US President Barack Obama has made history by using an autopen - an automatic signing machine - from an ocean away to sign a legislation into law hours before expiry. And stirred a new controversy. Originally, there had been a plan in place to have a White House aide hand-carry the legislation re-authorizing the Patriot Act, a controversial set of anti-terrorism and law enforcement measures passed in the wake of 9/11, to Europe, where Obama was for G8 talks. However, the vote process was delayed, which meant that the bill might not have reached Obama before the act expired at midnight Thursday.
