EU member states agree higher fines for firms for privacy violations

By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Businesses operating in the European Union could be fined up to 4 percent of their annual global turnover for breaching data protection rules under a proposal agreed on Wednesday. The EU is negotiating a data protection law to replace a patchwork of national laws dating back to 1995, aiming to set clearer limits on how companies can use EU citizens’ private data and beef up regulators’ enforcement powers. Under the current system, not all national regulators have the power to levy fines, and when they do the amounts are often paltry compared with the revenues of some of the companies affected, particularly big U.S.

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Missouri man, charged with threat to shoot black students, denied bail

A 19-year-old white Missouri man charged with making terrorist threats on social media to shoot black students at the University of Missouri campus was denied bond on Thursday, and court documents said he expressed a “deep interest” in a recent Oregon school massacre. Hunter M.

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Student journalist files complaint against Missouri academic who called for ‘muscle’

Student Mark Schierbecker complained twice to campus police about Click, said Major Brian Weimer, a spokesman for the University of Missouri police department. “I thought about it up until last night when I actually made the call and told the officer that I wanted to go ahead and press charges,” Schierbecker, 21, said in an interview with Reuters. Police and prosecutors would investigate the claim and decide whether to formally charge Click, Schierbecker said.

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Bloomingdale’s ‘spiked eggnog’ ad sparks outrage on social media

A holiday advertisement by Bloomingdale's that encourages drink spiking was trending heavily on social media on Thursday with some critics saying the image promotes date rape. The ad, which was released in Bloomingdale's 2015 holiday catalog and was meant to advertise Rebecca Minkoff merchandise, features a woman looking away and laughing as a young man looks at her suggestively. The text reads: “Spike your best friend's eggnog when they're not looking.” The luxury department store owned by Macy's Inc apologized for the 'inappropriate' eggnog advertisement on Tuesday

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