Blow to Modi's ambition in north-eastern India

NEW DELHI • India's Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the government's imposition of direct rule in a remote north-eastern state was illegal, and that the dislodged opposition Congress party should return to power.

The government imposed so-called president's rule in Arunachal Pradesh, a vast but sparsely populated state bordering China, in January after the ruling Congress party there suffered splits which the government believed left it unable to govern.

The court's order is a blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambition of expanding the influence of his Bharatiya Janata Party in the north-east.

REUTERS

Tiananmen museum in HK closes

HONG KONG • A Hong Kong museum dedicated to the 1989 Tiananmen protests has closed after organisers said that opposition from the building's owners corporation had made it impossible to continue.

More than 24,000 people visited the 800-sq-ft June 4th Museum in the Tsim Sha Tsui district in the two years since it opened, the operators said in a statement.

The 1989 protests engulfed Beijing and other Chinese cities as students and workers pushed for more democratic governance and an end to corruption. The military crushed the protests, killing hundreds, possibly thousands.

NEW YORK TIMES

Missile mishap: Taiwan ramps up training

TAIPEI • Taiwan yesterday said it was ramping up defence training and guidelines after a missile was accidentally launched towards China, killing one person and triggering a stern response from Beijing.

The Hsiung-feng III (Brave Wind) missile flew for about 75km before hitting a trawler earlier this month in waters off Penghu, a Taiwanese- administered island group in the Taiwan Strait.

It killed the boat's skipper and injured three crew members.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE