BUSINESS

Google Maps has been a signature feature of the iPhone since its first launch in 2007, but that will now change. At the 2012 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, Apple introduced a new Maps application as a part of the new iOS 6 platform coming in the fall. But this Maps app isn't built by Google; this one is Apple-made.

Argentina wants to negotiate a handover of the islands to Buenos Aires, while London adamantly refused to do any such thing.

Opponents say the ballot initiative, up for a vote on Tuesday, could potentially exempt religious people and groups from discrimination laws in the name of their faith.

Here's a window into how low the bad guys will stoop to steal retail inventory: Last week in California, 1,600 pounds of premium dog food, a $10,000 cargo on its way to feed animals at a local pet rescue facility, was stolen.

At the 2012 Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, Apple announced that the next version of its OS X operating system for Macs, dubbed Mountain Lion, will be released in July. The company did not give out a specific date and time.

On the first day of Apple?s Worldwide Developers Conference, improvements in Siri are unveiled.

Political and economic decisions over the next week have serious consequences for the country's future.

Global markets disapproved of the Spanish bailout on Monday. People monitoring Spanish Twitter feeds had an early warning.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has taken aim squarely at the hearts of gearheads and Top Gear fans by welcoming the legendary Stig (well, according to wired.com they're calling him Mr. X, but he sure looks like The Stig) on stage at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2012 to play the CSR racing game for iOS and Mac, Monday. While fun at first sight, however, the move may be indicative of cracks in Apple's finely polished marketing veneer.

Forbes has upped its wealth estimate for Aliko Dangote, founder and chief executive officer of the Dangote Group, to $11.2 billion.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday she would campaign for a financial transaction tax, addressing concerns among the center-left opposition that her government was only using the issue as a way to get euro crisis legislation through parliament.

China's May data dump over the weekend and on Monday painted a mixed picture of the economic health of the world's second-largest economy.

China?s Lenovo Group (Pink: LNVGY), the No. 2 PC maker, announced a no-contract broadband service for its ThinkPad Classic and ThinkPad Edge laptops for customers in the U.S. and nine European countries.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will vote on holding United States Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress -- and more than two dozen of his party colleagues are going to vote with Republicans against him.

Boost Labs LLC in Gaithersburg, Va., has launched the Top Gear Test Track interactive data set so fans of the hit BBC car show, Top Gear, can evaluate cars featured on the show. And the winner? It's the Ariel Atom V8 500.

EU officials have been keen to trumpet the latest euro zone Band-Aid as a triumph for collective action and an answer to critics who accused the group of acting too slowly and with not enough money in the past.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson, 68, was hospitalized late Saturday near Los Angeles after allegedly being involved in two hit-and-run accidents, the San Gabriel Police and Los Angeles County Sheriff?s Departments said.

The price of natural gas in the U.S. could be soon set for a steep rise, reaching levels not seen since in years, said one industry consultant.

Computer-generated imagery may have enhanced New Zealand's already otherworldly peaks and valleys, but what you see in The Lord of the Rings films is the real deal and is certain to fill you with the giddiness of a hobbit.

We're just a few hours away from the start of the 2012 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, which is expected to be one of the biggest Apple events of the year. Hours later, the company learned even more new specs, this time about Apple's thinnest laptop, the MacBook Air.

United Healthcare pledged to uphold some of the most popular sections of the law, including a provision allowing young adults to stay on their parents' plan until age 26, regardless of whether the Supreme Court overturns it

The Socialists and other leftist parties gained about 46 percent of the total vote, well ahead of the 34 percent tally scored by the centrist-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party of Sarkozy, and its allies.

Chinese banks are ramping up their lending to retain the country's pace of growth in the face of a listless global economy.

Telefonica SA (NYSE: TEF), Europe's largest telecommunications operator by revenue, will sell part of its stake in China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) for $1.4 billion to reduce debt as the eurozone debt crisis stresses Europe's economy and corporations based there.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has agreed to settle a probe into sales of its antipsychotic drug Risperdal and other medications for as much as $2.2 billion, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Bankrupt Eastman Kodak Co. (Pink: EKDKQ) may try to generate cash by trying to sell its portfolio of 1,100 imaging patents again, the Wall Street Journal reported.

So much for doubling down on secrecy. On Friday, several San Francisco residents snapped photos of banners being raised in the Moscone Center's west exhibition hall, one of the event sites for Apple's 2012 Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC), for the iOS 6. Even though WWDC 2012 will apparently center around the Mac, Apple will nevertheless find time to introduce developers to new tools and features for the iPhone's and iPad's next-generation operating system.

This week's data releases could reignite hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon provide more policy stimulus. May's producer price index and consumer price index should show that inflationary pressures are easing, with the latter falling below the Fed's 2 percent target rate. Retail sales and industrial production figures for May are likely to come in on the soft side, as well.

Credit rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) Monday said that India could lose its investment grade rating due to its weak GDP growth rate and political roadblocks to economic policymaking.