Some enterprising army man - or woman - took somes snap of Prince Harry during his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Bless…

[via BBB]

Our previous installments of The Home Issue have revolved around design, interior and aesthetic.

We're shifting focus today with an interview between our editor and travel writer Mike Luongo. Luongo's longed to travel since childhood and has traveled around the globe documenting life in Afghanistan, Iraq and Argentina, among many, many others.

The New York-based journalist just edited and released Gay Travels In The Muslim World: an anthology of anecdotes and impressions from and of the Middle East. Though he and Belonsky definitely discuss the book, their conversation veers into religion, the parameters of democratization and the ever-troublesome "other".

Check it out, after the jump.

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Two Canadian soldiers who beat up a gay man will be serving time in prison rather than Afghanistan:

Eric Wright was sentenced to five months in jail and ordered to pay 6,000 euros ($8,500) in damages and Ryan Dowie was given 45 days in jail, a court spokesman told AFP.

The two men, both aged 22 at the time of the incident, were arrested following a brawl in May in which a 28 year-old gay man was hospitalised with serious injuries.

The victim claimed he was attacked after the soldiers had asked him whether he was gay but the court found insufficient evidence proving this.

Well, at least they asked before making an ass out of you and me. They did, however, make an ass out of themselves, their army and basic human values.

It's a pederastic party over in Afghanistan. Unlike the Greeks, for whom pederasty played an educational role, men in Afghanistan are engaging adolescent men for dances, among other things.

“Some men enjoy playing with dogs, some with women. I enjoy playing with boys,” said Allah Daad, a one-time mujahedin commander in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz.

He is one of a growing number of men involved in what is known as “bacha baazi”— literally, “boy-play” — a time-honoured tradition, deplored by human rights activists and clerics, that is seeing a revival in the relatively secure north of Afghanistan.

The boys are kept by powerful older men, made to dance at special parties, and often sexually abused afterwards. Known as “bacha bereesh” - literally, “beardless boys”, they are under 18, with 14 the preferred age.

While these "beardless boys perform a social function for the men, they're not getting anything out of it except for material goods and exploitation.

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The Taliban may have made a tyrannical career of defacing works of art in the name of right wing religion, but as photog Thomas Dworzak discovered, they've got no problem posing for the camera. And they look fabulous!

• So, Italian PM Romano Prodi's handed in his resignation over some bullshit - apparently he wanted expand the US military base northern Italy and send more troops to Afghanistan, but some colleagues thought that the price too high. That doesn't constitute quitting, we don't think. But is sure is a convenient death for that gay marriage bill, huh? [BBC News]

• Meanwhile, things are a fright down over in Tanzania. Apparently there's a man-raping bat demon on the loose and the only way to stop it's by getting lubed up and sleeping with a bunch of men. Actually, we may have found our next travel destination… [BBC News via Can O Whoop Ass]

• From man-raping bat demons to soul-sucking brain zombies: the cinematic backdrop for The Georgraphy Club author and known homosexual, Brent Hartinger's latest title: Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies. We haven't read it, but we're down for pretty much anything that involves zombies. [AfterEllen Blog]

• In other soul-sucking brain zombie news: Howard K. Stern. [TMZ]

• Despite all these crumbling governments and ghoulish monsters, there's still more Oprah on Ellen Promotional Madness! (Co-Starring Steadman.) [YouTube]

• At least Guantanamo's got something going for it: Gaytanamo. [Gay Porn Blog]

• Oh, right, we forgot about yesterday's weirdness: that spiteful exchange between Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest. You kids can fill in the blanks, we're sure. [IHT]

• UPDATE: Don't forget to come get drunk with us at the Jimmy Im endorsed, eastern bloc housed Goodtimes. Details after the jump…

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