SYDNEY: Police urge caution after two attacks on gay men: “In an email sent to various media outlets, Crandell said the time during the Mardi Gras season can be a higher risk for homophobic assaults. ‘There is much more visibility on the streets, rainbow flags flying and an increase in community members going out at night to celebrate Mardi Gras festival activities,’ he said.”

ISRAEL: Gay Iranian poet requests asylum: ‘Payam Feili arrived in Israel at the end of 2015 from Turkey, where he was living in exile. He came to see his latest novella, “I Will Grow, I Will Bear Fruit… Figs,’ staged as a play in Hebrew in a Tel Aviv theater. But now, with his three-month visa running out, he has applied for Israeli asylum. Permanent residency is not normally granted to those who enter the country on a tourist visa, but Al Bawaba says that Israeli authorities are likely to grant his request, in light of the risk to his life if he has to return to Iran.”

LAWSUITS: Trans woman suing NYC for $3 million for failing to protect her from inmates at Rikers Island: “Chanel Austin, a 36-year-old transgender woman from the Bronx, alleges that she was unfairly moved out of the transgender housing unit and put into an all-male unit. There, one inmate broke a chair over her back, another tried to rape her and others threw urine and fecal matter into her cell.”

PUERTO RICO: Supreme Court confirms first openly lesbian justice: “The confirmation of Maite Oronoz Rodríguez as the first openly LGBT Chief Justice in Puerto Rico and the United States makes history, breaks barriers, and marks a momentous step towards achieving a judiciary that reflects full and rich diversity of our country. A diverse judiciary serves not only to improve the quality of justice, it boosts public confidence in the courts.”

KENYA: Film and Classification Board blocks gay rights video: “The Kenya Film and Classification Board (KFCB) has blocked Same Love (remix), a gay music video that was uploaded on Youtube by a Kenyan musical band, Art Attack last week. In a statement released on Tuesday, the KFCB said the video promoted same sex marriage, a practice it claimed was contrary to the Kenyan constitution.”

FILM: Ava DuVernay to direct A Wrinkle in Time for Disney: “A Wrinkle In Timeinvolves a young girl whose government scientist father has gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract, which involves being transported to a fifth dimension with mysterious inhabited planets. She takes part in a search for her father and sees some incredible creatures along the way.”

SPORT: Chelsea FC announces club for LGBT fans: “The club is proud of celebrating our diversity with our Building Bridges initiative working hard to fulfil the vision of a club and community which is welcoming to all, regardless of race, religion, sexuality or gender.”

CHINA: 16 million women married to gay men, says professor: “During the dating stage, they pretend to be passionate about their girlfriends, and have close physical contact and regular sex with the women. But once they have been married and look conventional they can change their attitudes and become cold and indifferent to their wives.”

FOOD: Girl knows how to eat: “For the latest in her series of ‘Kate’s Food Challenges,’ competitive eater Kate Ovens tackles a monstrous 28oz burger from Jam Jar in Newcastle, which is basically three massive burgers in one and comes with a side order of chips and a milkshake.”