In Lebanon, at least 12 people were killed and nearly 3,000 people were injured Tuesday afternoon when electronic pagers used by members of Hezbollah exploded at the same time. The simultaneous blasts set off fear and panic in Beirut and across southern Lebanon and left hospitals overwhelmed. Hezbollah blamed Israel and vowed to retaliate, raising fears of a broader regional war. Reuters reports Israel’s Mossad spy agency managed to plant explosive devices in pagers bought in recent months by Hezbollah. Victims of the attack included a 10-year-old girl named Fatima Jaafar Abdullah, who was killed when her father’s pager exploded. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, lost an eye to an exploding pager. Hezbollah relied on pagers for communication in part to avoid Israel’s surveillance of other communication networks. Lebanese lawmakers condemned the attack as an act of terrorism. After headlines, we’ll go to Beirut, Geneva and Boston for the latest.

Top Biden administration officials quickly distanced themselves from Tuesday’s pager attack on Lebanon. This is State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. 

Matthew Miller: “I can tell you that the U.S. was not involved in it. The U.S. was not aware of this incident in advance. And at this point, we’re gathering information.”

On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris defended the Biden administration’s support of Israel throughout its assault on Gaza. During an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists, Harris also cited her support for President Biden’s decision in May to temporarily pause the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. Harris was questioned by reporter Eugene Daniels of Politico. 

Eugene Daniels: “But what do you say to those that say that’s not enough, that stopping the 2,000-pound bombs the one time wasn’t enough, that this administration, your possible administration, has to do more?”

Vice President Kamala Harris: “Well, we are doing the work of putting the pressure on all parties involved to get the deal done. But let me be very clear also: I support Israel’s ability to defend itself.”

Just last month, the Biden administration approved $20 billion in additional weapons sales to Israel, including advanced air-to-air missiles and fighter jets.

In Gaza, at least 20 Palestinians have been killed and 54 wounded over the past 24 hours, including at least eight people who were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a school sheltering displaced civilians in Gaza City’s Shuja’iyya neighborhood. Another attack on a civilian car near Rafah in southern Gaza killed two Palestinians and wounded several others. Israel announced four of its soldiers were killed in Rafah.

The United Nations is warning Burma is “plumbing the depths of a human rights abyss,” as the military regime intensifies the killings and arbitrary arrests of tens of thousands of civilians since seizing power in a coup over three years ago. The gruesome findings were part of a new report by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights which detailed that many of those detained by the Burmese military are children taken from their parents; dozens of those children have died in custody. This is U.N. rights office spokesperson Liz Throssell.

Liz Throssell: “Since the coup on the 1st of February, 2021, at least 5,350 civilians have been killed, more than 3.3 million displaced, and over half the population are living below the poverty line, primarily due to military violence.”

Lawmakers in the Republic of Georgia have approved legislation to begin a sweeping crackdown on LGBTQIA people and organizations. The so-called family values and the protection of minors law approved Tuesday will outlaw Pride events, LGBTQ+ gatherings and even displays of rainbow flags. Tamar Jakeli is director of Tbilisi Pride in Georgia’s capital. 

Tamar Jakeli: “Our main aim was always to be very outspoken and loud on LGBTQ issues. Every year we used to hold a Pride Week. We tried to hold Pride marches. We held successfully Pride festivals, conferences and film screenings. And now we are already at the risk that we cannot hold any events, really. And this law will make it legally impossible, not just physically and politically impossible, but also legally.”

Back in the United States, Republican senators have once again blocked legislation that would protect access to in vitro fertilization and require health insurers to cover the fertility treatment. The Right to IVF Act was sponsored by Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, who personally struggled to become pregnant before turning to IVF to conceive her children. 

Sen. Tammy Duckworth: “Now that freedom to get reproductive care is at risk for millions of other women whose most desperate hope in the world is to have a little one of their own. Make no mistake: That isn’t some future nightmare; this is our present reality.”

ProPublica reports at least two women in Georgia died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care in their state. Amber Thurman suffered a fatal infection after doctors refused to treat a rare complication from a medication abortion. And Candi Miller died from medication abortion complications after her family said she didn’t visit a doctor “due to the current legislation on pregnancies and abortions.” We’ll have more on this story later in the broadcast.

In Texas, hundreds of homes remain under evacuation orders in the Houston suburb of Deer Park, more than two days after an SUV struck a pipeline valve station, triggering a massive explosion that rattled homes and businesses, sending a column of fire and smoke into the sky that was visible more than 10 miles away. The pipeline containing natural gas liquids burned for a second straight day and into the night Tuesday.

Here in New York, music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail and will remain in jail until his trial after pleading not guilty Tuesday to racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and other charges. Prosecutors accuse Combs of repeatedly assaulting several women, drugging and coercing women and men to perform sexual acts, and being part of a criminal organization that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and other crimes since at least 2008. He will be back in court today appealing his bail denial.

In Atlanta, prosecutors on Tuesday dropped all money laundering charges against three activists who were accused of misusing a bail fund to support protests against Cop City, a multimillion-dollar police training complex. Atlanta Solidarity Fund organizers Marlon Kautz, Adele MacLean and Savannah Patterson are still facing racketeering charges as part of a sweeping RICO case that includes at least 58 other Stop Cop City activists indicted last year. Advocates celebrated the victory, writing in a statement, “From the beginning, we knew these charges were not based on any evidence, but were instead politically motivated and intended to target a social movement.” 

In Washington, D.C., the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the rise of anti-Muslim and antisemitic hate crimes across the U.S. Republican senators used the forum to condemn recent student-led pro-Palestine protests at university campuses and lashed out at the hearing’s Arab American witness, Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute. This is Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana questioning Berry.

Maya Berry: “I think it’s exceptionally disappointing that you’re looking at an Arab American witness before you and saying, 'You support Hamas.'”

Sen. John Kennedy: “You know what’s disappointing to me?”

Maya Berry: “I do not support Hamas.”

Sen. John Kennedy: “You can’t bring yourself to say” —

Maya Berry: “I do not support Hamas or any” —

Sen. John Kennedy: — “you don’t support UNRWA, you don’t support Hamas, you don’t” —

Maya Berry: “I was very clear on my support for UNRWA.”

Sen. John Kennedy: — “support Hezbollah, and you don’t support Iran.” 

Maya Berry: “I oppose” —

Sen. John Kennedy: “You should hide your head in a bag.”

“You support Hamas, don’t you?” asked the Louisiana senator repeatedly as he conflated the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA, with Hamas. Following that exchange, committee chair Senator Dick Durbin gave Maya Berry a chance to respond.

Maya Berry: “It’s regrettable that I, as I sit here, have experienced the very issue that we’re attempting to deal with today. The introduction of foreign policy is not how we keep Arab Americans or Jewish Americans or Muslim Americans or Black people or Asian Americans — anybody — safe. This has been, regrettably, a real disappointment, but very much an indication of the danger to our democratic institutions that we’re in now.”