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Google Inc closed its China-based search service and began redirecting Web searchers to an uncensored portal in Hong Kong, drawing harsh comments from Beijing that raised doubts about the company's future in the world's largest Internet market.

China said on Tuesday that Google Inc had violated a written promise and was totally wrong to end censorship of its Chinese-language search portal, signaling a tough line over the Internet dispute.

Google Inc moved its China Internet search service to Hong Kong in a bid to resolve its dispute with Beijing over censored search results while keeping a foot in the world's largest Internet market.

It is the case of Curious Judge and The Man with the Yellow Hat.

British price comparison website Foundem's chief executive said it was confident EU antitrust regulators will launch a formal probe into Google's business practices based on its complaint.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency launched a new broadside against Google Inc on Monday, saying in an angry commentary that the company had reneged on promises to abide by Chinese law.

With speculation swirling that Google Inc will soon announce the closure of its China-based Internet portal, the reaction from some Chinese has been hurry up and leave, or simply: so what?

China's state media on Sunday accused Google Inc of pushing a political agenda by groundlessly accusing the Chinese government of supporting hacker attacks and by trying to export its own culture, values and ideas.

Google Inc may make an announcement next Monday about whether it will pull out from China, the China Business News reported on Friday, quoting an unnamed Google employee.

Google Inc could win a widely expected victory next week in Europe's top court and still face many more battles over keyword advertising, the backbone of its Internet business model.

Viacom Inc accused Google Inc of turning a blind eye to illegal video clips on its YouTube site in a bid to attract viewers, according to court documents released on Thursday.

Google Inc accused Viacom Inc of secretly uploading its videos to YouTube even as the media conglomerate publicly denounced the online video site for copyright infringement, according to court documents made public on Thursday.

Google has teamed up with up Intel and Sony to develop an Android-powered internet platform for televisions and set-top boxes.

Lawmakers would seek to end current ad hoc international efforts, echoing industry calls for worldwide rules.

A top executive for Microsoft Corp's MSN China will leave the joint venture, Microsoft said on Thursday, in a setback as the firm struggles to compete in China's hotly contested social networking space.

Google Inc is working with Intel Corp and Sony Corp to develop a new class of Internet-enabled televisions and set top boxes, according to a media report.

Google Inc's Nexus One smartphone will soon be available to subscribers of Sprint Nextel Corp, the second U.S. wireless service provider to announce an agreement to support the touchscreen phone.

Chinese firms selling advertising space on Google's search pages have demanded clarity about the search giant's plans in China, as speculation increases over Google's future in the world's largest Internet market.

Google Inc's initial sales of its Nexus One smartphone have significantly lagged the pace of Apple Inc's iPhone and Motorola Inc's Droid sales coming out of the starting gate, an analytics firm said on Tuesday.

With Google expected to decide soon whether to close its Chinese search engine, students at one of the schools cited by some reports for being behind hacking attacks on the Internet giant are decidedly ambivalent.

For the first time, Facebook replaced Google as the most visited Web site in the U.S. for a full week.

Google should obey Chinese government rules even if it decides to retreat from the country over hacking and censorship complaints, a Chinese government spokesman said on Tuesday.

Google Inc said that it expects the rates that companies pay for search ads on mobile phones could surpass the rates of its existing PC-based ad business thanks to the growing popularity of powerful smartphones.

Google said on Monday it remained in talks with the Chinese government about censorship of its Chinese-language search portal, despite mounting signs the company could soon shut the site.

Popular social-networking site Facebook will open an office in India, joining a long list of international firms that have looked to tap a skilled workforce that provides support services at relatively cheap wages.

Talks with China over censorship have reached an apparent impasse and Google, the world's largest search engine, is now 99.9 percent certain to shut its Chinese search engine, the Financial Times said on Saturday.

Top phone makers Nokia and Apple will seek a U.S. court hearing in a key patent battle in mid-2012, a court filing showed, raising the specter of a prolonged legal struggle.

China warned Google, the world's largest search engine, against flouting the country's laws on Friday, as expectations grow for a resolution to a public battle over censorship and cyber-security.

Google, the world's largest search engine, is welcome to expand its market share in China, the country's Minister of Industry and Information Technology said on Friday.