When Nigerian American actor-singer Rotimi and Tanzanian pop star Vanessa Mdee first met in 2019, it was the beginning of a love story that neither of them expected.

That first encounter six years ago could be straight from a rom-com. They had both just performed at the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans and ended up at the same Spotify afterparty – neither one particularly eager to be there. But fate had other plans.

“She was sitting on a pool table,” Rotimi laughs. “The lights were glowing and beaming, and I just thought, ‘Yo, who is this?’”

A friend of Rotimi made the introduction, which led to several hours of deep conversation. Within days, they were inseparable. A long-distance relationship began – Vanessa in Tanzania, Rotimi in Atlanta, Georgia, in the US – and she came to visit not long after. “I never left,” Vanessa says with a grin.

Love in lockdown

While the Covid-19 pandemic forced much of the world into stillness, for Rotimi and Vanessa, it became a sacred time. “I really thank God because he was creating an environment for us to really dive deep into getting to know each other on a very intimate and spiritual level,” Vanessa reflects.

At the encouragement of Rotimi, she booked a flight to the US for a mini vacation, but it became an extended stay due to travel restrictions.

“If I had been a day late, we wouldn’t have been able to see each other for the period of nine-plus months during which the borders were locked,” she says.

The lockdown forced them both into a much-needed break.

“I came onto the scene at the age of 18 years old, so I had been working well into my 30s at this point and I had never taken time off,” Vanessa adds.

The timing was also divine for Rotimi, who had just released the hit “In My Bed.”

“For me, during that time, if the world was open and my record ‘In My Bed’ had just come out, I would have been moving around touring for the whole run of that song, still doing what I needed to do, and my mind wouldn’t have been on anything else,” he says.

That time off allowed something deeper than fame to grow, the couple says, sparking a journey toward faith, family and purpose.

“God wanted me to sit down and heal a lot of things,” Rotimi adds, “and He blessed me with the opportunity to learn this woman.”

From fame to faith

Vanessa, once one of East Africa’s biggest music stars, made headlines when she walked away from the industry at the height of her career in 2020. But the decision wasn’t impulsive – it was deeply spiritual.

“For me, (the music industry) was depleting my mental, spiritual, emotional and physical health in many ways. I turned to many different vices that were not good for me as a person,” she says.

“It got to a point where the music industry became extremely toxic for me. I’m not saying it’s everybody’s story; it’s my story.”

Today, she co-leads “For The Better,” the couple’s faith-based wellness app and community, where she mentors women across the globe through Bible studies, prayer circles, and now a women’s conference.

“I just want every time I step out and do something to be meaningful, purposeful, and effective,” she adds.

Rotimi, whose real name is Olurotimi Akinosho, has embraced a life beyond the spotlight, although he continues to build his career with his current role as Pastor Charles on the Showtime series “The Chi” while releasing new music.

“The job is to be a vessel,” the 36-year-old says. “God works in mysterious ways; it’s not a cookie-cutter approach – it’s more of a roundabout way.”

A ‘kingdom marriage’

Their love is both bold and deeply rooted. Married in 2021, they refer to their relationship as a “kingdom marriage,” grounded in their shared faith.

“We’re not perfect,” Vanessa says. “But we know who’s at the center of it all: God.”

Together, they are raising two children and navigating a blended cultural household where Yoruba, Swahili and American traditions harmonize.

“(The children) know they’re 50% Tanzanian and 50% Nigerian, and they can champion that,” Rotimi says. “It’s about giving our kids roots and wings.”

“Building a strong foundation for our children requires a lot of time, commitment, and being very present – like playing with the kids, nurturing their skills, and honing their crafts while giving them a strong foundation in Christ,” adds Vanessa.

From love-centered music and wellness apps to Bible studies, it’s clear Rotimi and Vanessa feel they are on a mission that reflects a deeper calling. However, when asked if ministry was in their future, the couple was uncertain.

“It would be foolish for us to say no, but it’s too early to say yes,” Rotimi says.

“I just know that whatever we do, it’s going to be for His glory,” Vanessa adds.

North Korea has sent soldiers and millions of munitions, including missiles and rockets, to Russia over the past year, according to a new report by an international watchdog, which details the extent to which Pyongyang has helped Moscow “terrorize” Ukraine’s population over its three-year war.

The report was released Thursday by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), an initiative made up of 11 United Nations members, formed after Russia forced the disbandment of a previous UN panel that monitored the implementation of sanctions against North Korea.

While some of the team’s findings have been well documented – such as North Korea sending troops to fight for Russia – the report lays out the stunning scope and scale of weaponry sent from Pyongyang since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

That includes as many as 9 million rounds of artillery and ammunition in 2024; more than 11,000 troops last year, and another 3,000 troops in the early months of this year; rocket launchers, vehicles, self-propelled guns and other types of heavy artillery; and at least 100 ballistic missiles “which were subsequently launched into Ukraine to destroy civilian infrastructure and terrorize populated areas such as Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia,” the report found, citing participating states.

“These forms of unlawful cooperation between (North Korea) and Russia contributed to Moscow’s ability to increase its missile attacks against Ukrainian cities including targeted strikes against critical civilian infrastructure,” the report said.

In return, Russia provided North Korea with various valuable pieces of weaponry and technology, including air defense equipment, anti-aircraft missiles, electronic warfare systems and refined oil, the report said.

Moscow has also provided data feedback on Pyongyang’s ballistic missiles, helping improve its missile guidance performance, it said.

These actions “allow North Korea to fund its military programs and further develop its ballistic missiles programs, which are themselves prohibited under multiple (UN Security Council resolutions), and gain first-hand experience in modern warfare,” the report found.

It said its findings were based on MSMT participating states and cited supporting evidence from the Open Source Centre (OSC), a UK-based non-profit that uses publicly accessible information for research, and Conflict Armament Research (CAR), a UK-based research organization.

Both Russia and North Korea are violating the UN arms embargo and are transferring arms and military equipment through actors and networks that evade sanctions, the report alleged. The two countries will likely continue their military cooperation “at least for the foreseeable future,” it added.

In a joint statement, the member nations behind the MSMT – Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States – urged North Korea to “engage in meaningful diplomacy.”

Western governments have become increasingly concerned about the long-term implications of what appears to be a deepening strategic partnership between the two nations.

In recent months, the US has warned that Russia may be close to sharing advanced space and satellite technology with North Korea in exchange for continued support for the war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged in April for the first time that North Korean soldiers took part in the fighting to recover Russian territory after Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region last year. North Korea also confirmed its troop presence there for the first time in April.

Though North Korean troops had been deployed to Kursk since at least November, they withdrew from the front lines in January after reports of mass casualties, Ukrainian officials said.

Both countries have denied that Pyongyang is supplying arms to Moscow, despite overwhelming evidence. However, as part of a landmark defense pact struck last year, they have both pledged to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance in the event the other is attacked.

Putin has warned he would provide arms to Pyongyang if the West continues arming Ukraine.

In recent weeks, Ukraine’s allies have lifted a ban on Kyiv firing long-range missiles into Russia, after days of Russia bombarding the Ukrainian capital and other regions with massive aerial attacks and as the US grows increasingly frustrated with Putin over the lack of a peace deal.

Kiwi Zhang, a computer science student from China, was full of hope for his academic future in the United States – until his visa was revoked at the US border last week.

The first-year PhD student at a university in central US had just presented his research at a conference in Asia. He was returning to the US after a brief visit home when his American dream was abruptly cut short.

According to Zhang, he was detained at the border for 48 hours by US officials, who confiscated his phone and laptop, and searched his belongings. He said they questioned him about his ties to the Chinese Communist Party and meetings with friends while in China.

At the end of the interrogation, Zhang said he was deported and barred from the US for five years, on suspicion of having shared his research with the Chinese government – an allegation he denies. He is now back in China and mulling his next steps.

Now, many Chinese students studying in the US fear they could meet the same fate, after President Trump’s administration vowed on Wednesday to “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.”

The announcement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio was brief and vaguely worded, but it sent shock waves through China, triggering widespread confusion, anxiety and fear among current and prospective students and their families, as well as strong opposition from Beijing.

Student chat groups lit up with messages of disbelief. Education consultants were flooded with panicked phone calls. Many students aired their frustration and anger on social media.

At a regular news conference Thursday, China’s foreign ministry accused the Trump administration of using ideology and national security as a “pretext” for the “politically motivated and discriminatory” move.

Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of young Chinese minds, drawn by the prestige of a world-class education and the allure of the American dream, found themselves facing a stark reality: the future they had worked so hard for now hangs in the balance, held hostage by the whims of a US administration that increasingly views them – and their homeland – as a threat.

“What strikes me is how tiny individuals are in the tide of history – career plans can collapse overnight,” said Joyce, who received an offer from her dream school, Harvard, to pursue a master’s degree in architecture.

Her visa from her undergraduate program in the US is still valid for another year, but she did not dare to return to China for the summer, worrying that she might be denied reentry at the US border.

“I can’t help wishing I’d grown up in a golden age of US-China relations,” she said.

Growing mistrust

For decades, China’s brightest minds have flocked to America, as their home country played catch-up with the world’s leading superpower. Until last year, Chinese students made up the largest group of international students in the US, contributing significantly to the economy and helping America maintain its competitive edge in scientific research and technological innovation.

But as strategic rivalry between the two nations intensifies, mistrust has deepened. Both sides have ramped up national security measures and grown more protective of their advanced technologies – particularly in sensitive sectors with military implications.

During his first term in 2020, Trump introduced a ban that effectively denied US visas to graduates in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields from Chinese universities believed to be linked to the military. Within just three months, more than 1,000 Chinese nationals had their visas revoked, and the order remained in place under former President Joe Biden.

They include David Yang, whose heart sank when he saw Rubio’s announcement. “This is just too surreal,” said the second-year PhD student in theoretical chemistry at a top university in the Midwestern US.

“When the news broke, some classmates said they were working on their final assignments but completely lost the motivation to continue. I felt the same way,” he said.

In recent weeks, Yang has found it nearly impossible to focus on his research, simulating how molecules interact with each other in the human body. Instead, he’s been glued to the news, anxiously tracking Trump’s escalating war on elite universities and international students, trying to gauge whether he might land in the crossfire.

Last week, the Trump administration barred Harvard University from enrolling international students, accusing the prestigious institution of “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party,” among other allegations.

Although a federal court has since blocked the move, the State Department soon followed with a diplomatic cable instructing US embassies and consulates worldwide to halt new student visa appointments.

As Yang scrolled through the headlines, periods of anxiety would suddenly hit, and he found himself compulsively refreshing news sites over and over.

“I felt sad, lost and helpless. It’s been incredibly stressful,” he said. “The constant policy changes bring so much uncertainty into our lives. It really impacts productivity and, over time, takes a toll on your mental health – and for me, it already has.”

Worried about his visa, Yang is planning on canceling his trip home this winter. His major could well fall under what Rubio called “critical fields” and – like millions of Chinese students – he’s a member of the Communist Youth League, a youth branch of the 99-million-strong Communist Party for those aged between 14 and 28.

In China, most students are Youth League members by the time they finish high school, or have party members among family and friends – thanks to the party’s ubiquity across government and business, as well as cultural and social sectors.

“The vast majority of people in China have some connection to the Communist Party – so this is essentially the same as condemning all Chinese students with a single stroke,” Yang said.

Zhang, the student whose visa was revoked at the border, said US officials asked whether anyone in his family was a member of the Communist Party. He told them both of his parents were. They then questioned him about his own affiliation with the Communist Youth League, he said.

“I said I’ve never had any connection with them. The Communist Youth League charges us seven or eight yuan (about $1) a year, but there are no activities at all. But the officials said: ‘You are lying.’ I honestly didn’t know what to say. I could only sit there, stunned,” Zhang said.

Other alternatives

Facing potential deportation in the middle of their hard-won education, some Chinese students are considering other options.

Ella Liu, a math undergraduate at the University of Michigan, is visiting family in the southern city of Guangzhou before her summer research project in the US starts next month.

“Me and my parents are all praying that I won’t be banned from entering the country in June,” she said.

Liu was drawn to the US by its academic freedom and resources. But if the hardline visa policy continues, she might consider transferring to another university in Europe or Hong Kong.

“I am very determined to study mathematics and there are also many excellent math resources in other countries, such as in France,” she said.

Like many Chinese students, Liu comes from a middle-class family. Her parents saved for years for her to attend college in the US, where tuition and living costs can run to more than $80,000 – much more than getting a degree in Europe or Asia.

Some Chinese students are already looking elsewhere. In recent years, the number of Chinese students in the US has steadily declined from a peak in the 2019-2020 school year – a drop that coincides with the Covid-19 pandemic but also increasing friction between the two governments.

Nelson Urena Jr., co-founder and director of college counseling at an education management firm in Shanghai, said that for years many Chinese families saw American universities as the “gold standard” for college education.

Since around 2018, however, he has noticed more interest from students and parents alike in universities in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, as well as the semi-autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong.

“A lot of families were concerned legitimately about their children’s safety, and then also just the rhetoric of, you know, whether they’re welcome in the US,” he said, citing issues such as gun violence and racist hostility or even violence against Asian people.

“More recently, I think people are starting to see the growing disconnect between the US and China, and feeling like maybe things are going to be more difficult for them – from getting the visa to making payments for tuitions.”

Rubio’s announcement Wednesday also vowed to “revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications” from China, including Hong Kong.

Since then, Urena has been inundated by phone calls from anxious students preparing to start their college education in the US. But he didn’t have a ready response for them.

“It’s just a lot of uncertainty right now. The students are trying to figure out what to do…The options are very limited at this point – Do they do a gap year? Do they go to university elsewhere? Do they have to go back to the application process?” he said.

Nevertheless, for some Chinese parents, the allure of American higher education has not worn off.

Arno Huang, a 56-year-old businessman from China’s coastal Fujian province, still wants to send his kids to the US for graduate schools after they finish undergraduate studies in Hong Kong.

“The US represents one of the most civilized, developed, and open places for humanity. Although US-China relations are currently strained, smart people still recognize this fact,” said Huang.

Having kids studying in the US gives a family “face,” he said, using a common Chinese phrase to refer to good reputation or social standing. “Once their child is in the US, they can proudly tell others, ‘Look how successful my son is!’”

Zichen Wang, a research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, a non-government think tank in Beijing, lamented a seemingly bygone era, when Chinese officials, entrepreneurs and scientists alike were trained in the US – especially those who played key roles during China’s reform and opening-up era that began in 1978.

“When they returned to China, they brought back not only professional knowledge and credentials, but also a deep respect and admiration for America as an open and inclusive society,” he said.

“I believe many Chinese people see what makes America great not merely as its economic or military strength, but its openness – its world-class universities, its confidence in the marketplace of ideas, and its ability to attract top global talent,” Wang added.

“That, at least in my view, is what many people around the world truly admire about the United States.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will leave Berlin with a new €5 billion ($5.7bn) arms package as he seeks to build his country’s arsenal, and its ability to produce weapons at home.

The standout agreement in the package announced in the German capital on Wednesday centers around Germany financing the joint production of long-range missiles inside Ukraine that would enable Kyiv to strike targets deep into Russia.

Also included in the announcement were more air defense systems, weapons, ammunition, “command and operational” capabilities and medical assistance.

One significant aspect was missing. There had been big expectations prior to the news conference that Merz would announce the transfer or approval of Ukraine’s use of Germany’s highly sophisticated long-range Taurus missiles.

Merz had been very strong on ensuring Ukraine received Taurus during the election campaign against Olaf Scholz, the former chancellor, of the Social Democrats. Scholz and the party were very reticent to send the weapons, worried it may escalate the conflict even further.

It appears that Merz’s own fledging coalition with the Social Democrats – now the junior partners in government – appears to have its own significant disagreement on Taurus.

One member of Merz’s party, the Christian Democrats, tweeted on Tuesday: “I still see no unity within the coalition and no political will to respond appropriately, with force and consistency to Russia’s massive escalation.”

The system would allow Ukraine to strike targets far beyond the capabilities of British Storm Shadow and American-made ATACAM missiles.

But standing shoulder to shoulder with Zelensky in Berlin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said: “We will be expanding this support so that Ukraine, now and in the future, can continue to defend itself against Russian aggression.”

Merz added that “this is the beginning of a new phase of industrial military cooperation between our countries that has a great deal of potential.”

However, in keeping with a new edict from the chancellor and his new government, tangible details of that deal were not forthcoming. It has made a conscious decision to withhold information around weapons exchanges to ensure “strategic ambiguity.”

The deal nevertheless signifies a major step in deepening the co-operation between Germany and Ukraine, particularly in terms of arms procurement.

It also marked the third meeting in as many weeks between the two leaders – especially significant given that Merz has only been chancellor for three weeks.

A later statement released from the German defense ministry said it plans “to invest more directly in Ukrainian production in the future.”

Zelensky appeared to hint at today’s agreements before leaving Kyiv for Germany’s capital. In his nightly address on Tuesday he said, “attack drones, interceptors, cruise missiles, Ukrainian ballistic systems – these are the key elements. We must manufacture all of them.”

The German defense ministry statement suggested that some of these systems may be close to deployment. “A significant number of long-range weapons (are) to be produced within this year,” it read. “The first of these systems could be deployed by Ukrainian armed forces in just a few weeks.”

“They are simply trying to provoke further war, thus increasing their indirect involvement in this military affair,” he added.

Germany has long been one of Ukraine’s most generous supporters in terms of committed aid. In both military and humanitarian assistance, according to figures from the Kiel Institute, Germany ranks second only behind the United States.

In Berlin, both Zelensky and Merz spoke about their frustration with Russia regarding peace negotiations, in particular a promise about a memorandum from Moscow following a call between Putin and US President Donald Trump on May 19, which doesn’t appear to have yet materialized.

Merz said: “I would like to thank the American president in recent weeks. Moscow on the other hand is playing for time. The memorandum still has not been shared.” Germany’s leader added that that recent attacks across Ukraine “speak the language of aggression.”

Costa Rican authorities said they arrested 19 people accused of trafficking hundreds of predominantly Asian migrants to the United States.

The arrests Wednesday came during multi-city raids aimed at disrupting what Costa Rica’s immigration police call “a transnational organized crime structure” dedicated to human trafficking and money laundering.

“The operations were carried out in homes and hotels located in Corredores and Los Chiles — locations where the criminal network allegedly moved migrants of various nationalities, primarily Chinese and Vietnamese,” the Costa Rica Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.

The Prosecutor’s Office claims that migrants trafficked by the criminals were hidden in “various hotels” in Costa Rica, adding that police found “high-caliber weapons and cash” when executing their warrants.

Police said they uncovered at least 437 people trafficked into Costa Rica via land, sea and air. Most were from China, but the victims included Vietnamese, Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Peruvians, as well.

“Once these migrants were illegally introduced into Costa Rica,” the statement continues, the traffickers “charged amounts ranging from $7,000, depending on their nationality, to $40,000 for these criminal services.”

“Once (migrants) were in the hands of this criminal group,” deputy attorney general Mauricio Boraschi told a press conference, “They were also illegally moved to the border with Nicaragua … so that they could continue to their final destination in the United States.”

A video posted by police on social media shows officers armed with battering rams, bolt cutters and rifles raiding two different buildings on residential streets, and appears to show at least one person being detained.

In the same video, Commissioner Enrique Arguedas of the Costa Rican Immigration Police said that the investigation began over a year ago in collaboration with Panamanian authorities.

The victims “were being recruited by different criminal organizations that operated between Panama and Costa Rica and facilitated the movement of migrants … toward the northern part of the continent, specifically the United States,” Arguedas said.