World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

New Russia sanctions keep markets anxious – live
Asylum seeker in legal appeal over data breach receives deportation notice
Amid Ukraine's turmoil, women's rights must not be forgotten | Agata Pyzik
Alcatraz - a picture from the past
Women report workplace sexism: 'They think I can't hear them but I can'
MH370: Aircraft reach search zone in south Indian Ocean - live
Gender-bending sterile male drones deployed to fight Queensland fruit fly
Labor branch demands clarity before handing back water company donation
Viral Video Chart: Christopher Walken, Game of Thrones and cute pets
Socialist Anne Hidalgo expected to become first female mayor of Paris
Letter - The Untouchables in India: from the archive, 21 March 1947
Burma's homosexuality law 'undermining HIV and Aids fight'
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu tinges J-pop's cuteness with a touch of horror show
Flight MH370: Indian Ocean objects might have drifted hundreds of miles
MH370 search resumes as five aircraft look for satellite-detected objects
Palmer United party difficult to score on environment
Reza Barati was 'knocked down stairs and then beaten to death'
British soldier awarded Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for part in firefight
Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech has been turned into a song
We can deliver NDIS on time and get it right | Craig Wallace
PNG will resettle some, but not all, asylum seekers found to be refugees
Four foreigners among nine gunned down in Taliban attack on Kabul hotel
Home insulation industry rep told ‘not to rock the boat’, inquiry hears
Catholic church had evidence to support John Ellis abuse claim
Crimea crisis: what does the US know about Putin's oil wealth?

New Russia sanctions keep markets anxious – live

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:16 AM PDT

As US turns up heat on Russia over Crimea, Russia's Micex stock market is down 3.5% this morning

Asylum seeker in legal appeal over data breach receives deportation notice

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:00 AM PDT

Chinese man in Villawood detention centre issued notice despite assurances those involved in court action would not be removed

Oliver Laughland

Paul Farrell

Amid Ukraine's turmoil, women's rights must not be forgotten | Agata Pyzik

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:00 AM PDT

If Europe values true democracy in Ukraine it must speak up for those who risk being further marginalised

When a war is going on, the thing that is most easily sidelined is the rights of the marginalised. The provisional Ukrainian government includes figures who have been openly sexist, such as the deputy prime minister, Oleksandr Sych, of the far-right Svoboda party. If these people retain power after the general election on 25 May, the already difficult position of Ukrainian women is likely to get worse.

In April 2013 Svoboda, then an opposition party, registered a bill that would have outlawed abortion even in cases of rape. Sych was widely quoted as saying that rape "cannot be proved" and that "[a woman] should lead such a lifestyle so as to not be exposed to the risk of rape. In particular, [she should not be] drinking alcoholic beverages in questionable company." Sadly, in post-communist Europe such views are not uncommon.

The Soviet Union was the first country in the world to legalise abortion in 1920, when it also granted women equality under the law, and legalised homosexuality. Both abortion and homosexuality were later banned under Stalin (between 1936 and 1955) but abortion was re-legalised by Khrushchev (though homosexuality was not). Since the collapse of communism, women's rights have not fared well. Hungary introduced a new constitution in 2011, which "protects life from the moment of conception", and Catholic Poland is notorious for restricting women's basic rights. In both Russia and Ukraine, abortion remains legal up to the 12th week of pregnancy but recently the apparent stability has started to crumble even in the former USSR. As well as passing laws curtailing "homosexual propaganda", conservative lawmakers have banned the advertising of abortion services.

Post-communist Ukraine has excelled when it comes to sexism – after the economic collapse, large numbers of women were left with little choice but to become sex workers, or find work as cleaners or "mail-order brides" abroad. This situation is exacerbated by the power of the Orthodox church, which has great political influence both in Russia and Ukraine; has close links to oligarch-dominated business; and shapes the lives of women, just as the Catholic church does in Poland. It was the orthodox church that prompted an anti-abortion law proposed in 2012 by an MP in Yulia Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna party. The law was resisted by organisations such as Feminist Offensive, which demanded separation of church and state.

The best-known Ukrainian protest group, Femen, who were once effective, have now largely moved to France and all but abandoned their actions in Ukraine. Since then, the role of fighting for women's rights has been taken on by much less publicised leftist groups and NGOs.

The EU should start taking sides and standing up for women. It was put on a pedestal by many at the start of the Maidan uprising but too often membership appears to have more of a monetary than moral meaning. Neoliberal austerity programmes are enforced, but what about civil rights?

If we want an equal, democratic Europe, economics cannot be the only priority. At a time of political upheaval it's easy to neglect women's rights. Those who today support "free Ukraine" and brand criticism as tacit support for Putin's regime are denying Ukraine the rights they themselves enjoy. The new Kiev parliament has a neoliberal agenda that is in keeping with the current politics of the west, but will it also provide a liberalism of rights? If we hope for the westernisation of Ukraine, and to wrest it from Putin's hands, let's make sure this doesn't simply mean further exploitation of the country – and of the women who live there.

Agata Pyzik

Alcatraz - a picture from the past

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:00 AM PDT

The notorious high-security prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay closed on this day in 1963. It was a curious landmark for locals who knew it simply as The Rock and is now popular tourist attraction

Karin Andreasson

Women report workplace sexism: 'They think I can't hear them but I can'

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 12:55 AM PDT

It's 2014, yet from the level of discrimination professional women are still experiencing, you might assume it was 50 years earlier. These 10 reports were all sent to Everyday Sexism

This week a post on BuzzFeed detailing eight journalists' experiences of everyday sexism went viral, with many commenters expressing their shock at the level of misogyny and discrimination women still face in 2014. Unfortunately this phenomenon is in no way limited to journalism. Here are 10 stories sent in to the Everyday Sexism project.

Aviation

I'm an airline captain. I don't even notice all of the everyday sexism any more. It occasionally gets pointed out to me by my first officer and I have to tell them it happens all the time. Passengers think I'm cabin crew, engineers I talk to ask if I've told the captain yet, dispatchers invariably talk to my (usually male) first officer before he directs them in my direction. When passengers on the airbridge can see into the cockpit they actually point and stare at me – it's exhausting. There isn't a tremendous amount I can do to counter it, apart from having a sense of humour about it and being bloody good at my job.

Medicine

I am a female doctor working in a public hospital. I am constantly reminded by patients and other hospital staff that being a female doctor is not yet accepted by society. The first thing a patient says when they see me is "Nurse, can I get another sandwich?", "Nurse, can I get another blanket?" or my personal favourite, "Are you a nursing student?" There have been several occasions when I have spent over 40 minutes with a patient, explaining to them that I am their doctor and running through the investigations and treatment I am going to provide, and all I get in response is: "OK, but when do I get to see the doctor?".

Teaching

Having to listen to male students make sexist and misogynistic remarks about my clothes or my looks while I'm teaching English literature. They think I can't hear them but I can.

Veterinary medicine

I am a vet (working solely with horses), and working in a traditionally male-dominated industry is very difficult. I experience sexism on a day to day basis: "Last year when he had this done, he didn't need sedation, but then it was a male vet that saw him". When I turn up to assist in delivering a foal: "Is there any chance you can call a male vet – I just don't think you will be able to do this as a girl." I could stay here all day writing the various comments I have received.

Architecture

Just answered the phone in office (no one else happens to be in).

Him: I want to speak to an architect.

Me: [after getting several spec sales calls throughout the morning] What company are you?

Him: I have an architectural project.

Me: You can speak to me.

Him: No, I want one of the senior architects.

Me: I am one of the senior architects.

He hangs up.

Mathematics

I am a mathematician working in academia. One day I found out that one of my colleagues would frequently check with a male colleague to verify whether what I had just said (about university regulations or department politics or whatever) was true. He never does this to any of our male colleagues (at the time I was the only woman here). This is the same guy who was on a hiring committee with me. When we received a letter of recommendation praising a female candidate, he told me "The writer obviously only wanted to promote women."

Armed forces

I had a fellow soldier say to me: "I don't think women should be in the military but you're a good soldier."

Musician

I'm a full time musician, and one of the bands I play with was recently reviewed at a live gig for a leading jazz magazine – every male member of the group was mentioned for his musicianship or instrumental skill. The first thing that was said about me (the only female) was that I had a fetching flower in my hair.

Science

While visiting one of my farming clients I was shown a plant and asked if I knew its identity. The farmer was interested that feral deer were jumping over 6 foot high fencing to get into his paddocks to eat this plant. I told him its scientific name (I didn't know its common name) and why the deer found it so palatable. He was surprised that I knew the answer and responded with "Fancy a slip of a thing like you knowing that!" I am a professional ecologist with a strong interest in botany and was on the property in that capacity. How did he think I could do my job if I couldn't even identify common pasture species!

Engineering

I was the only mechanical engineer at my old company. The company was holding a training session for people who installed our product. I happened to be in the same room as the training session, using callipers to find some measurements I needed.

Installer 1: You don't normally see a woman using those types of tools.

Me: Well, I'm the mechanical engineer so I am.

Installer 2 to Installer 1: We're just going to have to get used to things like this, it's the direction the world's moving.

Me: I'm here now, so you may want to get used to it now."

Laura Bates

MH370: Aircraft reach search zone in south Indian Ocean - live

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 12:42 AM PDT

• RAAF search of south Indian Ocean has resumed
• Focus remains on finding two objects spotted by satellite
• Malaysian authorities say this latest lead is "credible"
• Search and rescue efforts continuing in other corridors
• Yesterday's live coverage can be read here

Michael Safi

Paul Farrell

Gender-bending sterile male drones deployed to fight Queensland fruit fly

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 12:37 AM PDT

CSIRO scientists plan to give the pests a sex change and sabotage their mating habits in effort to protect Australian farms

Michael Safi

Labor branch demands clarity before handing back water company donation

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 12:13 AM PDT

Queensland branch will return $2,200 given by Australian Water Holdings only once Icac corruption inquiry proves why it should

Viral Video Chart: Christopher Walken, Game of Thrones and cute pets

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 12:01 AM PDT

Watch Walken waltz in, Buscemi step it out with De Blasio, a cat who thinks he is an escapologist and a Disney near-disaster

We've got our dancing shoes on this week and start the list with a wonderful dance compilation featuring Christopher Walken. The much-imitated actor has appeared in more than 100 films and television shows, including The Deer Hunter, Annie Hall, The Dogs of War, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, True Romance, Pulp Fiction and Catch Me If You Can, as well as music videos by many recording artists, including Madonna. In 2001 Walken helped to choreograph a video for Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice, which won six MTV awards.

Someone who could do with a little Walken magic is New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, who makes his debut at the Inner Circle Show later this month. Luckily he gets some training tips from Steve Buscemi for the charity event, this year called Stuck with de Bill, which is organised by NYC political journalists.

A distinctive style – and symmetry – are features of movies made by the US director and screenwriter Wes Anderson, including The Fantastic Mr Fox and The Royal Tenenbaums. Anderson's latest film is The Grand Budapest Hotel starring Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, and Saoirse Ronan and our video clip highlights the balance in his films.

Our compilation of near misses on the road may be a little hair-raising but, as a bonus, we offer a lucky cyclist who is hit by a car but lands on a mattress

There is no shortage of cute pets this week, with a cat who is into escapology and a dog who loves rolling on the bed when he thinks his owner isn't around. One video that didn't make the cut – but is still very cute – is a parody on the Kiss viral video called First Lick from Jimmy Fallon. Aaaahh!

Guardian Viral Video Chart. Compiled by Unruly Media and tickled by Janette.

1. Christopher Walken Dance No
Walken the walk, talking the talk

2. Wes Anderson centred
Drawing a line

3. Game of Thrones Season 4: Trailer #4 - Devil Inside (HBO)
Diabolical deeds

4. Ultimate Close Call Compilation 2014 || Uniformedia
Smashing stuff

5. When the dog stays at home alone
Rover rollover

6. De Blasio and Buscemi Train for the Inner Circle Show on March 22
Give me mayor …

7. Chamallow, le chat roi de l'évasion - The cat king of escape
Cat burglar

8. KTLA St Patrick's Day Earthquake 3/17/2014
Lights, studio, action

9. Photoshop Has Gone Too Far
Pizza to go

10. Fish tank breaks at Downtown Disney's T Rex Cafe
Fin-ale

Source: Viral Video Chart. Compiled from data gathered at 14:00 on 20 March 2014. The Viral Video Chart is currently based on a count of the embedded videos and links on approximately 2m blogs, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Janette Owen

Socialist Anne Hidalgo expected to become first female mayor of Paris

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PDT

Hidalgo pulls away from rightwing rival Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet in contest for French capital's powerful executive

By the end of the month – barring a physical or political earthquake – Paris will have its first Madame le Maire.

If the polls are accurate, the Socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo will get the keys to the city and the 150 sq metre mayoral office at the French capital's imposing Hôtel de Ville on the banks of the Seine.

Her centre-right rival, the former ecology minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, is far enough behind in the polls to make a comeback in the two rounds of voting this weekend and next unlikely, although not impossible.

Despite official figures showing that 80% of French women (compared with 40% in 1962) are working in 2014, and that 56% of students are female, and despite parity laws, women are far from equally represented in politics, making the Paris race something of an anomaly.

Only 27% of MPs in the Assemblée Nationale are women and only 22% of representatives in the Sénat, the upper house. The two leading parties – the Socialists and the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) – prefer to pay punitive fines than introduce quotas or field an equal number of female candidates.

But what, if anything, will it mean to have the French capital run by a woman for the first time? Parisian women seem unsure that having a female mayor will make much difference to their daily lives.

"If we were talking about a female president, now that would make a change, but we have already had women as mayors of major cities, like Martine Aubry in Lille," said Sabine, 27, a marketing analyst.

Céline, 30, an airline worker, added: "I'm not sure having a woman mayor will actually change much for women in the city specifically, but it will be strongly symbolic, and that's a good thing."

Madani Cheurfa, a political analyst at CEVIPOF, a study centre on French political life, and a specialist in local elections, argues that the gender of the city mayor will make no difference.

"Before the fact that the two leading candidates are women comes the fact that they are both part of a partisan political apparatus and they are both experienced politicians," Cheurfa told the Guardian.

Besides, says Cheurfa, any advantage to being a female candidate is cancelled out when your rival is a woman.

"Nor is it true that the two women have stressed what might be considered traditional 'women's issues', like creches, child care, maternity hospitals," Cheurfa added. "These subjects have been raised because they are general issues, like crime, like pollution.

"I don't believe voters will be swayed on whether the candidate is a man or a woman. They're more interested in the candidate's performance, their qualities and whether they will make a good mayor," he said.

With the vote being seen as a straight head-to-head contest between the two women, the other candidates have gone largely unnoticed. They include the Ecology and Green party's Christophe Najdovski; Daniel Simonnet, national secretary of the Parti de Gauche (the Left party); Wallerand de Saint-Just, a lawyer standing for the National Front, and Charles Beigbeder, a businessman and centre-right UMP dissident.

Recent polls suggest Hidalgo will be the frontrunner from Sunday's first-round vote, and win by about 52% to Kosciusko-Morizet's 47% after the second round on 30 March.

The big hitters from both the Parti Socialiste (PS) and the UMP have been notably absent from the campaigns. Aware of President François Hollande's disastrous ratings, most government ministers have stayed away from Hidalgo's rallies. Jean-François Copé, president of the UMP but still embroiled in a party leadership dispute and now facing a corruption inquiry, said he was not invited to Kosciusko-Morizet's final rally.

The Harpist v the Heiress

Anne Hidalgo, 54

Current job: Deputy mayor of Paris

Nicknames: La dauphine (the heiress), "that woman with the dark hair" (former first lady Bernadette Chirac).

Campaign slogan: Oser Paris! (A Paris that Dares)

Born: San Fernando, Spain

Family: Parents moved to Lyon in 1961 when she was just two. Adult son and daughter from her first marriage; a 12-year-old son from her second.

Education and career: Graduated in social sciences and law, held a series of ministerial offices under the former Socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin. Became deputy mayor in 2001.

Campaign promises: An "investment programme" of €8.5bn (£7bn) in the city but no increases in taxes. Building 10,000 new homes a year, of which 6,500 will be council housing. Better public transport, and more green spaces. Speed limit of 30kph (19mph) on the grands boulevards and avenues. Closing the city to diesel vehicles by 2020. A free moped system called Scooterlib', modelled on the public bicycle Vélib' system and the electric car sharing service Autolib'. Extending the metro. Adding 5,000 new creche places.

Quote: "Paris is still my city of dreams. I will never leave here. And being mayor of Paris is the best elected job that exists." (Observer, June 2013)

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, 40

Current job: MP

Nicknames: The harpist, "Madame Condescendante" (Bertrand Delanoë), "L'emmerdeuse" (Pain in the neck – Jacques Chirac)

Campaign slogan: Une nouvelle énergie pour les Parisiens (A new energy for Parisians)

Born: Paris

Family: Daughter of a local mayor, granddaughter of a former French ambassador and great-granddaughter of one of the founder members of the French Communist party. Married with two sons aged nine and four.

Education and career: Went to private Catholic school, then the elite Louis-le-Grand Lycée followed by the even more elite École Polytechnique, where she qualified as an engineer. In 2002 she became an MP. In 2007 she was made a secretary of state for ecology and in 2010 was promoted to minister for ecology, sustainable development, transport and housing, one of the top cabinet posts. She was Nicolas Sarkozy's spokeswoman during his unsuccessful 2012 re-election campaign. Accused of being "parachuted" into Paris, where she does not live, for the mayoral contest.

Campaign promises: Reducing the number of city fonctionnaires (civil servants) to save €225m by 2020. Pedestrianising areas in the city centre, reinforcing police and security. Combating aggressive and organised begging. Banning the most polluting vehicles, especially lorries and tourist buses. Allowing council tenants to buy their home. Building 10,000 new homes a year (half as public housing, half for the "middle classes"). Extending the Metro until 2am during the week.

Quote: "For me, the Métro is a charming place, anonymous but at the same time familiar ... I often take lines 13 and 8 and I've had some incredible encounters." (Elle magazine – November 2013)

Kim Willsher

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Letter - The Untouchables in India: from the archive, 21 March 1947

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PDT

Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 21 March 1947: Letter: A former soldier who served in India is concerned that the country's lower caste will continue to suffer prejudice once the British pull out

Burma's homosexuality law 'undermining HIV and Aids fight'

Posted: 21 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PDT

Rights groups call for repeal of rarely used colonial-era code in country where stigmatised gay men remain hidden

A law criminalising "unnatural" sex is reinforcing the stigma that leaves gay men in Burma hidden, silenced and shamed, hindering efforts to contain HIV/Aids, claim experts and activists.

Monks, lawyers and the police are calling for the rarely enforced law – section 377 of the penal code, which dates from the British colonial era – to be used to imprison a gay couple who marked their 10th anniversary this month with a wedding-style event.

The ceremony made front-page news on 3 March, and the backlash was swift. The next day, Burma's largest newspaper, Eleven Daily, equated sex between men with bestiality and asked why the couple were not being investigated for violating section 377, which carries a 10-year prison term.

Aung Myo Min, director of rights group Equality Myanmar, which is leading the campaign to repeal section 377, said Eleven Media was using hate speech to stoke homophobia.

Increased hostility against homosexuality could make it harder to reach the community's most hidden members, said Nay Oo Lwin, programme manager with Population Services International (PSI), which operates the largest HIV/Aids outreach programme in Yangon.

Aids experts here say it is difficult to provide gay men with safe-sex information, counselling and testing services because intense stigma keeps them hidden. Gay men were "hard to reach in the most extreme sense" as stigma keeps them hidden, said the UNAids country representative, Eamonn Murphy.

Anne Lancelot, director of PSI's targeted outreach programme, said: "We know there is a large population of [gay men] who do not identify themselves that way, but we don't even know how large that population is."

Murphy said, however, that homosexuality had become more visible over the past decade, particularly in cities.

Burma's National Aids Programme (Nap) puts the number of gay men at less than 0.5% of the population: 240,000 of an estimated 60 million people. Fewer than 30% of them have received HIV prevention services.

This low level of outreach to a group that may also be vastly underestimated alarms experts. Concerns are compounded by the lack of sex education in Burma.

Nap conducted its first surveillance of HIV prevalence among gay men in 2007 and uncovered a 29% infection rate. The rate is now about 7-8%, compared with less than 0.6% for the overall population.

The decline is often attributed to increased condom usage, but it is possible, too, that some gay men are hiding their identity to escape the stigma, Murphy said.

Nearly half of the estimated 200,000 people with HIV/Aids in Burma live in Rangoon or Mandalay, the two largest cities, according to a recent report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Cities offer gay men freedom, but the risk of HIV infection rises when awareness of safe sex is scant, discrimination rife and services frail, the report noted.

If Burma wants to avoid the fate of other Asian cities, it needs to reduce stigma and expand services for gay men in cities, said the report, which stressed the need to repeal section 377. Doctors need to become less hostile to gay men, who are often treated with contempt by medical professionals, according to the study's authors. As a result, "most gay men are terrified of going to a doctor for a sexually transmitted infection", Lancelot said.

Gay men in Burma have a unique set of terms for describing themselves, partly based on the degree to which masculinity and femininity are experienced and displayed. Transgender people are less likely to be hidden and thus more likely to experience harassment, especially from police, according to complaints to the Human Rights Commission set up by Burma's nominally civilian government.

Gay men who identify themselves as heterosexual, however, are more likely to be hidden, married and susceptible to bribery, according to the UNDP report. Expanding internet access in Burma is providing a new way for gay men to connect anonymously, as well as more opportunities for risky sex.

PSI is expanding its outreach programme online. "We're going on the cruising websites and Apps, such as Grinder and Jack D," Lancelot said. "This might help us reach people who do not come to our [18] drop-in centres. We are watching very carefully what is happening in Thailand, where there seems to be quite a rebound of the HIV epidemic among [gay men]. We need to be ahead of the curve."

HIV prevalence among gay men in Bangkok surged from 17.3% to 28.3% between 2003 and 2005, and remains at nearly 30%, according to a 2013 report by Thailand's public health ministry and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu tinges J-pop's cuteness with a touch of horror show

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 11:56 PM PDT

Scarier than Lady Gaga, sartorially freakier than Katy Perry, Japan's gonzo pop star pushes fantasy to its grotesque limits

Everett True

Flight MH370: Indian Ocean objects might have drifted hundreds of miles

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 11:46 PM PDT

Experts cast doubt on prospect of finding objects picked up on satellite imagery on 16 March

Paul Farrell

MH370 search resumes as five aircraft look for satellite-detected objects

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 11:24 PM PDT

Australian PM defends decision to reveal possible discovery of debris, saying families deserve to be told of 'credible evidence'

Daniel Hurst

Palmer United party difficult to score on environment

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 11:18 PM PDT

PUP rates question marks on two environmental scorecards released ahead of WA Senate election

Lenore Taylor

Reza Barati was 'knocked down stairs and then beaten to death'

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 11:03 PM PDT

Manus Island detainees reveal what they saw as part of inquiry into night of unrest at the island's detention centre

British soldier awarded Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for part in firefight

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 11:00 PM PDT

Lance corporal Simon Moloney was shot in neck and knocked off a roof but returned to act as a spotter in Afghanistan

A British soldier has been awarded a Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for his part in a firefight in Afghanistan last year in which he returned to his post in spite of having been shot in the neck.

Lance corporal Simon Moloney was knocked off a roof by the force of the shot but returned to act as a spotter for an hour and a half, directing fire at insurgent positions.

The ministry of defence said that without his presence "it is likely that his troop would have sustained multiple casualties". He is one of 117 awards for gallantry and meritorious service in the operational honours list published on Friday.

Moloney, of the Household Cavalry regiment, was part of a helicopter-borne operation with the Afghan army that landed in darkness in an insurgent stronghold, the MoD said. They broke into a compound at first light, coming under fire. Moloney was sent to the roof to keep watch as the soldiers moved onto another target.

"Not long into the attack, Moloney suffered a gunshot wound to the neck which missed his vital arteries and voicebox by millimetres, but the force of which threw him off the roof," the MoD said. After first aid, he returned to the roof, providing vital information, until ordered to seek medical attention.

Other awards from Afghanistan include the Distinguished Flying Cross to RAF flight lieutenant Charlie Lockyear and master aircrew Bob Sunderland who was mentioned in dispatches. The two succeeded in picking up evacuated troops in spite of damage to the helicopter from heavy fire and Sunderland being wounded by shrapnel.

In the UK, Royal Navy chief petty officer Neil Halsey is awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery for boarding a sinking tug off the coast of Torbay amid fears that more than 200 tonnes of diesel might flow in the direction of the town if the boat broke up.

He "repeatedly immersed himself in a pitch-black, unfamiliar engine room with oily water up to his shoulders and only a torch to guide him in a bid to find the source of the leak," block it and activate the pumps, the MoD said.

Ewen MacAskill

Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech has been turned into a song

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 10:58 PM PDT

Former PM's famous attack on 'sexist' Tony Abbott gets harmonious makeover by award-winning Australian choir

Helen Davidson

We can deliver NDIS on time and get it right | Craig Wallace

Posted: 20 Mar 2014 10:12 PM PDT

Craig Wallace: Yes, time was an issue – but the capability review's comparison of the NDIA to a half-built plane flying through the air is over the top

Craig Wallace