A burgeoning new sporting trend inspired by the biggest and hardest full contact hits in American football and rugby has proved deadly, and there’s now calls for it to be banned.

Branded by an organized league as “the world’s fiercest, new collision sport,” Run It Straight games see two people sprint directly towards each other for a high-impact collision, with no protective gear. Whoever dominates wins.

Tens of thousands of dollars are offered up as prize money in organized events in New Zealand and Australia and the game has become a social media craze with teenagers trying it out at home, with fatal consequences.

Ryan Satterthwaite died in hospital on Monday after a backyard challenge went tragically wrong in the small city of Palmerston North. New Zealand Police said the 19-year-old suffered a serious head injury.

Pete Satterthwaite said when he saw local news reports about Run It, he thought the game was a “stupid idea” and instinctively knew that “someone is going to get seriously hurt.”

He just wasn’t expecting it to be his own nephew.

“The ultimate aim is to hurt your opponent, run over the top of him … you’re leading with your shoulder, leading with your head,” he said. “Regardless of whether they have medical staff on site and everybody has a test, it’s still the most stupid thing I’ve ever seen.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon urged people not to take part in the tackling game, calling it a “dumb thing to do.”

“You’re hearing the advice from police, from the medical fraternity, from government, from principals saying don’t do it,” Luxon told local media on Friday, adding that organizers of formal events should stop them.

“To the adults that are involved in more formal organization of it and are influencing it and leading this out on social media, I think you need to stop and I can’t be any clearer,” Luxon said.

Following calls for the tackling game to be banned, New Zealand’s sport minister Mark Mitchell said on Friday he had sought advice on what measures the government can take to crack down on what he labelled “unregulated activities that pose a significant level of risk.”

‘Built to break limits’

The Run It Straight game combines elements of American football and rugby – two sports that have tackling in common but with distinct rules to protect players.

Footballers wear a helmet and thick padding to withstand high-impact tackles on the whole body except the head and knees. Rugby players take the field without helmets and with no, or little, padding, while tackles are only allowed below the shoulders.

The new game has been popularized in part by by a company called RUNIT Championship League, which says the game was “born to go viral” and claims to have “taken social media by storm with tens of millions of views.” CEO and owner Charizma, whose real name is Christian Lesa, says the concept started when he was hospitalized and struggling with mental health, according to an interview with Australian public broadcaster ABC.

Lesa said he was inspired by YouTuber Donald De La Haye, nicknamed “Deestroying,” a Costa Rican-American professional football player who would pit players 1-on-1 for viral clicks. He replicated the concept in Australia and the tournament-like event has spread across New Zealand and the Pacific islands.

As followers and subscribers grew on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, RUNIT began hosting championships where participants bull run into each other and the last one standing takes home a cash prize.

The finals of the RUNIT league were scheduled in June with 200,000 New Zealand dollars (around $118,800) up for grabs.

‘Risk of death’

Run It Straight-type collisions are more than five times the force of a rugby tackle, according to Professor Patria Hume from Auckland University of Technology, who warned there was a high risk of brain injury or death.

“Ryan’s death was preventable. It was a backyard copycat of the Runit events which have been designed for social media impact,” Hume said.

“Runit lacks the structure, safety protocols, and purpose of traditional sports. While rugby, boxing, and MMA are inherently physical, they are governed by rules designed to minimize harm and protect athletes.”

“It’s not about the head hitting the ground, it’s the impact,” she said.

A RUNIT Championship League spokesperson said in a statement that it does not encourage “any copying of the sport” saying it should only be done under “strict conditions.”

Alarm bells had already been ringing about the game before the death of Ryan Satterthwaite. Two men were knocked unconscious, with one of them going into a seizure, during a Runit league event at Auckland’s Trusts Arena last week.

“Safety of all participants at our venue is paramount and we therefore made the decision not to allow any future Runit events to take place at The Trusts Arena.”

High-contact sports like rugby and rugby league are hugely popular in New Zealand and the death of Satterthwaite has put pressure on sporting bodies to take a stronger stance on the Run It Straight trend.

New Zealand Rugby issued a statement warning people “not to take part in Run It Straight games or competitions as they carry significant risk of serious injury.”

“Those wanting to play contact sports should register for a school or club team and learn in a controlled and safe environment how to tackle safely and the art of evasion,” the statement said.

A number of New Zealand schools have moved to ban students from playing the game on school grounds and it has also been banned from some public parks in the country’s biggest city, Auckland, by a local council board.

David Bovey, rector of Palmerston North Boys’ High School which Ryan Satterthwaite attended several years ago, said he had been planning to warn his students about the risks of playing Run It Straight on campus before he heard about Ryan’s death.

“It’s an absolute tragedy… you can almost say something like this was almost going to happen,” Bovey told RNZ, adding he received the news just 20 minutes before he was due to address the students on Monday.

“Teenage boys are terrible at thinking about consequences and they never think anything is going to happen to them and so, you know, something like this I think really hit home in terms of the message we are trying to give the boys – ‘this is something I shouldn’t be doing.’”

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.”