The growing problem of Islamophobia hit home to Usman Khawaja a couple of years ago when his mother was verbally abused while she was watching her son play in a Test match in Melbourne.

Wearing a traditional hijab, Fauzia copped abuse from two Australian fans at the 2024 Boxing Day Test match against India at the MCG.

“She had a couple of guys come up to her and start yelling into her ear and she was pretty shocked by the experience,” Khawaja said.

"I was playing so I didn’t find out until later in the day.

“Funnily enough, those two individuals were Australian supporters. They were doing that to an Australian — a fellow Australian.”

Having retired from international cricket in January after a stellar 15-year career, Khawaja is now using his high profile to fight against Islamophobia across Australia.

He’s joined a national campaign to raise awareness of Islamophobic behaviour, urging victims to report incidents.

Khawaja joined Aftab Malik, Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, at the campaign’s official launch in Melbourne on Monday afternoon.

A video, launched as part of the campaign, calls on bystanders to take action if they witness incidents of anti-Muslim hate.

“It can happen anywhere at work, online, while shopping, in the places we feel safe. Its effects are universal, ongoing and increasing,” the narrator says.

"When we call it out, when we report it, we make space for systemic change.

“Reporting gives organisations, institutions and the entire community the power and the backing to create a future where acts of Islamophobia can be properly addressed.”

Mr Malik described the rise of One Nation, and the anti-Muslim rhetoric of leader Pauline Hanson, as “unhelpful”.

“I think the discourse that surrounds these conversations are stereotypical, damaging and dangerous,” he said.

"It keeps me up all night. It’s the same everywhere you go across Australia.

“We have an understanding that what is reported is just the tip of the iceberg. We are deeply concerned and something needs to be done.”

Khawaja, who wrote the foreword to the campaign’s report, said he felt like “an outsider” for much of his time with the Australian cricket team, and faced Islamophobia throughout his career.

“I’ve experienced Islamophobia since I was a kid in lots of different, varying ways, but I’ve witnessed it more in recently because I’m more attuned to it and I think it’s more prevalent right now,” he said.

"In the Australian cricket team, I felt like an outsider for a very long time, until recently, the last five years.

There were times when people tried to ostracise me and discriminate against me because of my beliefs in a broader sense."

But Khawaja, 39, said that Muslim women, like his mother, suffered much greater challenges in modern Australian.

“If I walk down the street, I can get away with it. If you look at me, you don’t really see too much,” he said.

"But women who wear hijabs are targets right now, because they wear their religions on their sleeves. It’s very hard for them to walk down the street and blend in.

“I think hate right now is more prevalent that it has been before, not just in terms of Islamophobia, but in general.”

After the national launch in Victoria, the campaign will roll out in the other states and territories, with Mr Malik estimating a 740 per cent rise in Islamophobic incidents since the Bondi attacks last December.

“These incidents are becoming increasingly brazen, outlandish and violent,” Mr Malik said.

“I think people feel emboldened. When our politicians speak in certain terms, it encourages individuals to take action.”

Following the devastating double earthquakes that hit Venezuela on June 24, which at time of writing had claimed at least 1,450 lives with more than 3,100 injured and 50,000 or more people missing, and caused extensive damage to infrastructure, including homes, hospitals and the country’s main international airport, China and its socialist neighbour Vietnam have joined the international relief effort for their sister nation in Latin America.

On June 26, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolences to Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez.

On behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, Xi mourned those killed in the earthquakes and expressed sincere sympathy to the bereaved families and those injured. China, he said, stands ready to provide assistance to Venezuela in disaster relief and reconstruction.

He also expressed confidence that under the leadership of the Venezuelan government, the Venezuelan people will overcome the disaster and rebuild their homes at an early date.

At time of writing, it was announced at the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s regular press conference on June 29 that China has decided to offer additional aid to Venezuela for post-quake relief and reconstruction.

According to spokesperson Guo Jiakun, the additional emergency material assistance is worth 100 million yuan (about 14.67 million US dollars), following the cash assistance that has already been provided.

Guo had previously responded to relevant questions at press conferences on June 25 and June 26, where he said that both the Chinese government and the Red Cross Society of China will provide emergency humanitarian aid to Venezuela, adding that the Venezuelan government has thanked China for its support.

In the meantime, Chinese in Venezuela lost no time in supporting relief efforts once the earthquakes struck, with several Chinese-funded enterprises in the country mobilising relief efforts.

The Xinhua News Agency reports that the companies responded quickly to the disaster and, under the guidance of the Chinese Embassy, coordinated with local Chinese communities and business associations to take part in relief work. Their efforts included providing heavy machinery and medical supplies and deploying rescue teams.

Overseas Chinese in Venezuela have so far donated about 500 tonnes of relief supplies. The supplies, including bottled water, biscuits, diapers, milk, rice, sugar and fish, have benefited nearly 10,000 families affected by the disaster.

Xinhua also introduced the moving story of Pitney Delgado, a Venezuelan worker, who has worked alongside Chinese colleagues for more than ten years. When Xinhua interviewed him, he had been working in the relief effort for more than 50 hours without rest.

Delgado said years of working with Chinese colleagues had left him with a lasting impression of their “warm hearts,” strengthening his willingness to help others in times of crisis. That commitment was reinforced by a practical skill: more than a decade ago, while working at a Chinese company, he learned to operate heavy machinery under Chinese mentors.

He first met Jiang Wangbing, now president of the China-Venezuela Chamber of Commerce, in 2015, when he began learning crane operation.

“It was a huge machine weighing dozens of tonnes,” Delgado said. “At first I was nervous. One mistake could damage property or hurt someone.”

With patient instruction, he said he mastered basic crane operations within a week. “The training was very focused. They wanted you to learn everything,” he said.

After the earthquakes, the China-Venezuela Chamber of Commerce quickly mobilised cranes and heavy machinery for rescue operations at collapsed buildings. Delgado joined without hesitation. He said he could not stop working after seeing on social media people digging through rubble with their bare hands. “Without machines, how could we clear the debris?” he said. “It would be impossible.”

Asked about working under dangerous conditions, he said: “There were aftershocks and unstable structures. Of course, I was afraid. But when I thought people might still be trapped, I could not stop.”

“As long as I am needed here, as long as there are still people to rescue, I will keep working.”

Meanwhile, socialist Vietnam has launched a major national effort to support Venezuela.

The country’s Ministry of National Defence promptly decided to deploy an 82-member military humanitarian and disaster relief team to support search and rescue operations and post-earthquake recovery efforts. To support relief efforts, the Vietnam People’s Army has established a humanitarian assistance mission comprising command personnel, a military engineering search-and-rescue unit, medical personnel, and a canine search-and-rescue unit.

During the mission, the Vietnamese force will use search dogs to locate victims trapped under collapsed structures, conduct urban search-and-rescue operations, provide emergency medical assistance to survivors, and carry out other humanitarian tasks to help Venezuelan authorities and local communities recover from the disaster.

Addressing a meeting to assign tasks to the rescuers in the capital Hanoi, General Nguyen Tan Cuong, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and Deputy Minister of National Defence, stressed that the mission carries profound international significance, reflecting the party and state’s foreign policy, contributing to enhancing the country’s reputation in global disaster response and reaffirming the traditional friendship and comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and Venezuela.

He stressed that the operation will be demanding and potentially dangerous, requiring close coordination with personnel from the Vietnamese People’s Public Security force, international rescue teams and Venezuelan authorities and people. He instructed the team to comply with local laws, ensure the safety of personnel and equipment, actively assist local communities within their capabilities, and uphold the image and traditions of the VPA throughout the mission.

The mission is also transporting about 88 tonnes of equipment and relief supplies, including 50 compressed ration bars, 1,600 tents and 15 generators.

For its part, the Ministry of Public Security also held a departure ceremony in Hanoi on June 28 for a 41-member search and rescue team heading to Venezuela.

Following instructions from Vietnam’s party and state leadership, the ministry decided to send a specialised team to support searching for missing victims, rescue and emergency response operations, and post-disaster recovery efforts.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister Senior Lieutenant General Le Van Tuyen said the deployment reflects not only humanitarian support but also international solidarity and the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Venezuela.

Estela del Valle Quijada Suarez, Chargé d’Affaires of the Venezuelan Embassy in Vietnam, expressed appreciation to Vietnam’s party, state, government and Ministry of Public Security for the timely assistance, describing the mission as a symbol of friendship, solidarity, and mutual support between the two countries’ people during a difficult period.

Vietnam Airlines, the country’s national carrier, organised a special flight to carry the 124 members of the two rescue teams, their 10 search and rescue dogs, approximately 25 tonnes of humanitarian supplies, specialised equipment and rescue gear to support relief operations in the earthquake-affected areas.

To ensure the timely deployment of the mission, Vietnam Airlines mobilised extensive resources, including ground service personnel and a dedicated flight crew of 23 members. The airline also completed logistical preparations and flight clearance procedures within a short timeframe to meet the urgent requirements of the mission.

On Monday, the Department of Defense announced a new slate of appointees to the Defense Policy Board, a committee tasked with providing strategic advice and making recommendations to the Pentagon. Media outlets were quick to highlight the Pentagon’s selection of Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z, as further evidence of Silicon Valley’s growing power in Washington. A16z, which claims to have raised 18% of all venture capital dollars invested in the U.S. in 2025, backs military technology startups like Anduril, Saronic, Skydio and Shield AI. All of these companies have contracts with the Pentagon. But Andreessen is far from the only defense industry-linked member of the advisory board, which helps advise Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg, and the Under Secretary of Policy Elbridge Colby. At least eight of the 15 members of the committee have close ties to the defense industry and foreign governments.

The vice-chair of the new committee is former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), a lobbyist for the government of Saudi Arabia. Coleman played a central role in rehabilitating Saudi Arabia after the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen. Coleman, who also serves as chair for the Republican Jewish Coalition, was pivotal during Hegseth’s approval process, shepherding the controversial nominee around Capitol Hill and whipping votes among his former colleagues. Now, Hegseth appears to be returning the favor, appointing Coleman to the prestigious committee, where he can help direct defense policy at the highest level. “Lobbyists for abusive foreign governments don’t belong on the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board,” Raed Jarrar, Advocacy Director for Democracy for the Arab World Now, told RS. “You cannot take a foreign government’s money and give Americans honest advice on their own security,” added Jarrar, whose organization was founded by Khashoggi. Theo Wold, senior counselor at Palantir, was also appointed to the committee. Palantir sells data analytics software to government agencies like the Department of Defense and CIA, and to Washington-friendly governments like Israel and Ukraine. In the first week of the war on Iran, the U.S. military used Palantir’s Maven system to help it identify and strike more than 3,000 targets. Blake Masters, a former executive at Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel’s private investment organization, was also appointed to the committee. According to Masters’ website, he now “invest(s) in and advise(s) technology startups” and maintains a role on the board of the Thiel Foundation. Thiel largely bankrolled Masters’ unsuccessful 2022 and 2024 congressional campaigns.

Taken together, these Silicon Valley-centric choices represent a significant victory for the techno-optimists that want to slash regulation for artificial intelligence and autonomous weapons. Andreessen, in his article “Why AI Will Save the World,” argued against regulation in order to beat China. “Rather than allowing ungrounded panics around killer AI, ‘harmful’ AI, job-destroying AI, and inequality-generating AI to put us on our back feet, we in the United States and the West should lean into AI as hard as we possibly can,” he wrote. Andreessen, Thiel, and their acolytes now have another seat at the table. Other appointees include Tom Feddo, founder of national security consulting firm Rubicon Advisors, and Michael Pillsbury, who joined defense and artificial intelligence-focused consulting firm American Global Strategies as a senior fellow a week ago. Mike Garcia, a former California congressman and Raytheon executive, is also part of the new committee.

To be sure, previous iterations of the Defense Policy Board have similarly included members with potential conflicts of interest. A Center for Public Integrity analysis of the Bush administration’s board in 2003 found that nine of the 30 members had ties to companies that have won more than $76 billion in defense contracts in 2001 and 2002, in the lead-up to the Iraq War. Hegseth even called on one of the same members of that Iraq War-era board, Christopher A. Williams. Williams now oversees a national security consulting firm that represents a range of clients from “the ‘Top Five’ aerospace & defense prime contractors to mid-tier companies to venture capital-backed technology startups.” Williams’ firm picked up contracts with Boeing and Northrop Grumman while he advised Bush’s Pentagon.

The board is not entirely dominated by defense contractor-linked executives and lobbyists. Hegseth also appointed Daniel McCarthy, the editor of conservative intellectual magazine Modern Age who has said there was “no reason” for the U.S. to be involved in the 12-day war with Iran last year. Rachel Bovard, vice president of the Conservative Partnership Institute and a former staffer for Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), was also appointed to the committee. Two of the picks come from the America First Policy Institute, including the chair of the new board, former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Hegseth also selected four fellows and alumni of the Claremont Institute, the California-based incubator for the intellectual right that disavows neoconservatism and liberal internationalism. If and when the interests of defense contractors and America First compete with one another, the question then becomes which version of the board will win out when advising the Trump Pentagon on the challenges of the day.

Beirut, June 30 (Prensa Latina) Israeli aircraft and artillery attacked several areas of southern Lebanon today, in a new violation of the framework agreement recently signed between Beirut and Tel Aviv under US mediation.

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), Israeli fighter jets bombed the area between the towns of Qantara and Deir Siryan in the Marjayoun district, following an intense artillery attack on the outskirts of Deir Siryan near the Litani River.

The source added that the town of Haddatha, in the Bint Jbeil district, was also hit by Israeli bombing.

Last Friday, Lebanon and Israel signed a framework agreement in Washington that envisions a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Lebanese territory, starting with two pilot zones.

However, hostilities have continued since the signing of the agreement. Lebanese authorities reported that between Friday and Saturday, three people were killed and three others wounded in Israeli attacks on towns in the south of the country.

Also on Sunday, a new air raid reached the vicinity of Deir Siryan and Taybeh, with no casualties reported.

The recent bombings add to a series of military actions attributed to Israel since the agreement came into effect, while Israeli troops maintain their occupation of areas in southern Lebanon and, according to Lebanese sources, have extended their incursions in some places to more than 10 kilometers inside Lebanese territory.

Havana, June 30 (Prensa Latina) Cuba maintains today its admiration and respect for China on the 105th anniversary of the founding of its Communist Party (CPC) and on the 90th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory in the Long March.

The reaffirmation of their relations was reiterated by President Miguel Díaz-Canel on the social network X, highlighting that the CCP “continues to lead the brotherly Chinese people in the construction of socialism.”

Likewise, the spirit of brotherhood between the two nations characterized the official ceremony held yesterday at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana, also with the presence of the head of state and the ambassador of the Asian giant in Havana, Hua Xin.

The diplomat emphasized that shared faith and experiences of struggle closely unite the two socialist countries, both led by communist parties. “The Communist Party of China will always stand with the Communist Party of Cuba,” he affirmed.

The Communist Party of China, founded on July 1, 1921, has been an ally of Cuba in its struggle against the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States.

On multiple occasions, the Chinese government has expressed its firm support for the Cuban Revolution and its rejection of unilateral coercive measures against the Island.