EU parliament won't approve Brexit deal without Irish 'backstop': statement

The European Parliament's Brexit group said on Thursday it would not approve an agreement on Britain's departure from the European Union that did not contain a full "backstop" provision to avoid a hard Irish border. The statement, issued after a meeting of the Brexit Steering Group, sought to dash any hopes in London that Prime Minister Theresa May could secure a time limit to the commitment of preventing a border on the island of Ireland. The group, chaired by Guy Verhofstadt, "reiterated that the withdrawal agreement is fair and cannot be re-negotiated.

Florida bank shooter killed five women in apparent random attack

The attack took place around lunchtime on Wednesday at a SunTrust Bank branch in Sebring, a town of about 10,000 people 95 miles (153 km) south of Orlando, authorities said. The suspect, Zephen Xaver, called the 911 emergency number just after 12:30 p.m. EST (1730 GMT) and told dispatch he had shot five people inside the bank, according to authorities. Hoglund said all the victims were women, and named two of them as Cynthia Watson, a bank customer, and Marisol Lopez, a bank employee.

Backlash as billionaire cabinet member dismisses US shutdown hardship

Donald Trump's billionaire commerce secretary fueled accusations Thursday that the US administration was deaf to the impact of the government shutdown after saying he didn't understand why some federal workers were turning to food banks. Wilbur Ross shrugged off the impact of the shutdown -- now in its 34th day -- saying workers should just take out loans to cover their expenses. Noting that the 800,000 federal workers currently working without pay will eventually receive their paychecks, Ross said "there's no real reason why they shouldn't be able to get a loan against it.

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Roger Stone indictment: Transparency group WikiLeaks at center of allegations against Trump associate

WikiLeaks has long been controversial with U.S. authorities for its dogged dedication to releasing documents from anonymous sources and leakers.

Pompeo warns Venezuela's Maduro against use of force

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday warned Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro not to use force against mass demonstrations and urged further international support for the self-declared acting president. A day after the United States and major Latin American nations recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the acting president, Pompeo pressed his case at a special meeting of the Organization of American States.

Big Apple Layoffs Pump Brakes on Its Autonomous Cars

Apple’s bid to enter the autonomous vehicle space has just suffered another setback. The Cupertino company has reportedly moved 200 employees off Project Titan, according to CNBC. Credit: ShutterstockTitan has been in development since at least 2014, and although Apple hasn’t always been forthcoming in acknowledging it, a spokesperson responded to CNBC’s report by confirming the layoffs as well as the company’s commitment to self-driving technologies. “We have an incredibly talented team working on autonomous systems and associated technologies at Apple,” the statement reads. “As the team focuses their work on several key areas for 2019, some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple.” Titan has had a tumultuous ride since the beginning, as Apple reportedly backed off the idea of independently producing its own electric vehicles early on to shift its efforts to autonomous driving software. But then in August we heard the company might actually be hoping to launch its own car by 2023. At that point, Titan was said to directly involve as many as 2,700 individuals within Apple. Around the same time, the initiative gained new leadership in the form of ex-Tesla engineering executive Doug Field, who joined longtime Apple veteran Bob Mansfield to head up the secretive division. MORE: The 9 Coolest Cars from the 2019 Detroit Auto Show Field, who was previously employed at Apple from 2008 to 2013 as a vice president of hardware engineering, wasn’t the only talent the tech giant poached from Tesla last year. As many as 46 employees left the electric automaker’s ranks to join Apple through the first eight months of 2018, according to CNBC. It's unclear how many of these individuals were affected in the recent layoffs. All the while, Apple has continued to register and test self-driving prototypes, built off of hybrid Lexus SUVs. The company also reportedly entered into a partnership with Volkswagen in May to produce autonomous shuttles using the German manufacturer’s T6 Transporter as a base. Apple’s spokesperson concluded the statement following today’s news by calling Titan “the most ambitious machine learning project ever.” Internally, the company is reportedly spinning the move to downsize as a form of restructuring. However, Titan has proved to be something of a moving target all along, with Apple repeatedly shifting strategies, goals and personnel as it prepares to find the best path of entry into a rapidly changing automotive landscape. * I Drove BMW's Concept for the Future of Cars, and I'm Excited * The 10 Most Exciting Cars (and Bikes) to Watch in 2019 * Watch Out, Tesla: Apple Car Could Launch in 2023