The government was urged yesterday to raise penalties against companies that don't have adequate cyber-security in place, in the wake of a major attack on TalkTalk. MPs asked culture minister Ed Vaizey to consider raising the maximum fine that can be imposed by the UK's data watchdog, which currently stands at GBP500,000. Vaizey confirmed that he would meet with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), but stopped short of actually promising higher fines.

The publisher of the "Daily Mirror" has confirmed its deal to take control of "Local World," cementing its place as the UK's biggest regional newspaper publisher. Trinity Mirror, which also owns the "Sunday People" and "Sunday Mirror," will buy out the 80% it does not already own in the "Local World" in a deal that values the business at about GBP220m. The announcement was expected last week, but due to delays in finalising details, it was delayed until the stock market opened at 7am on Wednesday.

It has been created by VML London, which used emotion metric algorithms built using data from 3.4 million faces in more than 75 countries. The software tracks the user's emotional reactions as they watch a film within the app. The video shows a variety of "lifestyle-themed visual stimuli" such as a surfer riding a wave, a crowd at a music gig and a ballet dancer. The app records the user's facial expressions in real-time and tailors the narrative of the film. It also makes up a virtual Bentley Bentayga using the data.

Virgin Atlantic has moved its GBP12 million media account into PHD, less than a month after appointing Arena to the business. The airline called a pitch in July for its media planning and buying account, ending a 22-year relationship with Manning Gottlieb OMD. Arena beat PHD in the final round of the review after prolonged contract discussions with both agencies, Arena withdrew from the process after it failed to resolve a conflict issue at the holding-group level.

Twitter wants to build out its advertising offering on the claim that it is the place for high-quality video views, boasting that people are watching branded posts all the way through to the end. The volume of video consumption on the social network has jumped significantly over the last six months, with native video views up 150x across Twitter, Periscope and Vine. To exploit the trend, Twitter began only charging for a video ad once it's in view for at least three seconds in June.

Google has launched a new grant system as part of its EUR150m (GBP109m) fund for European news publishers. The company's Digital News Initiative was founded in April this year with the purpose of helping publishers "develop more sustainable models for news." It said the funding would be spread over three years and named eight companies as founding partners, including "Guardian News" and "Media" and the "Financial Times." Today, the Internet giant has opened the DNI Innovation Fund for applications.

The food and drink industry has rejected calls from Public Health England (PHE) to introduce tighter marketing regulations around sugary products, including the controversial "sugar tax" that would see an increase in the price of high sugar products. Current regulations by Ofcom already place restrictions on the advertising of foods highest in fat, salt and sugar -- specifically during children's TV programmes. However, PHE says these regulations are not strict enough.

The UK body responsible for outlining online trading standards has published a report documenting the numerous ad fraud pathways to reduce marketers' vulnerability to the practice. A report titled "'UK Traffic Taxonomy for Digital Display Advertising" from the Joint Industry Committee for Web Standards (JICWEBS) outlines 16 routes which malicious (or non-malicious) bots can tamper with ad traffic. Companies conforming to best practices will receive the JICWEBS seal.

The RNLI has become the first charity to switch to an opt-in model as it looks to puts its supporter back in control after a year in which the sector has come in for widespread criticism of its fundraising practices. The move will see the RNLI shift to a model where it only contacts individuals if they have expressly given permission for the charity to do so. That is different to the standard "opt-out" system where anyone who engages with or donates to a charity is automatically added to their database.

McDonald's says a renewed focus on being "customer led in our decisions and actions" helped it to its first quarterly sales increase in its key US market for two years, while UK sales maintained momentum. Sales at McDonald's stores that have been open for at least a year were up 0.9%, while global sales increased by 4%. The UK -- which is one of McDonald's lead markets -- continues to see strong growth, which CEO Steve Easterbrook put down to a "robust planning process and taking actions to meet consumer needs."