A Chinese Harvard graduate's speech calling for unity in a divided world, delivered days after the US vowed to "aggressively" revoke Chinese students' visas, has sparked mixed reactions in the US and her home country.

"We don't rise by proving each other wrong. We rise by refusing to let one another go," Jiang Yurong said on Thursday, the same day a US federal judge blocked the Trump administration's ban on foreign students at Harvard.

Her speech went viral on the Chinese internet, with some saying it moved them to tears. However, others said her elite background is not representative of Chinese students.

In the US, some have flagged her alleged links with the Chinese Communist Party.

In their efforts to restrict Harvard from enrolling foreign students, US authorities had accused the institution of "co-ordinating with the Chinese Communist Party".

Ms Jiang, who studied international development, was the first Chinese woman to speak at a Harvard graduation ceremony.

In her address, Ms Jiang emphasised the value of Harvard's international classrooms, noting how that taught her and her classmates to "dance through each other's traditions" and "carry the weight of each other's worlds".

"If we still believe in a shared future, let us not forget: those we label as enemies – they, too, are human. In seeing their humanity, we find our own," said Ms Jiang, who spent her final two years of school at Cardiff Sixth Form College in Wales before going to Duke University in the US for her undergraduate degree.

A conservative X account, with the handle @amuse, criticised Harvard for choosing a graduation speaker who is "a representative of a CCP-funded and monitored non-government organisation", alleging that her father works for a non-government organisation that "serves as a quasi-diplomatic agent for the [party]".

The account, which has 639,000 followers, has previously posted pro-Donald Trump content, such as the US leader fighting Darth Vader and sexualised imagery of former Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Some Chinese social media users, on the other hand, allege that the organisation Ms Jiang's father works for is backed by prominent American companies and foundations.

The BBC has not independently verified these allegations.

"This is why she could get a scholarship to go to the UK for high school, and later also to Harvard," wrote a user on China's X-like platform, Weibo.

Others called for her to stay on in the US, with comments that reeked with sarcasm. "Such talent should be left to the United States," one wrote. "I hope she will continue to glow abroad and stay away from us!" read another.

But Ms Jiang's vision of a "shared humanity" also struck a chord.

"That she is able to stand on an international stage and speak the heart of Chinese students has moved me to tears," wrote a user on Red Note, another Chinese social media platform.

Another user defended Jiang by hitting back at those who criticised her: "You may not have changed them, but they've heard you… As more and more people speak out like you, you will eventually move and change others."

There are around 6,800 international students at Harvard, who make up more than 27% of its enrolments in the past academic year.

About a third of these foreign students are from China, and more than 700 are Indian.

A man has been arrested and charged after a cannabis farm with an estimated value of £205,000 was found.

The discovery, in Hartlepool's Earlsferry Road, was made by Cleveland Police on Friday.

The force said 245 plants at various stages of maturity were spread out across three rooms of the property.

A 48 -year-old man was later charged with production of class B drugs.

The farm has been dismantled.

A group of MPs and council bosses from North Yorkshire are lobbying the government to lower its house building target for the county, after it more than doubled.

The new target of 4,144 new homes a year – up from 1,384 – would put unprecedented pressure on rural land in the county, the group has claimed.

Sir Alec Shelbrooke, Conservative MP for Wetherby and Easingwold, said there was "real concern house building will become a free-for-all".

A government spokesperson responded: "We have inherited the worst housing crisis in living memory and all areas of the country, including North Yorkshire, must play their part to deliver 1.5 million homes as part of our Plan for Change."

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), senior councillors were worried the new target figure was unachievable, with the most homes previously built in the county being about 3,200 a year – and the average over the last five years being under 3,000.

Shelbrooke said: "Combined with the withdrawal of agreed timescales to merge our district local plans into one North Yorkshire local plan, halting the Selby local plan in its tracks, there is real concern among my constituents that house building will become a free-for-all and not a plan-led process.

"Together with my North Yorkshire MP colleagues, we have teamed up with the council's leadership to lobby government on this, asking for a review of their imposed housing targets."

He added: "We're committed to delivering the right homes in the right places, but this can only happen through a plan-led programme that includes adequate infrastructure in the region."

The new rules mean North Yorkshire Council is unable to demonstrate a five-year land supply for housing, which has sparked fears this might further tip the balance in favour of housing applications and schemes being approved when they otherwise might have been rejected.

Senior planners are worried developers may submit speculative applications in the hope they get approved due to the new target, with concerns this could lead to land banking by house builders, rather than plots being developed to ease the housing shortage.

Councillor Mark Crane, North Yorkshire Council's executive member for open to business, said a housing and economic needs assessment had been carried out which showed the county needed between 2,500 and 3,000 new homes a year.

"We feel the target of 4,144 properties is too high and not one we can achieve," he said.

"We are grateful to our MPs for making the case on our behalf."

Crane added that it was unclear if there were even enough "joiners and bricklayers" to build the number of homes required to hit the target.

The government spokesperson said: "Our revised housing targets have been set in line with the needs of local areas, so more homes will be built in the right places.

"But crucially we will ensure these are delivered alongside the necessary infrastructure and not at the expense of the environment."