Militants fired missiles at Greek-owned ship, says US military, in strike that raises questions over who Houthis are trying to target Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have carried out their first attack in the Red Sea in six days, firing at an Iran-bound grain cargo ship, the US military has said, in a strike that raises questions about the group’s targeting. The lull in attacks on ships which the Houthis claim are linked to Israel has led to claims that US and UK strikes against the group have successfully neutralised its capabilities or that potential targets have been deterred from enteri ..read more

Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s strong, big-hearted film is the classy story of a man seeking money for his wife’s operation Somali-born film-maker Khadar Ayderus Ahmed (who lives and works in Finland, the country he came to as a refugee in his teen years) has had a deserved festival success with this debut feature, set in Djibouti. It’s a gentle, humorous film in Africa’s quietist cinema tradition with grace notes of irony and wit. Guled (Omar Abdi) is a gravedigger, who lives with his wife Nasra (Yasmin Warsame) and young son Mahad (Kadar Abdoul-Aziz Ibrahim); he is in fact more like an itinerant lab ..read more

Farah grew up at a time of deep poverty and instability in the Horn of Africa, where criminal networks smuggling resources and people flourished When Sir Mo Farah was living on the Horn of Africa in the late 1980s and early 90s, it was one of the most unstable and troubled parts of the continent. Farah was born in 1983, at a moment of mounting chaos. He has said that he lived for several years in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, when very young, though he was not born there. The city was known in the 1970s for its beaches, seafood and architecture and was still a destination for adventurous trave ..read more

The new 750km line will link Addis Ababa to the sea in 10 hours, bypassing a potholed road that can take trucks days to negotiate With Chinese conductors at the helm, a fleet of shiny new trains has begun plying a new route from the Ethiopian capital to Djibouti, in a major boost to both economies. The 750km (460-mile) railway, built by two Chinese companies, which will link Addis Ababa to the Red Sea port city of Djibouti, was inaugurated at a new station just outside the Ethiopian capital ..read more

Since early 2015 Yemen has been gripped by civil war, with forces backed by a Saudi coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Since the start of the conflict, Britain has sold nearly £3bn worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, a dictatorship accused of war crimes and human rights breaches by several NGOs. Owen Jones speaks to Yemenis whose lives have been destroyed by the conflict and to Sir Alan Duncan, the UK’s special envoy to Yemen ..read more

Man reported to have fallen out of hole in plane’s side following a blast that caused the flight to land at Mogadishu’s international airport An explosion and fire blew a gaping hole in a commercial airliner forcing it to make an emergency landing at Mogadishu’s international airport, officials and witnesses said. The pilot said he thinks it was a bomb. An aviation expert who looked at photographs of the hole in the fuselage said the damage was consistent with an explosive device ..read more

From a Somali love story to a deep dive into Congolese rumba, Guardian writers pick their favourite recent world cinema releases Read more: Books that explain the world: Guardian writers’ nonfiction reads of the year The Great Indian Kitchen ..read more

Khadar Ayderus Ahmed, who directed the acclaimed drama, reveals the struggle to portray his community ‘with dignity and compassion’ “I am Somali and I made this film for Somali people to watch a film in their mother tongue without needing subtitles,” says film director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed. Ahmed made his feature debut with The Gravedigger’s Wife, and after premiering in May at the Cannes film festival’s Critics’ Week, it made headlines as the first film from Somalia to be put forward for the Oscars. “As a film-maker, I felt a sense of responsibility to tell the story of how I view my Somali c ..read more

Diplomatic crisis goes on as Iranian foreign minister tells Riyadh to stop thwarting its diplomacy and Djibouti cuts ties with Iran Iran has warned Saudi Arabia to stop “adding fuel to the fire” as the diplomatic crisis between the two countries continues, with Djibouti the latest country to cut ties with Tehran and Qatar recalling its ambassador. With Iranian diplomats arriving home after being told to leave Saudi Arabia, Iran’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Riyadh must stop working against his country’s efforts ..read more

The speedy Somali sengi had been lost to science until an expedition to Djibouti A mouse-sized elephant shrew that had been lost to science for 50 years has been discovered alive and well in the Horn of Africa. The Somali sengi mates for life, can race around at 30km/h and sucks up ants with its trunk-like nose. But it had not been documented by researchers since 1968 ..read more