Minister says spy agencies don’t have enough powers to protect UK

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain's failure to pass a law forcing communications firms to collect and store online data is endangering lives and weakening the country's ability to protect itself, Theresa May, the interior minister, warned on Wednesday. “Every day that passes without the proposals in the communications data bill, the capabilities of the people who keep us safe diminishes and …

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UK online grocer Ocado confident about 2015 prospects

LONDON (Reuters) – British online grocer Ocado outperformed its traditional supermarket rivals over Christmas and said it was confident about prospects in 2015 despite an escalating price war. The firm, whose range includes products supplied by upmarket grocer Waitrose , said on Wednesday sales growth in December continued at the rate it achieved in the final quarter of its 2013-14 financial year

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Staples says security breach may have affected 1.16 million cards

(Reuters) – Office-supply retailer Staples Inc said about 1.16 million payment cards might have been affected by the data breach announced in October. An investigation by external data security experts showed that criminals deployed malware to some point-of-sales systems at 115 U.S. stores, Staples said

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Irish tax on online gambling faces further delay

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland's stalled plan to tax online gambling will be further delayed into 2015, the country's finance minister said, offering bookmakers such as Paddy Power a longer grace period before the charge is levied. Ireland first announced plans to bring online operators into the tax net in 2011 by seeking to extend a one percent tax on bets placed in shops to wagers made online or over the telephone from customers based in Ireland. …

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