Voice Of Post

Target data breach settlement, A Minnesota judge has endorsed a settlement in which Target Corp. will pay $10 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over a massive data breach in 2013.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson granted preliminary approval of the settlement after a hearing Thursday in St. Paul, Minnesota. The move will allow people to begin filing claims ahead of another hearing for final approval, which was scheduled for Nov. 10.

People affected by the breach can file for up to $10,000 with proof of their losses, including unauthorized charges, higher fees or interest rates, and lost time dealing with the problem.

"Target really needs to be commended for being willing to step up," Magnuson said.

Target's data breach in 2013 exposed details of as many as 40 million credit and debit card accounts and hurt its holiday sales that year. The company offered free credit monitoring for affected customers and overhauled its security systems.

The settlement would also require Minneapolis-based Target to appoint a chief information security officer, keep a written information security program and offer security training to its workers. It would be required to maintain a process to monitor for data security events and respond to such events deemed to present a threat.

"We are pleased to see the process moving forward and look forward to its resolution," Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said in an emailed statement.

Claims will mostly be submitted and processed online through a dedicated website.

Vincent Esades, an attorney for Target customers, said after the hearing that the settlement could end up costing Target $25 million, when attorneys' fees and administrative costs are added in.

He said consumers will likely be able to start filing claims around April 30, and 100 million people may be eligible. Consumers can claim up to $10,000 if they can document unreimbursed losses; after those claims are paid out, the rest of the settlement funds will be divided among consumers who state under oath that they suffered a qualifying loss, but don't have documentation. People who've already been fully reimbursed aren't eligible, he said.

Esades said customers who opt out of the settlement have the right to object. Since the funds can't be paid out until all appeals are resolved, he said, the earliest that customers would see any money would be early next year.

Target attorney David McDowell declined to comment after the hearing.

The chain has worked hard to lure back customers that were hesitant to shop there after the incident. Over the 2014 holiday season, Target offered free shipping on all items. It recently announced that it was cutting its minimum online purchase to qualify for free shipping in half to $25. And on Wednesday the retailer said it will now allow returns for up to a year for its private and exclusive brands.

Target's bounce back from a turbulent stretch including the data breach and exit from Canada has been met with optimism on Wall Street. The retailer's stock traded above $80 for the first time Monday, reaching another in a string of all-time highs that it began to log just before the crucial holiday shopping season began in December.

Earlier this month, Target said it would lay off about 1,700 people, eliminate another 1,400 unfilled positions and cut up to $2 billion in costs. It will also focus more on technology to boost online sales growth. The latter move will involve about $1 billion aimed at beefing up business from shoppers who are more likely to shop online.

Target shares fell 46 cents to close Thursday at $80.60. Its shares are up 35.5 percent over the past year.

Target data breach settlement, Target Corp (TGT.N) has agreed to pay $10 million in a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit related to a huge 2013 data breach that consumers say compromised their personal financial information, court documents show.

Under the proposal, which requires federal court approval, Target will deposit the settlement amount into an interest bearing escrow account, to pay individual victims up to $10,000 in damages.The claims will be submitted and processed primarily online through a dedicated website, according to the court documents.

The proposal also requires Target to adopt and implement data security measures such as appointing a chief information security officer and maintaining a written information security program.

"We are pleased to see the process moving forward and look forward to its resolution," said Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder.

CBS News, which earlier reported the settlement, said a court hearing on the proposed settlement was set for Thursday in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Target has said at least 40 million credit cards were compromised in the breach during the 2013 holiday shopping season and may have resulted in the theft of as many as 110 million people's personal information, such as email addresses and phone numbers.

A U.S. judge in December cleared the way for consumers to sue the retailer over the breach, rejecting Target's argument that the consumers lacked standing to sue because they could not establish any injury.

Target data breach settlement, The United Nations said on Thursday that Islamic State militants may have committed genocide against the Yazidi minority in Iraq.

Investigators for the UN Human Rights Office reported that the “manifest pattern” of attacks against the Christian minority community, which is concentrated in northern Iraq, points to the intent of the self-described Islamic State “to destroy the Yazidi as a group.”

The report documents abuses committed by the Sunni extremists including killings, torture, rape and sexual slavery; forced religious conversions; and the conscription of children from a half dozen ethnic groups. It also accuses Iraqi government forces and affiliated militia groups of committing war crimes on the basis of witness testimonies of summary killings and indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

But “the genocide part relates particularly to the Yazidis," Hanny Megally, a senior UN human rights official, told reporters in Geneva. Although the report cautiously states that the extremists “may have committed” genocide, Ms. Megally said “all the information points in that direction.”Through interviews with more than 100 alleged victims and witnesses, the report paints a horrific picture of the self-styled Islamic State’s deadly campaign through northern Iraq.

Yazidi men and boys over the age of 14 were rounded up and summarily executed in ditches on the outskirts of villages. Boys as young as eight were kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam and to train as IS fighters. And women and girls were abducted and sold or given into sexual slavery as spoils of war.

“In some instances,” the report says, “villages were entirely emptied of their Yazidi population.”

Reuters reports that unofficial estimates put the number of Yazidis killed by the extremists in the hundreds. There are estimated to be about 500,000 worldwide, most living in Iraq's Nineveh plains

Suki Nagra, the lead investigator for the report, said about 3,000 Yazidi women, children, and some men remain in IS custody, according to The New York Times.

On the Iraqi side, the investigators accused government security forces and Shiite militias of extrajudicial killings, torture, and abductions.

As a military counteroffensive against IS gained momentum last summer, the report says, militias seemed to “operate with total impunity, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake.” In Diyala Province, Iraqi security forces allegedly shot dead 43 prisoners at a police station and set fire to an army base where 43 Sunnis were held prisoner.

The UN Human Rights Office is urging the UN Security Council to refer the issue to the International Criminal Court to prosecute perpetrators, including foreign members of IS. The agency is also calling on the Iraqi government to ensure that all accusations are investigated in line with international human rights standards