ReportWire

Tag: Northern America

  • $500 million entertainment centre touted for Sydney’s CBD – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    $500 million entertainment centre touted for Sydney’s CBD – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    The Sydney CBD desperately needs a new indoor entertainment arena and the NSW Government has been urged to conduct a feasibility study to identify public land where it can be built.

    Developers believe up to $500 million of private capital could be invested at no cost to the taxpayer if public land were released with the covered stadium returning to public control once a long lease had expired.

    Plans are already being drawn up for a 10,000 seat indoor stadium at the Entertainment Quarter but are reliant on the current 23-year lease being extended to make the investment worthwhile.

    Tony Shepherd, chairman of the Entertainment Quarter, said discussions with the NSW government were ongoing to extend the lease and clear the way for $2 billion of investment in the old Easter Show site.

    “Part of that development includes a new multipurpose, fully enclosed arena which we think is something Sydney really needs close to the city centre,” he said.

    The $500 million arena would be able to accommodate professional basketball matches, boxing contests and mid-sized concert performances.

    Sydney only has Qudos Bank Arena at Homebush and nothing to rival Melbourne Arena and Rod Laver Arena in the centre of Melbourne. Potential sites for a new arena include the Bays Precinct and land seized from the Moore Park golf course.

    Tom Forrest, chief executive of the Urban Taskforce, said private investors could be encouraged to build an arena on government land and called for the NSW Government to…

    MMP News Author

    Source link

  • Posters of Israeli’s kidnapped by Hamas militants torn down in Melbourne – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Posters of Israeli’s kidnapped by Hamas militants torn down in Melbourne – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Posters with photos of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas – including a young child – appear to have been torn down in Melbourne, as tensions continue to rise over the conflict.

    Remains of the posters, which feature missing Israelis under the heading KIDNAPPED and ask passers-by to “please help bring them home alive”, were visible outside Flinders Street Station underpass on Wednesday morning.

    The posters appeared to have been torn so none of the victim’s faces were visible, and most of their names — except five-year-old Amelia Alony — also ripped off the wall.

    The images are part of the Kidnapped From Israel project, which was started by a group of Israeli artists in New York and features images of real hostages, used with their families’ permission.

    The Flinders Street Station posters were not the first ones to be damaged, with people captured on video in London and New York tearing them down.

    “On October 7th, 2023 nearly 200 innocent civilians were abducted from Israel into the Gaza Strip by Hamas,” the Kidnapped from Israel project website says.

    “With the clear goal of returning these hostages back home safely and immediately, thousands of people have been hanging photos of the hostages in dozens of cities around the world.”

    The project has asked people to “place as many posters as possible in the public space” to “create maximise awareness among the global community”.

    Relative Raquel Zichik told a United Nations event and CBS news in the US…

    MMP News Author

    Source link

  • Sydney’s Town Hall flooded by trans rights protest calling for bodily autonomy – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Sydney’s Town Hall flooded by trans rights protest calling for bodily autonomy – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    About 400 supporters flooded Sydney’s Town Hall on Sunday afternoon, calling for increased rights for trans people.

    The large scale event celebrated the 45th anniversary of Sydney’s first Mardis Gras march on June 24, 1978, as well as the 1978 Stonewall riots on June 28, 1969 after the violent police raid of a New York gay bar.

    The coalition of trans rights and community groups, including the Rainbow Rights Coalition, Safe Schools, the United Workers Union and Community Action for Rainbow Rights, Pride in Protest and the NSW Civil Liberties Council demanded tightened anti-discrimination laws to protect trans people when applying for jobs or housing, or when accessing healthcare and education.

    They also called for the reinstatement of the Safe Schools program to teach students about gender diversity, and allow trans people to identify as their chosen gender without undergoing gender reassignment surgery.

    Prior to the Trans Rights are Human Rights rally, the Rainbow Rights Coalition spokesperson Rachel Evans said the group had received threatening calls with blocked called IDs, which she believed were from right wing groups.

    They contained homophobic, and life-threatening taunts including messages like: “You’re a bunch of f*****s, we’re going to come and kill you,” said Ms Evans.

    Ms Evans said the organisation would be monitoring for further threats and had yet to contact police.

    “In my experience, I have had death threats in organising queer action, and I…

    MMP News Author

    Source link