In a Thursday disclosure which evidently underscores the popularity of Google's YouTube video-sharing website, South Africa YouTube partnership manager Jared Molko revealed that, in 2012, the number of YouTube viewers in South Africa increased 80 percent; with uploads having witnessed a growth of 30 percent.

Google's popular Internet-based Maps app may be banned in Germany; with a regional court in Munich likely to uphold Microsoft's patent-infringement claim against Google's Motorola Mobility subsidiary.

In a Tuesday statement, conservation advocacy group Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said that thousands of advertisements on the Google Japan shopping site promote products made from endangered whales and elephants.

According to a white paper, which has been authored by the research division of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the smartphone industry in China is being excessively controlled by Google, via its popular Android mobile operating system; with the result that some domestic firms have been discriminated against by the Internet search giant.

On March 4, Internet search biggie Google honoured late African singer and prominent civil rights activist Miriam Makeba with a special Google Doodle to commemorate her 81st birthday.

According to ABC News, Internet search giant Google has - with the help of its Street View vehicle - started the digital mapping of the area closest to Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant; a move that comes two years after the country witnessed its worst nuclear disaster on March 12, 2011.

According to reports, Google Australia head Nick Leeder is will soon depart Google's Australian and New Zealand operations; and will move to France to run the Internet search giant's operations in that country.

On Friday, the lower house of the German parliament passed a watered-down copyright bill, which marks a notable victory for Google in Europe because it implies that the Internet search giant will not have to pay fees for displaying links to news articles.