Bangladesh’s Yunus heads to China for first state visit

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts: A day after her emotional speech at Harvard University’s commencement, Yurong “Luanna” Jiang kept running into classmates who praised her message that people should see everyone’s common humanity rather than demonize others for their differences.
“We’re starting to believe those who think differently, vote differently or pray differently — whether they’re across the ocean or sitting right next to us — are not just wrong. We mistakenly see them as evil. But it doesn’t have to be this way,” she said in her address, which drew wide applause.
“The message itself, if I have to put it into one sentence, will be humanity rises and falls as one,” Jiang told The Associated Press on Friday. “We are living in a very difficult time. There’s a lot of divisions in terms of ideas, ethnicities, identities. This is a time where we can use a little bit more moral imagination and imagine ourselves being connected with one another.”
The 25-year-old Jiang’s speech never directly mentioned the Trump administration nor its multi-pronged attack on the nation’s oldest and richest university. But she said the turmoil beyond their campus and its impact on her classmates was on her mind as she delivered her speech.
“Students can be very emotionally charged because they care deeply about a lot of issues,” said Jiang, who comes from China and graduated with a masters degree in public administration in international development. “When you are emotionally charged and activated, it’s very easy to demonize another person.”
She said the relentless attacks from the Trump administration on the school’s funding and threats to detain and deport people studying in the US on student visas have left her unsettled, adding huge uncertainty to her future plans.
“In terms of the plan going forward, I would say everything is up in the air at this point,” Jiang said, who had hoped to remain in the United States for a few years but now is open to working in international development overseas. “At this point, it’s difficult to say what will happen.”
This week, the Trump administration asked federal agencies to cancel about $100 million in contracts with the university. The government already canceled more than $2.6 billion in federal research grants, moved to cut off Harvard’s enrollment of international students and threatened its tax-exempt status. Then it widened the pressure campaign, suspending visa applications worldwide and threatening to deny US visas to thousands of Chinese students nationwide.
These actions resonate with Jiang and her classmates — about 30 percent of Harvard’s students are international, and China has among the highest numbers.
“The anxiety is real,” said Jiang, who knows two international students from China who are weighing whether to travel for work in Kenya and Rwanda.
“Because of the uncertainty of their visas, they are facing a very tricky situation,” she said. “They can either go abroad, go to Kenya and Rwanda to do their internship and work on poverty alleviation and public health but risking not being able to make it back to campus safely. Or they can stay on campus and do their internships remote.”
“It’s pretty heartbreaking,” she continued“They wanted to help humanity and, to see them entangled in politics they didn’t choose, is hard.”
Jiang, who went to high school in the United Kingdom and earned her undergraduate degree at Duke University, said there should be more, not fewer, academic exchanges between China and the United States.
“Humanity is facing a lot of crisis,” she said. “There are conflicts. There is climate. There are a lot things that not only one country can tackle. China and the US are the two most powerful economies or countries in the world. They have to work with each other to be able to combat the problems or the issues that affect every single human being.”
Jiang also defended the importance of international students at Harvard, recalling how 60 percent of the students stood up at the Kennedy School of Government commencement when the dean, Jeremy Weinstein, asked how many came from outside the United States. Then he asked if they had learned something from their international classmates, and most everyone stood.
“A lot of us clapped and cheered. A lot of us were in tears,” she said, as Weinstein told them to “look around, this is your school.”
Without international students, it would be a challenge for Harvard to achieve its mission, Jiang said. Campus culture depends on its globally diverse student body, studying and hanging out together.
“Harvard wants its students to go and change the world and you can’t change the world without understanding the world,” she said. “You can’t understand the world without truly having a personal connection with people from all sorts of countries.”

LONDON: A ban on disposable vapes goes into effect across the UK on Sunday in a bid to protect children’s health and tackle a “throwaway” culture.
“For too long, single-use vapes have blighted our streets as litter and hooked our children on nicotine,” junior environment minister Mary Creagh said.
She said the government was calling “time on these nasty devices” — a type of e-cigarette which are very popular with young people — and banning sales of single-use vapes or their supply in a crackdown on UK corner shops and supermarkets.
Those caught flouting the ban will face a £200 fine, while repeat offenders risk up to two years in prison.
Young people and children in particular have been attracted to cheap and colorful disposable vapes, which have snazzy flavours such as mint, chocolate, mango or watermelon, since they were introduced in the UK in 2021.
In 2024, nearly five million disposable vapes were thrown away each week, according to Material Focus, an independent UK-based non-profit.
More than 40 tons of lithium, a key metal used in the technology industry, was discarded each year along with single-use vapes — enough to power 5,000 electrical vehicles, the NGO said.
Fire services have also warned about the risk of discarded vapes catching light among household rubbish.
“Every vape has potential to start a fire if incorrectly disposed of,” said Justin Greenaway, commercial manager at electronic waste processing company SWEEEP Kuusakoski.
The new law, first proposed by the previous Conservative government, also aims to stem a rise in vaping.
“This new law is a step toward reducing vaping among children, while ensuring products are available to support people to quit smoking,” said Caroline Cerny, deputy chief executive for health charity Action on Smoking and Health .
A recent ASH survey said 11 percent of adults vape, or about 5.6 million people, and 18 percent of 11 to 17 year olds — about 980,000 under-18s. Among vapers, some 52 percent of young adults aged between 18 to 24 preferred single-use vapes.
The long-term health risks of vaping remain unclear.
E-cigarettes do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful elements in tobacco smoke. But they do still contain highly addictive nicotine.
The upcoming ban has already led to a fall in disposable vapes. According to ASH, the use of disposables by 18-24-year-old vapers fell from 52 percent in 2024 to 40 percent in 2025.
The UK ban follows similar European moves. Belgium and France became the first EU countries to ban sales of disposable vapes.
Ireland is also preparing to introduce new restrictions.
But critics have argued many users will simply switch to refillable or reusable vaping devices, which will limit the impact on nicotine consumption.
And industry experts say the ban could lead to more illegal products entering the UK market.
The bill “only makes it illegal to sell disposable vapes — it does not prohibit their use,” warned Dan Marchant, director of Vape Club, the UK’s largest online vape retailer.
“We risk a surge of illegal and potentially dangerous items flooding the black market.”