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Google Inc faces another grilling over its tax affairs from a committee of British lawmakers on Thursday who have called the company back after questions were raised about testimony given in an earlier hearing. Corporate tax avoidance has become a major issue in Britain, where there are concerns over rising government debt and accusations from lawmakers that the UK tax authority has adopted a light touch approach to taxing big businesses.   Google's Northern Europe boss, Matt Brittin, was called to testify to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in November about Google's low UK tax bill. From 2006 to 2011, Google generated $18 billion in revenues from the UK, according to statutory filings, and paid just $16 million in taxes. Brittin told the PAC Google was not taxed on the profits of its core advertising business in Britain, because all UK sales were conducted from Ireland . Reuters revealed that the Internet search giant had described its London offices on its website

Some 900 million smartphones and tablets running Google Inc's Android software have been activated since the platform's inception in 2010, executives said at the company's annual developers' conference on Wednesday. _0"> Google said revenue from Android, the software used by Samsung and other mobile device makers that competes with Apple Inc, is also gaining momentum. Google executives said revenue per user for Android applications developers is now 2-1/2 times its year-earlier level.   Roughly 5,500 software developers are attending this year's "Google I/O" convention at San Francisco's Moscone Center from Wednesday through Friday.

The European Commission has told China it is prepared to launch an investigation into anti-competitive behaviour by producers of mobile telecoms equipment, opening a new front in a multi-billion-euro trade offensive against a critical partner.   European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said he and fellow commissioners had agreed in principle to open an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy case against China, but would first seek to negotiate a solution with Chinese authorities. "The clock is ticking. We have had an open-door policy for negotiations with our Chinese partners for approximately one year now and we hope that the Chinese authorities step forward and engage with us in a serious manner," De Gucht's spokesman told a news briefing on Wednesday. While no companies were named in the statement from De Gucht, officials have in the past said Huawei and ZTE Corp, the world's second- and fifth-largest telecoms equipment makers, were the objects of their concern. In

Fashion media and analysts broadly welcomed Marks & Spencer's new clothing strategy and a preview of autumn/winter fashion ranges, giving the firm's boss some respite from pressure over falling sales. Britain's biggest clothing retailer said on Tuesday it would focus on better quality and styles in womenswear, deliver more compelling and clearer sub-brands, and make shopping easier in stores, as it tries to reverse nearly two years of declining sales.   On Wednesday, shares in the 129-year-old firm, up 20 percent over the past year after periodic bouts of bid speculation, rose up to 4 percent, hitting a five-year high of 438 pence. However, bookmaker Ladbrokes still made Chief Executive Marc Bolland odds-on at 8/11 to have left his position by the end of the year. "The changes outlined contained a variety of enhancements based on detailed customer feedback that even the bears will find hard to completely ignore," said analysts at N+1 Singer, arguing tha

Warm and dry weather in the U.S. Midwest on Wednesday will help boost corn plantings that have fallen to a record low pace, which poses a threat to production prospects, an agricultural meteorologist said.   "Today will be the best day," said Andy Karst, meteorologist for World Weather Inc. "Then showers develop tonight, with scattered showers into the weekend." Karst said heavier rainfall would develop beginning Saturday and continue through Wednesday next week, further stalling corn seedings. "The heaviest rains will be Saturday through Monday in the west and Monday through Wednesday in the east," he said. Drier weather late next week should allow farmers to resume plantings, he said. "It's not ideal, but not bad either. They need to get corn planted soon." After a cold and wet spring in most of the U.S. crop belt, farmers have seeded 28 percent of their intended corn acres, up from 12 percent a week earlier but far behind the five-ye

Taiwan imposed sanctions against the Philippines on Wednesday, rejecting as unacceptable a Philippine apology for the killing of a fisherman from Taiwan last week. The row is the latest flare-up in tension in Asian seas where disputes in various places between various countries have raised fears of conflict in the economically vibrant region where competition for resources is intensifying.   Earlier on Wednesday, Taiwan recalled its envoy to the Philippines. The sanctions included the freezing of applications for work permits, the cessation of economic exchanges and military exercises in waters between the two sides. A spokesman for Philippine President Benigno Aquino had said a formal apology was being offered to the "appropriate authority" in Taiwan over the "unfortunate loss" of the fisherman. But Taiwan's Premier Jiang Yi-huah said the apology was inadequate because it called the fisherman's death unfortunate and unintentional, according to a stat

A turn to warmer weather in the United States and pent up demand for steaks and burgers ahead of the traditional grilling season sent wholesale prices for choice-grade beef to a record high of $205.91 per hundredweight on Tuesday, up 36 cents from the previous record set late last week. Beef prices normally rise in the spring but this year's smaller beef supply coupled with the late arrival of warm spring cookout weather, triggered a strong increase in the beef market, analysts and traders said.   "Beef is seasonally strong this time of year. It usually tops out about now but what is different this year from past years is the beef supply is lower, so there is some question if the top is in," said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities, Des Moines, Iowa. The cold soggy start to spring put outdoor cookouts on hold throughout most of April and early May, but with forecasts for more typical spring weather this week, grocers stocked up for a seasonal bump in sales of s