of the ship that caused the deadly collapse of a bridge in baltimore may be held legally liable for those who died. six of the eight construction workers who were on the francis scott key bridge lost their lives, and on tuesday families of three of the six workers announced they are seeking legal action against the ships owner. if approved by a federal court in maryland, the families may be able to receive compensation. the british -- the bridge collapsed closed the port of baltimore for 11 weeks, causing millions of dollars in economic losses. now instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world and it's announced

a new policy designed to protect teenagers online. for those aged 13 to 15, they will now use waters called teen accounts which have parental controls. they are being rolled out in the u.k., the u.s., canada and australia straightaway, the european union and the rest of the world will follow later this year. this move is in the context of growing pressure on social media companies to better protect children from harmful content. our technology editor has more on the changes. >> instagram already claims to have more than 50 tools aimed at keeping teens safe on its platform, but a study earlier this year found every child it spoke to had seen violent material online. these new measures aim to put more control in the hands of parents. accounts belonging to anyone under the age of 18 are already made private by default. now, if someone under 16 tries to make their account public, they will have to have a parent

prove it. that parent will also then have to see who their parent messages and which topics they follow. older teens will have to verify their own age. notifications will be muted overnight and young people will get an alert if they spend an hour on the app. the biggest change is under 16's will need parental permission to alter any of the teen settings. >> there is a site to instagram where you go down a wormhole and can't get out. >> we spoke to some in belfast about their experiences on instagram. >> there is a lot of racism and homophobia going on on instagram and people are going on with it in the comment section. i feel like i should not be able to see that. >> i think people of younger ages, parents should get involved in their accounts, and monitor it. >> some parents have campaigned for years for better protection for their children. ian's daughter took her own life in 2017 after viewing self-harm content on instagram. >> meta are very good at

drumming up pr. what they also have to be good at is being transparent and sharing how well their measures are working. so sometime before christmas when these measures are in place and children are using them, we should know from meta how they are working and where there are still problems. >> these tools might give parents more oversight but they still cannot control instagram's algorithms or what gets put on the app in the first place. this is assuming parents actually want the extra responsibility and understand what they are supposed to do. meta's u.k. chief said this last week. >> i will be open about this, even when we build these controls, parents don't use them. >> other big platforms like snapchat and tiktok also offer screen time and parental controls. instagram hopes this new combination of teen account

limits and parental supervision will result in fewer young people seeing harmful content on the app. >> we started the program with a lead story from lebanon. we finished it with that report from zoe kleinman. there is more on all of the stories we have covered on world news america on the bbc news app and our website, bbc.com/news. we are also on social media, including instagram. for now, our time is up. thank you very much indeed for your company. thanks for 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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geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the "newshour" tonight, in an apparent israeli attack, hundreds of hezbollah pagers explode across lebanon, killing at least eight and injuring