Latest news with #RichardDrew
Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Stablecoin bigwig Circle set to make its debut on the New York Stock Exchange
Interest in Circle's initial public offering is high. The company's underwriters priced the offering at $31 per share Wednesday, up from an expected price of $27 to $28. The number of shares being sold was raised to 34 million from 32 million. Circle will trade on the NYSE under the symbol 'CRCL.' The shares had not opened for trading as of midday. A view outside the New York Stock Exchange on June 5. Richard Drew/Associated Press Advertisement The dominant player in the stablecoin field is El Salvador-based Tether, which has the stablecoin known as USDT that currently has about $150 billion in circulation. USDC is the second most popular stablecoin market cap, with about $60 billion in circulation. Circle said in a regulatory filing that USDC has been used for more than '$25 trillion in onchain transactions' since its launch in 2018. Revenue-wise the company has seen tremendous growth, going from just $15 million in 2020 to $1.7 billion in 2024. Stablecoin issuers make profits by collecting the interest on the assets they hold in reserve to back their stablecoins. Circle said USDC is backed by 'cash, short-dated US Treasuries and overnight US Treasury repurchase agreements with leading global banks.' Advertisement Circle's IPO comes amid a push by the Trump administration and the crypto industry to pass legislation that would regulate how stablecoin issuers operate in the US. A Senate bill There is also growing competition in the stablecoin field. A crypto enterprise partly owned by the Trump family just launched its own stablecoin, USD1. Circle said its long track record and values – the company says its mission statement is 'to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value' – will help it stand apart in the field.
Toronto Sun
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Nintendo Switch 2 launch, after eight-year wait, draws big lines
Published Jun 05, 2025 • 1 minute read The Nintendo Switch 2 is demonstrated during a media event, in New York, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. Photo by Richard Drew / AP TOKYO — Eager customers lined up outside electronics stores hours in advance in Tokyo on Thursday to collect their pre-ordered Nintendo Switch 2 video game consoles. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The much anticipated Switch2 is an upgrade to its eight-year-old predecessor with new social features meant to draw players into online gaming. The new consoles were sold through a competitive lottery system that Nintendo said got about 2.2 million applications in Japan alone. Outside the official draw, some retailers offered their own lotteries to pre-order the devices. Koji Takahashi was among those who missed out on the official draw but he was selected in the second round of a lottery held by a major electronics retailer in Japan. He was first in line waiting outside the store, arriving four hours ahead of its opening. He hoped to secure a limited supply of Nintendo accessories to buy along with his pre-ordered Switch 2. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I feel very sorry for those who weren't successful in the lottery. But I also had tough time getting this far, so I hope they forgive me!' Takahashi said. The new console comes with a larger and higher resolution screen than its predecessor, with improved processing power, offering smoother and more vivid graphics. Nintendo has said it expects to sell 15 million Switch 2 consoles for the fiscal year through March 2026. The company has promised to roll out attractive software for the Switch 2 later this year, including 'The Legend of Zelda' games, a Pokemon title and a Kirby game, as well as offerings from outside software companies. Nintendo is capitalizing on the launch with the opening of a store in San Francisco and the Super Nintendo World amusement facility in Orlando, Florida, both set for this month. Sunshine Girls Columnists Sunshine Girls NHL Celebrity
Toronto Sun
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Emotional well-being. Fall prevention. Chair yoga has a lot to offer people of all ages
Published May 21, 2025 • 4 minute read Whitney Chapman, foreground center, conducts a chair yoga class at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, in New York, March 28, 2025. Photo by Richard Drew / AP Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. NEW YORK (AP) — Marian Rivman is pushing 80. Harriet Luria is a proud 83. In this trio, Carol Leister is the baby at 62. Together, they have decades of experience with yoga. Only now, it involves a chair. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Chair yoga adapts traditional yoga poses for older people and others with physical challenges, but the three devotees said after a recent class that doesn't mean it's not a quality workout. As older adults have become more active, chair yoga has grown in popularity. 'You're stretching your whole body,' Rivman offered. 'What you can do in the chair is a little bit more forgiving on the knees and on the hips. So as you age, it allows you to get into positions that you were doing before without hurting yourself.' Sitting down to exercise, or standing while holding onto a chair to perform some poses, may not sound like a workout, but Rivman, Luria, Leister and practitioners everywhere see a world of benefits. 'I took it up because I have osteoporosis and the chair yoga is much easier,' Luria said. 'You don't have to worry as much about falling and breaking anything. It's not as difficult as I thought it would be, but it's not easy. And you really do use your muscles. It's an excellent workout.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Chair yoga is clearly marketed to older women, who made up the class where the three yoga friends got together at the Marlene Meyerson JCC on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. But the practice also has a lot to offer others, said their instructor, Whitney Chapman. Desk workers can squeeze in 15 minutes of chair yoga, for instance. Many companies offer it as a way to cut down on stress and improve overall health. And people recovering from surgery or injuries may not be ready to get down on a yoga mat, but they can stretch in a chair. 'I've known these ladies probably 18 to 20 years. And the very first time in a yoga class that I brought in the chair, all of my students said I don't want geriatric yoga. I'm not an old person,' Chapman said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'And then they saw that having a chair is just as good as a yoga strap, a yoga block. It's another prop that's going to help you do what you want to do. So it's not necessarily because you're older, but that it can be helpful. And it doesn't mean you're geriatric just because you're sitting in a chair.' The benefits are many, Chapman said: improved flexibility, strength, balance. And there's the overall emotional well-being that yoga practitioners in general report. It's particularly useful for people with mobility issues or chronic ailments like arthritis or back pain. Chapman also teaches yoga to cancer and Parkinson's disease patients. In addition to restorative and other benefits, the practice of chair yoga can help improve posture for people of all ages and abilities, and help older people prevent falls. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Whitney Chapman, right, conducts a chair yoga class at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, in New York, March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) A physical practice that can last a lifetime Leister recently retired. 'I've been looking for all different kinds of exercises to do and this is one of them,' she said. 'This is the one that I could see doing for the rest of my life, where some that are a little more strenuous I may not be able to do in the future.' Traditional yoga originated more than 5,000 years ago in India. Many of the poses used today are also that old. It can be as much spiritual as physical, and that also goes for its chair descendant. The precise movements are tied to deliberate, cleansing breathwork. Rivman has been doing yoga for about 50 years. 'Once you start and you get what it does for your body, you don't want to give it up. And if there's a way that you can keep doing it and keep doing it safely, that's a choice you're going to make,' she said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The practice of yoga, including chair yoga, has been on the rise in the U.S. over the last 20 years. In 2022, the percentage of adults age 18 and older who practiced yoga in the past 12 months was 16.9%, with percentages highest among women ages 18_44, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women are more than twice as likely as men to practice yoga, the data showed. The percentage of adults who practiced yoga to treat or manage pain decreased with increasing family income. The CDC, didn't break out chair yoga for analysis but recommends that adults 65 and older focus on activities that improve balance and strength. That, the health agency said, can be achieved through various exercises, including chair yoga. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Chapman and her students have thoughts on why more men don't practice yoga. Traditionally, Chapman said, the practice was reserved for men, but as yoga became more westernized, women took over. 'Women tend to be more group-oriented. I would love to see more men in class. I do have a few. I don't know if they're intimidated, but you know, it's a great way to meet women if everybody's single,' Chapman said with a chuckle. Luria theorizes that fewer men are drawn to yoga because it's not a competitive sport. 'You're really working at your own level,' she said. 'Take out the competition and it's not their thing.' These chair yoga practitioners have lots of advice. Rivman summed it up best: 'Get into a chair and do some yoga. You don't have to stand on your head, but you have to move. You're never too old to start.' For more health news and content around diseases, conditions, wellness, healthy living, drugs, treatments and more, head to – a member of the Postmedia Network. Canada Columnists Sunshine Girls Toronto Maple Leafs Basketball
Toronto Sun
15-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
Coinbase said cyber crooks stole customer information and demanded $20M ransom
Published May 15, 2025 • 2 minute read The Coinbase logo covers the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's Times Square, April 14, 2021. Photo by Richard Drew / AP Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange based in the U.S., said Thursday that criminals had improperly obtained personal data on the exchange's customers for use in crypto-stealing scams and were demanding a $20 million payment not to publicly release the info. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a social media post that criminals had bribed some of the company's customer service agents who live outside the U.S. to hand over personal data on customers, like names, dates of birth and partial social security numbers. '(The stolen data) allows them to conduct social engineering attacks where they can call our customers impersonating Coinbase customer support and try to trick them into sending their funds to the attackers,' Armstrong said. Social engineering is a popular hacking strategy, as humans tend to be the weakest link in any network. Many large companies have suffered hacks and data breaches as a result of such scams in recent years. Coinbase did not specify how many customers had their data stolen or fell prey to social engineering scams. But the company did pledge to reimburse any who did. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Coinbase estimated that it would have to spend between $180 million to $400 million 'relating to remediation costs and voluntary customer reimbursements relating to this incident.' The SEC filing said that the company had, 'in previous months,' detected some of its customer service agents 'accessing data without business need.' Those employees had been fired, and the company said it stepped up its fraud prevention efforts. Coinbase said it received an email from the attackers on Sunday demanding a ransom of $20 million worth of bitcoin not to publicly release the customer data they had stolen. Armstrong said the company was refusing to pay the ransom and would instead offer a $20 million bounty for anyone who provided information that led to the attackers' arrest. 'For these would-be extortionists or anyone seeking to harm Coinbase customers, know that we will prosecute you and bring you to justice,' Armstrong said. 'And know you have my answer.' Toronto Maple Leafs Columnists World Relationships Toronto & GTA
Toronto Sun
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
New U.S.-backed group says it will start aid operations in Gaza within weeks
Published May 14, 2025 • 2 minute read UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher responds to questions during an interview at United Nations headquarters, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Photo by Richard Drew / AP Photo WASHINGTON — A new humanitarian organization that has U.S. backing to take over aid delivery to starving civilians in Gaza said Wednesday that it expects to begin operations before the end of the month — after what it describes as key agreements from Israeli officials. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account A statement from the group, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, identified several U.S. military veterans, former humanitarian coordinators and security contractors that it said would lead the delivery effort. Many in the aid community believe it is meant to supplant the distribution system now run by the UN and other international aid agencies. The foundation failed to address much of the criticism and unanswered questions that the international community has about the group, including who would fund the work and how much involvement the U.S., Israel or any other government or military would have in controlling life-saving aid for Palestinian civilians. In an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief, said the U.S.-backed proposal is 'far from being able to meet' the conditions of humanitarian law. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'That's why we need to stick to the better plan, our plan A, which is just let us in. We can make sure this aid doesn't get anywhere near Hamas,' Fletcher said, referencing Israeli accusations that the militant group is diverting supplies. 'We have our procedures. We care more than anyone about making sure that it gets to the children and civilians and women who need it most.' Israel has blocked food, fuel, medicine and all other supplies from entering Gaza for weeks, worsening a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians. Israel says the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release the hostages it still holds and that it won't allow aid back in until a system is in place that gives it control over distribution. The UN and many aid groups have rejected Israel's efforts to control aid distribution, saying it would be all but impossible for a new startup group to meet the humanitarian needs of Gaza civilians after 19 months of food shortages and war. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Aid groups say they also fear the attempt would violate humanitarian principles of operating independently with neutrality and impartiality. In Wednesday's statement, foundation executive director Jake Wood, a U.S. military veteran and co-founder of an existing disaster relief group called Team Rubicon, said the commitment to starting operations within weeks follows discussions with Israeli officials. Wood indicated Israelis had agreed to allow the foundation to deliver aid through existing systems in Gaza temporarily while the group builds new distribution sites that Israel has demanded for aid. Israelis also have agreed to allow more sites to be constructed to allow aid distribution in all of Gaza, and look for ways to get aid to those too malnourished, maimed by fighting, too old or too young to travel long distances to one of the aid sides, the foundation's statement said. The foundation was in the 'final stages' of gathering enough aid to serve 300 million meals in the first 90 days of operation, Wood wrote. Israel's mission to the United Nations didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment about the foundation's statement. — Amiri reported from the United Nations. Toronto & GTA Relationships Toronto Maple Leafs Olympics Columnists
