Latest news with #ToysRUs
IOL News
22-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- IOL News
National Play Day: a call to action for South African families to prioritise play
Join in fun with National Play Day Image: Suppled South African children are facing a crisis as decreasing levels of physical activity and increasing screen time threaten their health and development. In a compelling response, the popular toy brand Toys R Us has proclaimed 26 July as National Play Day, urging families across the nation to halt their daily routines and prioritise play—a fundamental aspect of healthy childhood development. This initiative is part of the broader Superpower of Play campaign, which aims to reignite awareness around the critical importance of play in a child's life. The urgency of this message is underscored by alarming statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which recommends that children aged 5 to 17 engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. However, global data reveals that over 80% of children are failing to meet these guidelines. A recent report from the South African Journal of Child Health indicates that screen time among local children has surged, with kids aged 8 to 12 spending an average of 5 to 7 hours per day on screens outside of school hours. This excessive screen exposure has resulted in soaring rates of childhood anxiety, diminished social interactions, poor sleep quality, and a significant decline in imaginative play. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading This initiative is part of the broader Superpower of Play campaign, which aims to reignite awareness around the critical importance of play in a child's life Image: Supplied 'We are facing a global erosion of childhood,' warns Nicky Rodseth, Principal of Montessori Life Pre-School. 'Children are over-scheduled, overstimulated by screens, and under-exposed to the kind of spontaneous, creative, unstructured play that builds emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility.' On 26 July, Toys R Us will rally parents, educators, and communities nationwide to pledge to play. Flagship events will occur at select locations, including Toys R Us Fourways Mall in Johannesburg, Gateway Theatre of Shopping in Durban, and Canal Walk Shopping Centre in Cape Town. Each venue will transform into a playground, featuring interactive play stations with iconic brands like XSHOT, LEGO®, Nintendo, Crayola, and Sticki Rolls. Join this vital movement and rediscover the joy of play—because when children play, they thrive.
IOL News
22-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- IOL News
National Play Day: a call to action for South African families to prioritise play
Join in fun with National Play Day Image: Suppled South African children are facing a crisis as decreasing levels of physical activity and increasing screen time threaten their health and development. In a compelling response, the popular toy brand Toys R Us has proclaimed 26 July as National Play Day, urging families across the nation to halt their daily routines and prioritise play—a fundamental aspect of healthy childhood development. This initiative is part of the broader Superpower of Play campaign, which aims to reignite awareness around the critical importance of play in a child's life. The urgency of this message is underscored by alarming statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which recommends that children aged 5 to 17 engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day. However, global data reveals that over 80% of children are failing to meet these guidelines. A recent report from the South African Journal of Child Health indicates that screen time among local children has surged, with kids aged 8 to 12 spending an average of 5 to 7 hours per day on screens outside of school hours. This excessive screen exposure has resulted in soaring rates of childhood anxiety, diminished social interactions, poor sleep quality, and a significant decline in imaginative play. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading This initiative is part of the broader Superpower of Play campaign, which aims to reignite awareness around the critical importance of play in a child's life Image: Supplied 'We are facing a global erosion of childhood,' warns Nicky Rodseth, Principal of Montessori Life Pre-School. 'Children are over-scheduled, overstimulated by screens, and under-exposed to the kind of spontaneous, creative, unstructured play that builds emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility.' On 26 July, Toys R Us will rally parents, educators, and communities nationwide to pledge to play. Flagship events will occur at select locations, including Toys R Us Fourways Mall in Johannesburg, Gateway Theatre of Shopping in Durban, and Canal Walk Shopping Centre in Cape Town. Each venue will transform into a playground, featuring interactive play stations with iconic brands like XSHOT, LEGO®, Nintendo, Crayola, and Sticki Rolls. Join this vital movement and rediscover the joy of play—because when children play, they thrive.
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Investors cheer new crypto law while critics warn of potential for crisis
After some political wrangling, three crypto bills favored by President Donald Trump received key support on Capitol Hill this week, with one of them signed into law on Friday afternoon. Flush with enthusiasm amid the bills' imminent passage, investors have lifted the three major crypto tokens — bitcoin, ether and ripple — to all-time highs. Bitcoin is now the best-performing major asset in the world this year, having climbed nearly 30%, outpacing gold and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite stock index. The effects of the bills are not immediate, but they will fuel crypto's evolution from a niche, fringe corner of the economy into the mainstream — for better or much, much worse — depending on whom you ask. The GENIUS Act The bill signed into law Friday, and the one that could usher in the most significant changes, is the GENIUS Act. It paves the way for private firms to issue what are known as stablecoins, which are privately issued digital money — think Toys R'US' 'Geoffreybucks' for the 21st century. (The 'stable' part of stablecoin comes from the idea that the tokens' value would always be equivalent to $1.) While some firms have already been issuing stablecoins, they'd been operating in a legal gray zone. The GENIUS Act lays out specific requirements for companies who issue stablecoins, like complying with anti-money laundering laws and monitoring and reporting suspicious activity. In the eyes of many consumer protection advocates, the requirements are grossly inadequate. 'The reason you would never recommend grandmother use a stablecoin is she would have to give away a dollar that's protected by the federal government and deposit insurance, and which comes with a ton of consumer protections, and which pays interest in her banking account, in exchange for a stablecoin that doesn't have any of those things,' said Corey Frayer, director of Investor Protection for the Consumer Federation of America. Most entities now considering tapping into stablecoins amid the GENIUS Act's passage say they would first use them for largely 'back-end' purposes, like reducing fees paid by merchants to credit card companies or more easily converting currencies from cross-border payments. Mainstream financial institutions are interested. The Wall Street Journal has reported several large U.S. banks, along with the payments platform Zelle, are in talks about issuing a joint stablecoin. While Zelle is free for its users, the cost of running it shows up elsewhere in the form of other fees charged by banks. There's little dispute about the potential of stablecoins to make back-end operations cheaper and more cost effective. Company-specific stablecoins could also allow for specially designed offers or discounts on their products if they pay using the company's token. The controversy over them comes in three parts. The first is Trump and his family's interest in stablecoins — namely the one issued in March by World Liberty Financial. Launched in 2024, World Liberty is majority-owned by the Trump Organization, though no family member is a director and the president has previously said he is not involved in active management of the firm. While the World Liberty stablecoin has yet to gain any kind of mainstream traction, it's already been selected to back a $2 billion investment by Abu Dhabi in crypto firm Binance. World Liberty's co-founder is Zack Witkoff, son of Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The Trump family has made approximately $500 million from World Liberty since the platform was launched, according to Reuters calculations. Beyond Trump's potential conflict of interest, the GENIUS Act raises the prospect of a proliferation of privately issued stablecoins, which could force consumers to use different currencies at each place they shop at, instead of just the plain old dollar. The potential headache could be solved through a centralized app, but it would likely mean consumers would have to create their own crypto wallets — a cumbersome task that also raises the potential for hacks. The second, more profound risk comes from the fact that stablecoin issuers essentially become their own banks. According to Frayer, the GENIUS Act essentially allows stablecoin issuers to bypass most regular banking protections and police themselves — something he says has never led to good outcomes. Frayer told NBC News that the crypto industry is rapidly forming increasingly centralized entities while vaulting headlong into the same risks that led to the financial crashes of 1929 and 2008. 'The reason that banking insurance and consumer protections exist is because of the Great Depression and the Great Recession,' he said. 'If we go back to a system with a whole bunch of unregulated banks being allowed to issue stablecoins, we will end up with another financial crisis.' Advocacy publication Consumer Reports also opposed the legislation, saying it fails to protect consumers and the economy from the risks posed by stablecoins. 'As stablecoins become more intertwined with the mainstream banking system, consumers and businesses could be exposed to higher levels of risk, which may lead to insolvencies and federal bailouts,' Delicia Hand, senior director for digital marketplace at Consumer Reports, said in a statement. In a statement, the head of the Blockchain Association, a trade group, praised the GENIUS Act for offering 'tailored' rules for stablecoins. 'This marks real momentum toward regulatory clarity that protects consumers, supports innovation, and reinforces the strength of the U.S. dollar in the digital economy,' CEO Summer Mersinger said. The CLARITY Act The two other bills under consideration are more statutory in nature — though one has major implications for the president's personal businesses. The CLARITY Act, now under consideration by the Senate after receiving House approval this week, is designed to sort tokens into categories that more clearly establish whether they are to be regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — with most falling into the latter category. That has upset some Democrats and consumer advocates who say it could turn into a giveaway to Trump's increasingly crypto-oriented business interests, by allowing them to bypass most standard securities rules in favor of less stringent commodities regulations. It also gets World Liberty off the hook from facing regulatory scrutiny for its other digital token, known as WLFI. The World Liberty tokens had yet to be designated as securities by the SEC — and would no longer have to if the bill were to become law, experts say. 'Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial would largely be exempt from regulatory oversight if this bill were to pass,' Americans for Financial Reform said in a statement. 'Memecoins, such the $TRUMP coin, which has garnered the Trump Organization hundreds of millions of dollars in sales fees even as most investors have lost money on the coin, would also be permanently exempt from regulatory oversight.' The bill nonetheless has garnered bipartisan support. 'For too long, the lack of clear guidance as to which cryptoasset type is governed by which agency has stifled development, investment, and responsible entrepreneurship,' Yuval Rooz, CEO and co-founder of Digital Asset, a blockchain firm, said in a statement. 'This bipartisan effort marks a turning point, recognizing the distinct nature of digital assets and establishing a framework that supports compliance, transparency where necessary, and market integrity. The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which also passed the House this week and is now before the Senate, is largely the product of GOP warnings about the introduction of a digital token overseen by the Federal Reserve and the privacy concerns that could pose. The bill would ban the issuance of such tokens or their use for monetary policy. However, Fed officials have said the central bank has never been close to enacting such a currency. Other countries, dozens of other countries, as well as the European Union, have moved forward with issuing such tokens noting that they allow for faster transactions and make online financial tools more accessible. Still, the banking industry has also opposed the creation of a CBDC and has expressed support for the law. In a statement, the American Bankers Association said it 'believes strongly that a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is unnecessary in the United States and would present unacceptable risks and costs to the financial system.' 'Issuance of a CBDC would fundamentally change the relationship between citizens and the Federal Reserve, undermine the important role banks play in extending credit, exacerbate economic and liquidity crises, and impede the transmission of sound monetary policy,' it said. This article was originally published on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Details of M&S plan for Toys R Us store revealed
Marks & Spencer (M&S) says a new "flagship store" will be designed to "meet the needs of local shoppers" in Ipswich as it submits plans. The retailer announced plans to open a new food and clothing store within the former Toys R Us shop at the Copdock Interchange in November. Its existing store in Ipswich town centre on Westgate Street will remain open and M&S has officially submitted its plans to Babergh District Council for consideration. The plans reveal M&S will partly demolish the Toys R Us building, while the new store will help employ 124 people. The new store will include a food hall, clothing area, cafe and car parking for 328 customers and 43 staff members. The application added that the development would "complement, rather than compete with, the existing retail offer and improve customer choice and competition in Ipswich". The site has been vacant since 2018 when Toys R Us went into administration. M&S wants to remove an existing wall within the building as well as demolish a small area to the rear to create a larger service yard. Matthew Hicks, the Conservative leader of Suffolk County Council, previously welcomed the news of the new store. "We fully support this deal with M&S because it retains their long-standing presence in the town centre whilst also breathing new life into a very visible entrance to Ipswich that has lain vacant for so long," he said. The council will consider the application before making a decision in the future. Will Smith, property director at M&S, said he was "excited" the plans had moved one step forward. "We have the opportunity to transform a vacant site into one of the most modern shopping destinations in the UK and offer residents the very best of M&S Food, Fashion and Beauty," he said. "The new store would enable us to grow our footprint in Ipswich, building on our existing presence, create new jobs for the community and bring new investment to the area." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. M&S reveals plan for new Ipswich out-of-town store M&S in talks to move in to former Toys R Us shop Marks and Spencer Babergh District Council
CTV News
02-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Four more Toys ‘R' Us stores to close in Quebec
Toys 'R' Us Canada will close four more stores in Quebec, bringing the total to 11 in less than a year. The toy retailer plans to close its stores in Trois-Rivières, Terrebonne, Boisbriand, and Anjou, according to information provided by the company to the Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity. The closures will result in the loss of 66 jobs, according to layoff notices sent in June. However, the layoff dates were not specified in the information provided to the ministry. In March, 89 employees lost their jobs due to the closure of four stores in early May. Last November, Toys 'R' Us also announced the closure of three stores in early January, resulting in the loss of 53 jobs, according to notices sent to the government. The Quebec market is no exception; the company also announced its intention to close five stores in Ontario earlier this year. Toys 'R' Us Canada was sold to Fairfax in 2018 after the parent company sought protection from its creditors in the United States. Putman Investments acquired the former Canadian division in 2021. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on July 2, 2025.
