Airport reopens under militia’s eye

The first commercial flight in a decade departed Mogadishu’s newly reopened international airport Sunday, demonstrating how Islamic militants have pacified the once-anarchic capital and much of southern Somalia.

Local airlines had been operating from private airstrips outside the capital.

Now, Islamic militiamen are guarding the airport for commercial passengers, said Sheik Muqtar Robow, deputy defense chief for the Islamic group.

The prime minister of Somalia’s largely powerless government, meanwhile, survived a close no-confidence vote that exposed the divisions in his administration, which watched helplessly as the militants seized power.

TOKYO

Analyses: N. Korea missile broke up

North Korea’s Taepodong-2 ballistic missile, which the country test-fired July 5, broke up and fell back to earth just after launch, according to analyses by the Japanese and U.S. governments, sources said.

The reason is likely because of failure in fine-tuning the missile’s new type of boosters. Part of the missile fell to the ground and the remaining part came down in waters off North Korea as little as a few dozen kilometers from the launch site, the two governments have determined.

The Japanese government initially reported that the missile fell into the Sea of Japan about 640 kilometers from the launch site. But the government will revise the report after officially announcing the analysis results in early August.

LONDON

Bond movie set damaged by fire

A large fire seriously damaged the set of the latest James Bond movie Sunday, caving in the roof of a sound- stage transformed into a replica of Venice for the production of “Casino Royale.”

Pinewood Shepperton, the studio complex where the fire erupted, said filming for the Bond production had been completed.

The cause of the fire was unknown. Three people who had been inside Pinewood Studios were not hurt.