this is business live from bbc news with samantha simmonds and alice baxter. privacy revolution. new laws come in across europe — giving citizens power over their own personal data — and threatening huge fines for firms that abuse it. live from london, that's our top story on friday 25 may. tough new data protection laws come into effect on friday that promise to bolster consumer rights. but have businesses done enough to prepare for gdpr? struggling british retail hardware chain homebase has been sold by its australian owner for little more than a dollar. the markets in europe all in green.

and we look back on another week of big busiuness stories. including mark zuckerberg being grilled by the eu parliament over the data scandal. and with the new eu data protection rules coming into force today — gdpr — we want to know is your business being affected? or, as a consumer, are you delighted to possibly not be receiving so many emails? let us know, just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. (pres+sting) we start with four letters that — from today — will transform the way companies do business in europe. gdpr — or general data protection regulation — is the biggest shake—up of privacy laws since the birth of the internet. it gives people across the european union control over their own personal data — and could mean huge fines for organisations that misuse it.

you have probably had a lot of e—mails lately from companies asking you to review the privacy policy. that is because from today and new law starts which changes how our personal data can be used and stops companies using old tricks to get hold of our personal information. gdpr stands for general data protection regulations. it's a huge new law which applies to all eu countries but even companies in america or china have to follow the new rules dealing with eu citizens. gdpr spells out how companies can get our consent to use our personal information. a request from consent cannot be buried under pages of terms and conditions, it has to be clearly distinguishable from other matters. pre—ticked boxes can no

longer be used to indicate consent and making someone hand over more information in exchange for extra features are our premium service is also not allowed because that is not count as freely given consent. with me is the bbc‘s technology correspondent rory cellan—jones. how onerous is this going to be for businesses are at the packing perhaps undulate? there is a lot of panic particularly from small organisations. they've had a long time to prepare for this. i have been getting messages in my inbox not from companies necessarily but from gdpr consultants for the last 18 months. it has been out there. i think what there has—been is a lot of misinformation and small organisations have watched what big organisations have watched what big organisations do and it's frightened them because a lot of these big organisations have been sending out these e—mails saying you need to opt in to continue receiving information from us. those may not have been

necessary , from us. those may not have been necessary, or they may indicate those organisations had not really done their best to get your permission in the past so i now panicking. but i think it's complex and it does involve a lot of preparation and some companies are finding they been a bit late to the party. difficult for businesses, what about consumers? we have all been inundated with these e—mails asking us about what they want to do with the data, does this but the power back into the hands of the consumer? in one way it is fantastic, i have loved it because my inbox has been filling up with all sorts of messages from companies i never knew had me on their mailing list and i have been ignoring them. this is the day my inbox gets a spring clean. ignoring them does not mean they will not contact you in the future. it does if they have said you have got to do this by this date. but a lot of them have not.

but i have clicked unsubscribe. it does put more powers in the hands of consumers but i think there's still quite a lot of two go before we find it had to exercise that power. knowing what companies do have data only and then go into them and using the mechanism they are supposed to supply to show you what they've got and raise it if you want to, i don't think a lot of businesses will be up and running with that immediately. i think consumers will need a helping hand as well. what sort of data are we talking about that companies have to be extra vigilant about asking for now, or keeping? we all know lots of companies keep lots of data. it ranges from just your e—mail address to all sorts of banking information and in the case of big social networks your photographs,

what you look like, your date of birth. very valuable information if it falls into the wrong hands. we are asking viewers to get in touch on twitter whether they are a business or a consumer, let us know what your thoughts are on these new gdpr rules using the hashtag. thank you forjoining us. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. a us court has ordered south korea's samsung electronics pay $539 million in damages for copying features of apple's original iphone. the jury's decision is the latest step in a long—running legal battle between the world's top smartphone makers. it began in 2011 when apple argued samsung had infringed on some patents. netflix has become the world's most valuable media company — albeit briefly. the streaming giant's stock market value hit more than $153 billion in thursday afternoon

trade on wall street — for a time putting it ahead of walt disney. traditional media giants like fox and disney have been shaken by the rise of online streaming which has lured households away from cable tv. mcdonald's shareholders have rejected a proposal asking the firm to report on its use of plastic straws. activist group sumost has been pressing the fast food giant over their impact on the environment and wildlife — and an online petition has attracted nearly 500,000 signatures. but the measure won less than 8% of the vote at the company's annual meeting. struggling british retail hardware chain homebase has been sold by its australian owner for a nominal fee for little more than a dollar. wesfarmers expects to make a loss of up to $307 million after buying the diy retail chain two years ago. 0ur asia business correspondent, sarah toms, joins us with more on this from singapore.

what has gone so badly wrong?m what has gone so badly wrong? it is not good, the australian owner of homebase throwing in the towel after two years. it's been a disastrous foray into the uk market for wesfarmers. they are hoping to use the purchase of homebase to take on one of britain's biggest diy chains, bandq one of britain's biggest diy chains, b and 0 but these revamped stores failed to win over shoppers. 0ne b and 0 but these revamped stores failed to win over shoppers. one of the problems was a lot of the popular homebase products were replaced by unfamiliar products favoured more by australian shoppers. it did not get the sales. also wesfarmers initial acquisition coincided with the downturn in the uk retail sector. this has seen many

local high street stores closed down. now instead of getting into the uk market, wesfarmers will be working at a loss of around $307 million as you said on this sale. the new owners are going to change all 2a of the stores which were renamed back to homebase. thank you very much. the asian markets pretty much shrugging off the news that donald trump cancelled the summit with north korea even though american markets reacted sharply to that. all fairly middle of the road, not much movement in asia. let's look at the european markets over the past half—hour or all in green. all were the news from donald trump and his pronouncement, they seem to be getting used to that. all up a

fraction so far today. and joe miller has the details about what's ahead on wall street today. 0n on friday wall street will be watching donald trump's twitter feed after two pronouncements sent shares lower on thursday. the first was the cancellation of a meeting with north korea, the second the threat of heavy tariffs on cars imported into america. a measure of how big the problem of foreign competition is will be provided by the commerce department which is likely to report new orders for american—made capital goods fell by 1.4% in april compared with an increase in 2.6% in march. investors will be closely watching netflix shares after the company's market valuation leapfrog two of its main competitors in the past few days. joining us is justin urquhart—stewart, director of seven investment management. we were just looking at the market

boards, a surprising sort of non—reaction to trump cancelling the north korean talks, previously markets used to really, when he said jump markets used to really, when he said jump theyjumped, markets used to really, when he said jump they jumped, what markets used to really, when he said jump theyjumped, what is happening? it is astonishing, previously the comments he was making, markets would be nervous, waking up every morning thinking what has he said today? and now it is almost indifferent because the level of credibility has been lost. markets like to find something a bit more reliable and he's not a story of a liability. you seen a growing trend that perhaps does not bode all that well? fine at the moment but markets are supposed to be discounting what is happening ahead, we have had rising dollar, rising dollar, rising oil price and interest rates rising. what you see now is much more volatility than last year. this is the third longest bull market since the third longest bull market since

the second world war and it's a bit tired. that sort of volatility is normal when it comes to the end of a bull market and you could add the lack of movement last year was abnormal. eight days were removed by 196 abnormal. eight days were removed by 1% rate should be 50% so welcome back to the normal world but we'll see more volatility coming into it. it's not a time to be nervous but circumspect. last year was so good, this year will be different. you mentioned strengthening dollar which is helping other markets elsewhere? we saw dramatic falls in turkey, and argentina, emerging markets had a lot of american debt and found it difficult to service, the dollar rising and the cost of interest was much more, difficult from that position. just look ahead, what is going to happen in the coming week 01’ going to happen in the coming week orso? going to happen in the coming week or so? gdp revisions coming out today in the uk but also we are going to have further figures to give you an idea of what the growth

figure will be like in europe. it will be growing but more slowly and that's what we should be looking for. by maggie will take us to the business pages later on, thank you. still to come... we look back on another week of big busiuness stories, including mark zuckerberg being grilled by the eu parliament over the data scandal. you're with business live from bbc news. more now on our top story that new laws have come in across europe — giving citizens power over their own personal data — and threatening huge fines for firms that abuse it. joining us from brussels is vera jourova — the european union's commissioner forjustice, consumers and gender equality. thank you forjoining us. there seems to be quite a lot of panic in

the business world about these new laws coming in, are you concerned the introduction of these new data protection rules is going to prove too onerous for businesses particularly small businesses?” would like small businesses to understand better and maybe it is oui’ understand better and maybe it is our role to explain better that they should do the risk assessment, to check whether their business boasts a risk to the private data of people. just an example, if you are running a shop and you one day have the data of your clients you should have a good server protected against hackers and not to do much more. but if you are a company which monetises the data of people, if they sell the data to certain parties, they make the core business on processing of data, these companies should do

more. they should do some arrangements to protect the data better and i think it's fair because if you make business the private data of people you should give something back to the people and thatis something back to the people and that is the protection. the rules come into force today, how strict are you going to be on any breach of those rules, given the ross charges? we will react on the possibility of data breaches but also on the basis of their own intelligence and own findings. there are always mentioned as draconian and also the ceiling of the sanction is being mentioned. vera jourova, i

apologise, we are out of time. thank you forjoining us on bbc business live. you're watching business live — our top story... new laws come in across europe giving citizens power over their own personal data — and threatening huge fines for firms that abuse it. a quick look at how markets are faring... here in europe they are in positive territory, just a fraction in the green. facebook‘s boss zuckerberg has been grilled by the eu parliament over the data scandal. and rating agency standard & poor‘s is set to leave south africa's sovereign debt rating unchanged, having downgraded it to junk last november. with us is africa business editor larry madowo. many thanks for joining

many thanks forjoining us. let's begin with the story of the day, data protection. we mentioned mark zuckerberg appearing before eu lawmakers in brussels. breaches of data privacy and data protection law area big data privacy and data protection law are a big issue in africa? yes, and it is interesting that zuckerberg chose to appear in brussels as opposed to in the uk. i don't think of any african regulators summoned him to sure he would, he would probably send an executive. there are elections coming up in south africa and kenya had two macro elections last year and there are lots of concerns about facebook‘s influence, fake news. cambridge analytica did some work in the last two ke nya ns analytica did some work in the last two kenyans elections and how much data might have been stolen or abused, we will never know. if your data is harvested all citizens data

is harvested en masse there is no way to get any reader is against these customers. social media platforms i hugely powerful across the african continent? yes, it is easy to get mobile phones are very cheap. there are protections for citizens who often do not know what are getting themselves into or how much data is collected. even if you are not on facebook or your friends around you are, they might tag you in some information and facebook allegedly has a shadow profile on you which can tell your income, where you live, what kind of family you have. the royal wedding might be over and done with... a week later act summation we are still talking about it. prince harry and meghan markle have not gone on honeymoon yet, the rumours are they will honeymoon somewhere in africa imminently. what kind of a boost to tourism would that be to whichever country they visit, if they go to africa?”

that be to whichever country they visit, if they go to africa? i have seen visit, if they go to africa? i have seen lots of speculation in the uk about whether they will go to namibia, botswana, potentially tanzania. any of those countries would be very happy to have them. they each get an average of around 1 million tourists per year, the royal couple coming to honeymoon in any of those countries, the global exposure would be very huge. i'm sure they would be very huge. i'm sure they would all be very happy to say is holiday in the maybe. as a key union, i hope they come to kenya. of course! -- as a kenyan. there has been another big brand tie—in between arsenal football club untrue under. arsenal has not had a shi rtsleeves under. arsenal has not had a shirtsleeves sponsor before. rwanda isa shirtsleeves sponsor before. rwanda is a small country comparatively, kenya, south africa and some of the other big tourism markets work flat—footed by this. rwanda is saying visitors, we are the best place to go. arsenal is a big brand in the english premier league,

watched around the world. the terms of the deal were not disclosed but it is so interesting to see a smaller country like that going per such a big brand, and the impact on rwandan to arisen. let's talk about the impact that the new president is having in south africa. you have news about snp? —— you have news about s&p. lots of people are expecting them to leave it unchanged. president cyril ramaphosa was a very successful businessman before coming into this role, so there is a lot of confidence about him which did not exist around the time ofjacob zuma. lots of ordinary south africans are happy with that. but the market is uncertain because president ramaphosa is going ahead land export creation. we are waiting to see what s&p will stay today. we are talking about the ratings agency standard &

poor‘s. we will have to leave it there, but a big thank you to our africa business editor. we have been talking about gdpr, asking whether it is affecting your business, there isa it is affecting your business, there is a lot businesses have to do to make sure they comply and also whether or not people want to sign up whether or not people want to sign up as well. henry says gdpr is a fantastic move forward towards avoiding the possibility of dystopian society as depicted in 0 rwell‘s dystopian society as depicted in 0rwell‘s 1984. another of usa's quality assurance in uploading and downloading content could cause processing delay in a fast—moving environment since i am not in the eu i am wondering how we gdpr will help. —— another view it says quality assurance in uploading. carry on getting in touch with us.

in a moment we'll take a look through the business pages but first here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us. this is how to stay in touch with us. stay up to date with all the day's business news as it happens, on the bbc‘s business live page. there's insight and analysis from our team of editors right around the globe. and we want to hear from you, too. get involved on the bbc‘s business live web page at bbc.com/business. on twitter we're @bbcbusiness. and you can find us on facebook at bbc money. business live, on tv and online. what you need to know, when you need to know. what other business stories has the media been taking an interest in? justin urquhart—stewart is joining us again to discuss a first point on these data privacy laws, has your business had to do anything with that? a huge amount, suddenly you need to check anything, you have quite rightly highlighted what the fines will be. there is a

very good chance of you are bound to be in breach it will be quite a hefty fine because they will want to make a statement to show you will be hit unless you obey. the maximum fine is 4% of your global turnover, a scary sum. scary times. a scary sum. scary times. let's begin by looking at city am, this piqued our interest. this is about the agm for lloyds ba n k interest. this is about the agm for lloyds bank that happened yesterday afternoon, it was much more fiery than your normal agm largely thanks to this man, the tv personality in the blue floral shirt, noel edmonds. talk us through what happened?- the blue floral shirt, noel edmonds. talk us through what happened? at an annual general meeting of public companies it is normally a good opportunity to sleep for a while, nothing happens, it is extremely dull. as far as the board are concerned they have shareholders and nobody will complain. there will be one or two loonies. this time income some people with some real issues.

noel edmonds has a big claim against lloyds in terms of some background issues. it is quite funny. he boasted about the landmark, it has been more like a skid mark. i am not sure about is the right, to have. this relates to the tie—up with hbos? and some nasty bits have to come out overall. there was a lovely phrases, mr surman noel edmonds, this is not a game show. he said if you want to turn it into a game show, i will call a you want to turn it into a game show, iwill call a pointless, you want to turn it into a game show, iwill calla pointless, or you want to turn it into a game show, iwill call a pointless, or if you want to turn it into jail show, iwill call a pointless, or if you want to turn it intojail 0r show, iwill call a pointless, or if you want to turn it intojail or no jail, you are going in the right direction. the director would not know those programmes anyway. agms re really good thing. some of the best ones i attended were by brewers, they gave shareholders

samples. it was extremely enjoyable, not a lot to discuss but quite a lot got drunk. business inside and says cooper are going to open a flying taxi hub in paris. —— says uber going to. they plan on opening this in five years?! it is a lovely concept, but where will these helicopters land ? concept, but where will these helicopters land? it will not happen. the idea of being able to do so happen. the idea of being able to do so is lovely, it is like thejets and cartoons from years ago. all good pr for president macron. it will be a relative, by the sounds of it, flying taxis. iam not of it, flying taxis. i am not sure about five years! justin, thank you for coming in. but from us, thank you for watching and by the now. —— and goodbye for now. the bank holiday weekend is almost

upon us and temperatures will g