How does a traffic cop ticket a driverless car?

Rapid progress means self-driving cars are in the fast lane to consumer reality. Is the law up to speed too, asks legal expert Bryant Walker Smith EVER since the 1930s, self-driving cars have been just 20 years away. Many of those earlier visions, however, depended on changes to physical infrastructure that...

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Egypt awaits referendum results; opposition cries fraud

CAIRO: Egypt on Monday was awaiting official results of a referendum on a new constitution reportedly backed by two-thirds of voters but which the opposition alleged was riddled with fraud."No official date has been fixed" for the final polling figures, a member of the electoral commission, Mohamed el-Tanobly, told AFP. State media had reported the count could be given on Monday.The Muslim...

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Police crackdown amid outrage over gang rape

STORY HIGHLIGHTSRussian President Vladimir Putin is due visit India MondayNew Delhi's government district is under a lockdownProtesters demonstrate after the gang rape of a woman on a busPolice say the woman was badly beaten and left for deadNew Delhi (CNN) -- Police locked down New Delhi's key government district ahead of Monday's visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin, after two days of pitched...

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American killed by Afghan policewoman

KABUL, Afghanistan An Afghan police official says an Afghan policewoman has killed an American adviser at the Kabul police headquarters. Kabul's Deputy Police Chief, Mohammad Daoud Amin, says an investigation is under way to determine whether the killing Monday was intentional or accidental. Charles Stadtlander, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, the U.S.-led military...

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Get 'em While You Can? Gun Sales Soar

The National Rifle Association may still get its way and defeat the lawmakers calling for a ban on the sale of assault ridles, but some gun store owners say it seems their customers aren't taking any chances."We have never seen anything like this," said Larry Hyatt, who owns a gun shop in Charlotte, N.C. "We have the Christmas business, the hunting season business, and now we...

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Today on New Scientist: 21 December 2012

Cadaver stem cells offer new hope of life after death Stem cells can be extracted from bone marrow five days after death to be used in life-saving treatmentsApple's patents under fire at US patent office The tech firm is skating on thin ice with some of the patents that won it a $1 billion settlement against SamsungHimalayan dam-building threatens endemic species The world's highest mountains...

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More S'poreans fall prey to phone scams

SINGAPORE: More Singaporeans fell prey to lucky draw phone scams in the first eight months of the year.Police said there were 234 reported cases in the period, of which 134 victims were cheated of their money.Between January and August last year, there were 201 reported cases of lucky draw phone scams and 123 victims who were cheated.The amount of money cheated from victims went up by...

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Little common ground in debate on guns

STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe NRA wants to staff every school in America with "qualified armed security"Obama, Democrats and others see tougher gun control as the way to limit future massacresWhile both sides want to keep children safe, it seems they are living in two different worldsWashington (CNN) -- For National Rifle Association Vice President Wayne LaPierre and many other pro-gun Americans, the task is...

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Newtown parents reject NRA plan

NEWTOWN, Conn. When Adam Lanza started his lethal attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School, Andrei Nikitchyuk's eight year-old son and another third grader were on their way to the principal's office. It was their turn to bring the daily attendance sheet to the front office, near where principal Dawn Hochsprung and psychologist Mary Sherlach would become the first casualties inside the school. Play...

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Obama, Congress Waving Bye-Bye Lower Taxes?

The first family arrived in the president's idyllic home state of Hawaii early today to celebrate the holidays, but President Obama, who along with Michelle will pay tribute Sunday to the late Sen. Daniel Inouye at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, could be returning home to Washington sooner than he expected.That's because the President didn't get his Christmas...

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