But in Iraq the insurgents see all the foreign and Iraqi press as enemies to be seized or murdered. In Belfast and Beirut in the 1970s it was possible to get killed by accident but armed groups, however murderous, generally cultivated the media. The latest to die was Ali Jaafar, a sports reporter and anchor for the state television al-Iraqiya, who was assassinated in the street in west Baghdad on Wednesday.Iraq is far more dangerous than anywhere else I have worked. A wealthy banker from Basra living in Baghdad saw six of his bodyguards executed by men dressed as policemen before they kidnapped him.It is worse for local journalists They make up most of the casualty figures. It used to be that they were primarily in danger from US troops, but now they are being hunted down because the TV stations or newspapers they represent are the enemy of one or other faction in Iraq Few of their deaths are reported abroad. And even lurking in one’s hotel room is not necessarily a safe option – a fact brought home to me forcefully last November when The Independent’s room in the Hamra hotel in Baghdad was torn apart by a suicide bomb.
Iraq is so dangerous for journalists because they have become the victims of the same lethal anarchy affecting anybody living there Normal safeguards do not work. If this were true then they would not have been kidnapped or killed in such numbers.

Nothing is more absurd than to imagine – as diplomats deep in the Green Zone slyly pretend and my old friend, Rageh Omaar, has unwisely suggested – that journalists lurk in their hotel rooms or in the zone itself. In the past week British journalists Paul Douglas and James Brolan have been killed in a car bomb attack that left the CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier critically injured. Iraq is so lethal for journalists because the threats are multiple. Travel without guards and you are less likely to be targeted, but vulnerable to kidnappers. Travel with guards or be embedded with US or Iraqi troops and you may be safe from kidnappers, but you are more likely to be hit by a roadside bomb.

A mix-up led to him being ushered into the studios to discuss the outcome of a court battle between Apple Computers and the Beatles’ Apple Corps.. He appeared in a “viral” advert for a TV company and is in talks for further lucrative contracts.Mr Goma found fame when he turned up at Television Centre in London for a job interview. Mr Goma’s inadvertent guest slot has been reported around the world and has led to an entry in the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.
The Congolese business studies graduate has now taken on a publicist, Kizzi Nkwocha, who has represented figures such as Chris Eubank in the past, and has already signed his first advertising deal. Guy Goma, who was mistakenly interviewed on BBC News 24, has been inundated with offers, including book deals and the chance of a Hollywood movie based on his fleeting appearance. How can this man be straight?”BOOTS: “They look like something out of Brokeback Mountain.”. He stumbled into a BBC studio bewildered and desperate for work – and he may yet emerge a millionaire. The tell-tale signs are:HAIR: “Looks like he has spent some money on a good stylist.”CHEST: “Buffed.”COSTUME: “It looks like Eighties Lycra, which is still very big in the gym with a lot of gay boys, and blue is quite a popular colour.”TRUNKS: “The real giveaway.

Last year it took legal action against a New York gallery that exhibited paintings of Batman and Robin in bed.Flying Colours: ‘How can he be straight?’For Neil Geraghty of ‘Gay Times’, the news that Superman could be gay comes as no surprise. “Superheroes in general don’t seem to be gay icons to me.” An assistant manager of the Megacity Comics shop in London, he is used to Wonder Woman’s large lesbian following calling in.DC Comics has not always taken a progressive attitude towards the sexuality of its superheroes. “He doesn’t really seem that type of guy,” says the 33- year-old, who has been collecting comics since he was 12. The comic books expert Liam Dineen admits he is surprised at the suggestion. This is a far cry from her origins in 1956 when, as Kathy Kane, she carried a handbag and was given to swooning.Batman and Wonder Woman are already well established gay icons, but not everyone is convinced Superman should join them.