(Reuters) – British mobile payments company Optimal Payments Plc said it was investigating allegations that personal data belonging to some of its customers had been compromised and was available in the public domain. The company said the allegations were that the data breaches had occurred at two of its units in 2012 or earlier.
Read morePolice arrested a 15-year-old boy in Northern Ireland on Monday over a cyber attack that may have led to the theft of data from among the 4 million customers of British broadband provider TalkTalk . A ransom demand was received by TalkTalk on Friday. “A 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences,” London's Metropolitan Police, whose cyber-crime unit has been investigating the attack, said.
Read moreNEW YORK (Reuters) – “Go Set a Watchman,” the much-anticipated second novel by “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper Lee, is the most pre-ordered print title on Amazon.com since the last book in the “Harry Potter” series, Amazon said on Thursday. The online retailer said the novel, to be published on July 14, 55 years after Lee's classic “To Kill a Mockingbird,” was already the No. 1 best-selling book on the website.
Read moreBy Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) – British spies carry out mass interception of the public's emails and access large databases with individuals' personal details, but their actions are not indiscriminate or unlawful, a powerful committee of lawmakers said on Thursday. Britain's security agencies have been accused of unfettered snooping on electronic communications since disclosures by U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden indicated spies had been hoovering up emails, text messages and internet communications
Read moreBy Nivedita Bhattacharjee MUMBAI (Reuters) – For viewers of Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire”, Mumbai's vast Dharavi slum is a byword for poverty, but to online retailer Snapdeal.com it is a battleground for new customers and, it hopes, a source of better margins. The three are already fighting over India's 300 million-strong urban middle class, who have come to expect price wars and great deals on everything from mattresses to motors, but as competition intensifies, Snapdeal has begun chasing a different demographic. It tied up with remittance provider FINO PayTech in November to set up online shopping services in semi-urban, rural and low-income residential areas across India.
Read moreBy Matthias Inverardi and Nikola Rotscheroth COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) – Germany’s second-biggest supermarket group REWE is investing heavily in grocery ecommerce even though it does not expect to turn a profit soon, as it braces for Amazon to expand its food delivery service. “We know that we will still not work profitably for several years, but it is not blowing money,” REWE Chief Executive Alain Caparros told Reuters in an interview.
Read moreBy Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Liberty Global’s German unit has set its sights on business-to-business (B2B) broadband and mobile as part of its strategy to keep expanding in Europe’s biggest cable market, ramping up the pressure on established telecom players.
Read moreBy Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) – The owner of Britain’s Zoopla and Prime Location property websites said it had been deserted by thousands of estate agents since the launch of rival portal OnTheMarket, but insisted the new company would struggle to win over home buyers and sellers.
Read moreBy Eric Kelsey LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – For Dick Pope, the cinematographer who earned his second Oscar nomination on Thursday for British historical drama “Mr. Turner,” one scatological slip of the tongue made him a trending topic. Isaacs quickly corrected her mistake, but in the Twitter age it could not stop “Dick Poop” from trending globally just below the nominations itself
Read moreBy Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Qualcomm Inc will invest in a venture to build and fly a constellation of 648 satellites that can provide high-speed, global Internet access, company officials said on Thursday.
Read more