Good news for those of you looking for an unexpected late-Spring getaway — the folks over at Dubai-based low-cost airline FlyDubai are about to launch service between Dubai and Kabul!

Indeed, beginning on May 17, FlyDubai will offer five-times weekly service between to two cities — which will likely be filled with the military, NGO and reconstruction types pouring into Afghanistan and trying to keep it together.

This is the first international carrier to serve Afghanistan with scheduled air flights — which means that Kabul is finally re-emerging on the global transport scene.

Launch fare are just $197 each way and the flights are on comfy, new Boeing 737s.

It all sounds oh-so tempting — but we’re gonna opt for FlyDubai’s other new city destination, the Turkish town of Istanbul!

The story of Israel as a bastion of sexual tolerance has been very well-reported: Tel Aviv is the homo-HQ of the Middle East, with an air of openness and tolerance that rivals Chelsea or the Castro.

But as is often the case in the Gaystream, Israel’s tale of Queer acceptance has typically focused on Gay men and not their Lesbian counterparts.

But thanks to some much-welcomed foresight by local Israeli Lesbians, that could soon change.

Indeed, some 70 Lesbians got together last week for the first-ever meeting of The Girlfriends Club – a social, cultural and economic forum for Israeli Lesbians.

The event was the brainchild of 35 year-old Laor Dotan-Ad, who started the group as a way for women like herself to meet…well…other women like herself following a painful break-up.

“We had a horrible breakup. Breaking up with a woman is much worse than with a man. Women are meaner towards each other,” she says. “I realized that strong women of the lesbian community were nowhere to be found, they were hiding in their homes.”

The event was meant to help such women get out of the house — and hopefully onto each other’s radar screens.

Along with hosting monthly mixers like the one last week, the Club will also host social events for corporate types, day trips out of town and compiling a list of female service providers (electricians, auto-repairwomen) for the benefit of forum members.

The club’ focus on businesswomen and corporate types certainly has a “power-Lesbian” kind of vibe. But then the first-meeting also lured a handful of Straight ladies as well (Charlotte, anyone!)

The Club is still in its infancy, but Israelis are super-social creatures and rarely need an excuse to meet-and-greet. Best of all, it  will provide members with a safe space to be themselves in a society that is still pretty macho.

Good luck!

A rather unlikely idea roaming the internet has finally found some serious mass-media exposure: A theory that the USA is responsible for the massive recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.

Indeed, according to a column today from today’s Monocle magazine — a large number of Chileans are convinced the 8.8 quake on February 27th was not an act of God, but rather an act of the Gringos.

(Full disclosure: Transracial is a regular Monocle contributor — and lovin’ it!)

It’s a pan-American conspiracy theory and — while clearly far-fetched — has got some curious science behind it. The story has floated around the Net for a few weeks now, but suddenly real media folks are beginning to tout its bona fides.

So the theory is like this: Up in Alaska — AKA the Palin-sphere — is the HQ for HAARP; aka High Frequency Active Aural Research Program.

HAARP maintains a pretty low profile owing to the secrecy of what it actually does. Since I was absent on marine-meets-military-meets-meteorological-experiments day, I’ll leave the explaining to ace Monocle contributor Jonathan Franklin.

He writes:

(HAARP is) a mysterious weather and radar experiment centre based in rural Alaska, which routinely swallows billions of dollars in US government funding. The centre emits high-frequency radio waves that are beamed up to the ionosphere (the uppermost part of the atmosphere) where they are naturally converted to extremely low frequency waves, useful in military applications like communication with submarines deep in the ocean. Tapping into the massive energy of the ionosphere also opens up a host of science fiction scenarios where the atmosphere’s energy is channeled and manipulated by evil American forces bent on provoking “natural” disasters.

The Haiti-Chile connections comes next:

The internet-based conspiracy theory blames HAARP for the quake and describes the distant Alaskan military operation as a machine designed to zap apart tectonic plates to induce an earthquake. How the HAARP radio waves cause earthquakes is top secret (of course) but Chilean newspaper La Nacion, funded by the government, pushed the conspiracy with a headline “HAARP: Science or earthquake machine?”

Franklin also note similarities between HAARP and other long-rumored US Government sci-fi cover-ups — along with the State Department’s longtime penchant for regime-change throughout the Monroe Doctrine basin.

Like the mysterious Area 51 in Nevada where the US Air Force has long been accused of hiding captured aliens, the HAARP conspiracy taps into the seemingly endless power of the US government to control everything (the weather in this case). It also plays on deep-rooted sensitivities over Washington’s history foul play in the region (in Chile’s case, the often clandestine support of dictator Augusto Pinochet who was backed by the Nixon administration.)

While we’re certainly convinced it took God-like powers for Obama and crew to pass health care this past week, we remain unconvinced that even Barry has the ability to move mountains.

Still, with even Chile’s government — or at least their media mouth-pieces — suggesting the quake was Gringo-made, we’re curious just where next the HAARP folks might unleash their fury.

Like other nations with huge expat populations, our neighbor to the south is looking to El Norte to help fill its 2012 Olympic Team. Indeed, later this month the Mexican government will begin hosting a week-long sports fest for Mexicanos in the USA to audition potential Olympic stars who want to play for their homeland.

The event – Sports Games for Mexican Abroad — will take place from March 29th — April 4th throughout North America under the auspices of Mexican consulates in the USA and Canada.

The goal is pretty straight forward — try out and recruit Mexican, Mexican-Americans and Mexican-Canadians who might be willing to play for Mexico in 2012.  Mexico’s sport authority will test athletes in 12 different areas — though they are particularly keen to find potential stars in sprinting, javelin, discus and shot put.

The Gringo recruiting effort came as a result of Mexico’s dismal performance in the 2008 Beijing Olympics — where the nation took just three medals (two golds and a bronze).

So Mexico’s Sports Ministry is heading abroad to help locate athletes with more stealth.

Sports Minister Bernardo De la Garza is optimistic his effort will prove fruitful, nothing Mexican-American sports stars as boxer Oscar de la Hoya as his ideal recruit.   He hopes that by extending an open door to off-shore Mexicanos, they will be able to finally represent their country — which has not always been the most supportive of home-grown sports talent.

“Historically, many Mexicans with sports talent have not had the chance,” De la Garza said. “We didn’t make it easy. We didn’t stretch out our hand and help them so they could represent Mexico and not have to do it in other countries. What we can do for Mexican sports is open the door so they have the chance, so those who want to can represent their country in international events.”

We think this idea is interesting — though with some 25 million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the USA, we can suggest some unusual applicants for De La Garza.

Charlie Sheen — aka Carlos Estevez, son of Mexico City-born Martin Sheen — might be a good start. What with his clearly endless excess energy, he might make for an excellent wrestler.  Chicana hottie Eva Longoria clearly has a thing for the high jump, as those 24/7 high heels might suggest.

And, of course, there’s Jessica Alba — who’s pops is Mexican-American. Despite gracing the cover of Latina magazine, Alba famously declared she did not want to be called Latina.

We say recruit her ass for the marathon!

We at Transracial were admittedly a bit late to Dwell — the indie shelter mag that celebrates all things homey and modern. But a cheap subscription offer got us on to sign up last year and we’ve been enjoying the magazine ever since.

Dwell’s new April issue arrived in our mail box yesterday — festooned with the over-line “Pefab Today”.  Yet judging from the mag’s contests, it really should have read “PreFAG Today” — because Dwell has to be, like, the Gayest magazine ever.

Not in some sort of Lady Gaga/Johnny Weir/Dan Choi kind of way.

But in a refreshing-yet-subtle in-your-face manner that we’re keen to see more of.

Indeed, over the course of the issue, readers are introduced to three — yes three! — same-sex couples; including two who show-up in multi-page features.

Take a look at page 82 — where we’re introduced to outdoorsy dudes David McAdam and “his partner” Scott Smith. The duo live in a groovy pre-fab pad outside of Palm Springs complete with a soothing/sexy “cowboy” hot tub crafted from re-purposed steel troughs.

Clever!

The dudes are presented all desert-loving and hiking-mad — and clearly good with their hands (perhaps they’re, as The New York Observer might say, Bromosexuals…..but we digress).

Then on page 90 we’re introduced to lovely Lesbian couple Tanya Wexler and Amy Zimmerman, who spend lots of time in their sleek wooden Hamptons cottage with their four — yes four! — kids.

Nice! (though perhaps a bit noisy).

The couple — who also live in Manhattan — are all smiles, motherhood and some seriously good taste in mid-century modernist furniture.  They’re kind of like soccer moms, only without the hubbys waiting at home.

Finally, some sharp-reading revealed the duo of Simon Pillard and Phillipe Rosetti, a Parisian couple who live, work (and we can only assume) love together over in France.

They’re both industrial designers, with a serious case of Lego-loving — as evidenced by the kitchen island they’ve crafted in their home from 20,000 Lego blocks.

The pair work under the name Munchausen and we think they’re pretty nifty.

What’s cool about Dwell is how they portray LGBTs in a nice, refreshing and much-needed matter-of-fact-manner.  These aren’t buffed chested or headline-making homos — just regular Gay folk, who happen to live in some pretty sleek homes.

What’s also nice about Dwell is that this sense of sensitivity clearly extends to all. The cover story is about a cool California family whose son zooms around in an electric wheel chair and dad looks like a sexy Viggo Mortesen.

His disability is simply presented as fact — with little of the PC/BS analysis that typically accompanies such data.

The kid’s in a wheelchair, the family has two moms; the cowboy dudes are kinda Brokeback — move on, Dwell says.

Move on indeed.

Of course we can’t help but lament the lack of more minorities in Dwell’s pages and the fact that none of the homo-features made it on to Dwell’s website.

But, hey, no magazine in perfect.

At a time when Gay media can often be the worst place to find positive images of LGBTs, we salute Dwell for doing their part to make Gay folks — and their families — that much more…well…like the regular folks they probably are.

It’s gonna be hot on the sales floor at Phllips de Pury’s London outpost on Friday when the posh auctioneer launches its latest endeavor — the eagerly-awaited SEX-themed sale.

The sale is anchored around the not too original concept that sex sells — and sales is what Phillips is certainly hoping for.

There are dozens of lots with 221 total works by endless names – famous, infamous and unknown. Among the highlights is the work above — a 1992 pic (above) snapped by iconicly naughty photog Helmut Newton of France’s First Lady Carla Bruni, sexy and exposed looking at family portraits. The piece is expected to fetch between $4,500 and $7,500 — a relative bargain considering how far Bruni has come from her modeling days.

Other important pieces include Gay-ish works by Tom of Finland (in the $9,000 range) and David Hockney (about $2,000), a sensual-themed pieces by Matisse (from about $10,000), drawings by Picasso, sketches by Andy Warhol, and some seriously color-saturated pieces by photo-artist Marilyn Minter, a Tom Ford fave.

The show is bound to lure lots of curious collectors — but don’t show up empty-handed: You must be over-18 to attend.

Transracial was just in the Holy Land for a week or so — and now we’re back.  Not only are we armed with olive oil and groovy Israeli fashions, we come with this little newsy tidbit.

You know the photographer Spencer Tunick — the dude who likes to shoot thousands of naked people in ultra-urban (or unusual) locations. Well the man is planning on heading to Israel to do mass-nude shoots in Tel Aviv and the Dead Sea.

Turns out the folks over there in Israel are divided over the plan. One one hand, the Tel Aviv municipal council is all for the naked photo-making — and has made clear they’re gonna support the effort. “This is a wonderful way of telling the world about Tel Aviv and its modern and vibrant nature,” said a city spokesman of the shoot, which will take place in the city’s newly renovated port.

As for the Dead Sea, regional politicos are a bit less sanguine.

Dov Litvinoff, head of the Tamar Regional Council which is adjacent to the Dead Sea said, “I categorically object to this project and have no intention of supporting it neither logistically nor in terms of budget.”

“I am a very liberal and open person but as a public official I don’t think that the council which I head should invest in a project so controversial. After all, the Dead Sea belongs to everyone. A nude display of thousands of nudists does not promote the Dead Sea, it promotes the whim of someone who calls himself an artist.”

Nonetheless, it appears as if more senior folks than Litvinoff conclude Tunick’s work is indeed art and will endeavor to have an Israeli edition come to fruition.  Indeed, Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov says the project will do wonders to improve Israel’s image abroad (especially in light if this week’s Biden bitch-slap) — though he does concede local sensitivities will be honored.

“We believe that a solution will be found which will allow the implementation of the project while considering all sectors of society,” the Tourism Ministry reports.

Tunick is slated to arrive in Israel in April to scout sites.  Let’s hope he has a major sun-screen sponsor along with him on this project.  That Dead Sea sun is a scorcher.

We are off to the Holy Land — where we shall pray for each and every one of you, dear readers.

Back soon.

Shalom!

A new autobiography has just been released by John Browne, the legendary former leader of British Petroleum who help turn the once ho-hum company into a major global economic powerhouse before resigning amidst scandal in 2007.

For those of you who don’t recall, Browne — who lived in the closet during his entire 41 year career  with BP — was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his service to Britain by helping BP grow to become one of the world’s top oil companies.

But he was forced to leave the firm he led after his Canadian ex outed him to the British media — complete with allegations of financial misconduct by Browne during their relationship. Browne — clearly trying to protect his reputation — initially lied about the circumstances of his relationship with the Canadian, beginning the downward spiral that would cost him his job.

Three years later, Browne is back with “Beyond Business” — his new autobiography — which tells his tale of rising from a modern-day oil pioneer in the wilds of Alaska and Azerbaijan to running one of the biggest firms on the planet.

Along the way, Browne met a who’s-who of political and economic leaders worldwide — and managed to still live with his mother from 1980 to 2000!

The book details BP’s attempts to twice buy Royal Dutch Shell — the big “get” in the global oil arena — and as well as Browne’s handling of a tragic oil refinery fire in 2005 in Texas that killed 15 BP workers.

Ultimately, Browne offers some tepid insight into his own downfall and the perils of living as a closeted Gay man in the years leading up to his outing.

Beyond Businss is a rare book — one which speaks volumes about the silence of the modern-day closet.

As Africa gears up to host its first World Cup this summer, the continent’s sartorial skills were front and center Saturday night for the third Arise Magazine Africa Collective in New York. A trio of top regional talents — South Africa’s Black Coffee, Loin Cloth & Ashes from Tanzania and Nigeria’s Deola Sagoe — presented their Fall 2010 collections to a packed crowd who joyfully welcomed the designers to the world stage.

Johannesburg-based Black Coffee launched the show with their intriguing interpretation of the classic winter coat — re-imagined as cocoon-like shells draped over the body, cinched and layered at the waist, or rouched from behind in precise, almost couture-like pleats. Rendered in earthy, aquatic tones, the coats’ tailored volume was balanced by a suite of equally on-tone jersey dresses that were clingy up top, yet delicately billowed at the hem-line.

Loin Cloth & Ashes designer Anisa Mpungwe’s pieces reflect the Swahili Coast’s sartorial traditions of her native Tanzania. The emphasis was on fabric and silhouette. Brightly-colored textiles were cut both long — in boldly-patterned sarong-like skirts — and wide as poufy, dark-hued parachute pants and near head-to-toe tunic-like dreses.  There were sexier pieces too — ruffled-black baby-doll dresses, tight, tweed mini skirts, and diaphanous blouses just slightly-scalloped below the shoulder-line.  Mpungwe’s mind is clearly far-reaching — with equal nods to both Europe and Africa.

Deola Sagoe’s collection ended the show with a hefty dose of body and bling. Boldly-patterned at one extreme — black, eerie and neo-Goth at the other — Sagoe’s designs ranged from tight, tone-on-tone cocktail dresses to vampire-inspired capes and precision-ripped leggings. Heavy on ruffle, embellishments and appliques, Sagoe’s work reflects the Afrigarchal ostentatiousness of both her homeland and other emerging economic dynamos. It’s fashion for the BRIC bourgeoisie — for whom demure dressing is clearly still a generation or two down the road. deolasagoe.net