Spoiler alert: Word enthusiasts want to ban 'fiscal cliff'

A person checks his Blackberry during a ''job club'' in Olathe, Kansas February 25, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/Dave Kaup/Files

By Colleen Jenkins

Tue Jan 1, 2013 12:00pm IST

REUTERS - Whether or not the U.S. Congress acts to avoid the "fiscal cliff," the much-used phrase tops the list of words language aficionados want banned from everyday speech, according to a Michigan university's yearly roundup released on Monday.

Also making the cut for Lake Superior State University's annual list of overused, misused and generally useless terms were "kick the can down the road," "bucket list" and, it may come as no surprise, "spoiler alert."

Then there is "YOLO."

"Stands for 'You Only Live Once' and used by wannabe Twitter philosophers who think they've uncovered a deep secret of life," said Brendan Cotter, of Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, in nominating the phrase for retirement.

"I only live once, so I'd prefer to be able to do it without ever seeing YOLO again," Cotter said.

The small, public university has published its annual "List of Words to be Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness" since New Year's Day in 1976. It is culled mostly from nominations by English-language enthusiasts through the school's website.

But don't call them "gurus" - the term is among the dozen words and phrases on this year's list they want eliminated from the news, advertising, politics and general usage.

Fiscal cliff - a short-hand reference to the mix of $600 billion in tax increases and federal government spending cuts due to begin taking effect in January - received the most nominations in 2012, the school said.

"You can't turn on the news without hearing this," said Christopher Loiselle of Midland, Michigan, in his submission. "I'm equally worried about the River of Debt and Mountain of Despair."

"If only those who utter these words would take a giant leap off of it," said Joann Eschenburg of Clinton Township, Michigan.

Others were passionate in their disgust for the excessive use of the word "passion." References by news and entertainment commentators about what topics were "trending" and incessant talk of "job creation" by presidential candidates also ranked highly for causing annoyance.

Additional terms on the list included "double down" - when used as a verb instead of "reaffirm" - plus "superfood" and "boneless wings."

"Can we just call them chicken (pieces)?" said John McNamara of Lansing.

(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Dale Hudson)

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Sensex up over 150 points on 'fiscal cliff' deal boost

1 of 2. Commuters walk past the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai February 28, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui/Files

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Hillary Clinton suffers clot behind right ear, full recovery seen

1 of 2. People walk in front of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital where U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was hospitalized in New York, December 31, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Eduardo Munoz

By Arshad Mohammed and Jilian Mincer

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK | Tue Jan 1, 2013 11:04am IST

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suffered a blood clot in a vein between her brain and skull behind her right ear but is expected to make a full recovery, her doctors said on Monday in a statement released by the State Department.

Clinton did not suffer a stroke or neurological damage as a result of the clot, the doctors said, adding that "she is in good spirits, engaging with her doctors, her family and her staff."

The U.S. secretary of state, who has not been seen in public since December 7, was revealed on Sunday evening to be in a New York hospital under treatment for a blood clot that stemmed from a concussion she suffered in mid-December.

The concussion was itself the result of an earlier illness, described by the State Department as a stomach virus she had picked up during a trip to Europe that led to dehydration and a fainting spell after she returned to the United States.

"In the course of a routine follow-up MRI on Sunday, the scan revealed that a right transverse sinus venous thrombosis had formed. This is a clot in the vein that is situated in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear," Clinton's doctors, Drs. Lisa Bardack and Gigi El-Bayoumi said in the statement released by the State Department.

"To help dissolve this clot, her medical team began treating the Secretary with blood thinners. She will be released once the medication dose has been established," the doctors said. "In all other aspects of her recovery, the Secretary is making excellent progress and we are confident she will make a full recovery."

MAY RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY WHITE HOUSE RUN

Clinton's illness may raise questions about her fitness to be president should she make a new run for the White House in 2016. Barack Obama defeated her in the 2008 Democratic primary and then, upon his election as president, took the unusual step of tapping her for the most important post in his Cabinet.

Clinton earlier this month played down the notion that she would run again for the White House in 2016, telling a TV interviewer: "I've said I really don't believe that that's something I will do again. I am so grateful I had the experience of doing it before.

The former first lady turned U.S. senator from New York turned diplomat has played down talk of possibly making another White House run. She is expected to step down when her replacement as secretary of state, Senator John Kerry, is confirmed by the Senate.

Clinton has kept up a punishing schedule as the top U.S. diplomat, flying more than 950,000 miles to visit 112 countries and spending more than a quarter of her tenure - 401 days - on the road, according to the State Department.

Her health setbacks have forced her to cancel an overseas trip and postpone testimony to Congress regarding a report on the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya. Her two deputies testified instead.

Clinton has said she intends to appear before Congress to discuss the attack - in which four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, died - but it is unclear when she will be back at work.

The doctors gave no estimate of when she may go home from the hospital.

On Sunday, a State Department spokesman said Clinton was "being treated with anti-coagulants and is at New York-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours."

'PIPES' DRAIN BLOOD FROM THE BRAIN

Clinton's condition is unusual, but by no means unheard-of.

"This condition is not very common, but it certainly happens," said Dr. Raj Narayan, chair of neurosurgery at North Shore University Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York. It probably happens more often than we realize, he said, because it must be diagnosed with an MRI, as Clinton's was.

Narayan, who is not treating Clinton, said it likely was caused by her dehydration and the concussion that occurred from her fall. Head trauma can cause blood clots, Narayan said, because the injury triggers the production of thromboplastin, a blood protein that causes the blood to clot.

The severity depends in part on how someone is built, he said.

People normally have two of the veins where Clinton suffered the clot. Some people, however, have only one, while others have two but one is much larger than the other. The prognosis is typically better if you have two normal veins because the blood could flow through the other vein if one is blocked.

"Think of it as two pipes draining all of the blood out of the brain," Narayan said. "If one is blocked and the other is open, there is no problem. But if both pipes are blocked, you are in trouble."

Dr. Geoffrey Manley, chief of neurosurgery at San Francisco General Hospital and professor of neurosurgery at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), said the condition can be fatal if not treated but that most patients recover well.

"Left untreated, these things could be fatal. But typically, injuries to the transverse sinus, if treated appropriately, patients typically do very well," Manley said.

Manley, who is also not involved in Clinton's treatment, said it was quite possible she would be out of the hospital in a week or less and the condition was not likely to have long-term effects or to be the harbinger of more clots over time.

"One doesn't necessarily dictate another one," he said.

"This is ultimately not going to cause any long-term brain problems for her, and I think that it's a message to the public that when you fall and hit your head, you need to be evaluated by somebody that takes care of brain-injured patients," he added.

(Additional reporting by Dhanya Skariachan and by Warren Strobel; editing by Todd Eastham)

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U.S. Senate approves 'fiscal cliff' deal, crisis eased

1 of 2. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the negotiations with Capitol Hill on the looming fiscal cliff in front of middle class Americans while in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, December 31, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Larry Downing

By David Lawder and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON | Tue Jan 1, 2013 4:03pm IST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate moved the U.S. economy back from the edge of a "fiscal cliff" on Tuesday, voting to avoid imminent tax hikes and spending cuts in a bipartisan deal that could still face stiff challenges in the House of Representatives.

In a rare New Year's session at around 2 a.m. EST (0700 GMT), senators voted 89-8 to raise some taxes on the wealthy while making permanent low tax rates on the middle class that have been in place for a decade.

But the measure did little to rein in huge annual budget deficits that have helped push the U.S. debt to $16.4 trillion.

The agreement came too late for Congress to meet its own deadline of New Year's Eve for passing laws to halt $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts which strictly speaking came into force on Tuesday.

But with the New Year's Day holiday, there was no real world impact and Congress still had time to draw up legislation, approve it and backdate it to avoid the harsh fiscal measures.

That will need the backing of the House where many of the Republicans who control the chamber complain that President Barack Obama has shown little interest in cutting government spending and is too concerned with raising taxes.

All eyes are now on the House which is to hold a session on Tuesday starting at noon (1700 GMT).

Obama called for the House to act quickly and follow the Senate's lead.

"While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted, this agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay," he said in a statement.

"There's more work to do to reduce our deficits, and I'm willing to do it. But tonight's agreement ensures that, going forward, we will continue to reduce the deficit through a combination of new spending cuts and new revenues from the wealthiest Americans," Obama said.

Members were thankful that financial markets were closed, giving them a second chance to return to try to head off the fiscal cliff.

But if lawmakers cannot pass legislation in the coming days, markets are likely to turn sour. The U.S. economy, still recovering from the 2008/2009 downturn, could stall again if Congress fails to fix the budget mess.

"If we do nothing, the threat of a recession is very real. Passing this agreement does not mean negotiations halt, far from it. We can all agree there is more work to be done," Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, told the Senate floor.

A new, informal deadline for Congress to legislate is now Wednesday when the current body expires and it is replaced by a new Congress chosen at last November's election.

The Senate bill, worked out after long negotiations on New Year's Eve between Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, also postpones for two months a $109 billion "sequester" of sweeping spending cuts on military and domestic programs.

It extends unemployment insurance to 2 million people for a year and makes permanent the alternative minimum tax "patch" that was set to expire, protecting middle-income Americans from being taxed as if they were rich.

'IMPERFECT SOLUTION'

The tax hikes do not sit easy with Republicans but conservative senators held their noses and voted to raise rates for the rich because not to do so would have meant increases for almost all working Americans.

"It took an imperfect solution to prevent our constituents from a very real financial pain, but in my view, it was worth the effort," McConnell said.

House Speaker John Boehner - the top Republican in Congress - said the House would consider the Senate deal. But he left open the possibility of the House amending the Senate bill, which would spark another round of legislating.

"The House will honor its commitment to consider the Senate agreement if it is passed. Decisions about whether the House will seek to accept or promptly amend the measure will not be made until House members ... have been able to review the legislation," Boehner and other House Republican leaders said in a statement.

Boehner has struggled for two years to get control over a group of several dozen Tea Party fiscal conservatives in his caucus who strongly oppose tax increases and demand that he force Obama to make savings in the Medicare and Social Security healthcare and retirement programs.

A campaign-style event held by Obama in the White House as negotiations with Senate leaders were taking place on Monday may have made it more difficult for Republicans to back the deal. In remarks to a group of supporters that resembled a victory lap, the president noted that his rivals were coming around to his way of seeing things.

"Keep in mind that just last month Republicans in Congress said they would never agree to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans. Obviously, the agreement that's currently being discussed would raise those rates and raise them permanently," he said to applause before the Senate deal was sealed.

Obama's words and tone annoyed Republican lawmakers who seemed to feel that the Democrat was gloating.

"That's not the way presidents should lead," said Republican Senator John McCain, Obama's rival in the 2008 election.

A deal with the House on Tuesday, while uncertain, would not mark the end of congressional budget fights. The "sequester" spending cuts will come up again in February as will the contentious "debt ceiling," which caps how much debt the federal government can hold.

Republicans may see those two issues as their best chance to try to rein in government spending and clip Obama's wings at the start of his second term.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Mark Felsenthal, Rachelle Younglai, Kim Dixon and Jeff Mason; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Oscar nomination voting extended after online hitches

A large Oscar statue stands in the hallway at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study in Hollywood September 10, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser/Files

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES | Tue Jan 1, 2013 10:41am IST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Voting for Oscar nominations was extended by a day after some people reported problems with a new online voting system, organisers of the movie industry's coveted awards said Monday.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said the deadline for its 6,000 members to vote on nominations for the year's best films, performances, directors, screenplay and other achievements would be extended to Friday, January 4 - 24 hours after the original January 3 deadline.

"By extending the voting deadline we are providing every opportunity available to make the transition to online balloting as smooth as possible," Ric Robertson, chief operating officer of the academy, said in a statement.

"We're grateful to our global membership for joining us in this process," Robertson added.

Nominations for the 2013 Oscars will be announced on January 10, setting off weeks of speculation and campaigning by movie studios and industry pundits before the winners are announced in Hollywood on February 24.

The academy is using electronic balloting this year for the first time in its 85-year history but has also said any member can submit a paper ballot if preferred.

Monday's announcement follows reports of frustration on the part of some members in logging into the new online system, as well as some slowness in ballots being returned by both the new or old method.

A source close to the Academy acknowledged that some members had experienced problems with forgotten passwords or user names and that the extended deadline would help in resolving those issues in this first year.

The deadline to return nominating ballots was pushed forward by about two weeks this year, leaving the actors, directors, producers and other academy members less time to view the many movies opening in December that are vying for Oscar nominations.

Trade website The Hollywood Reporter, which spoke to at least 10 members of the academy last week, reported that some had been locked out of the website over password issues, others found the website confusing, and some were concerned about the website being hacked and results being leaked.

The academy in December sent all its paid-up members paper ballots in a precautionary move prompted by what entertainment website TheWrap.com said was concern about the number of people who, at that time, had not chosen whether to vote online or on paper.

Robertson told TheWrap when voting opened on December 17 that although some members were opposed to online voting, he was "pleasantly surprised" that more people than he had expected had registered to vote online.

In the past, Oscar ballots have been mailed around the world to academy members and the results have been tabulated by hand by the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm.

The move to electronic voting was seen as speeding up the process and making it easier to swiftly reach members working or living overseas. It followed a lengthy consultation with academy members and officials, and the setting up of a 24-hour support center to help members use the online system.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Analysis: U.S. economy would dodge bullet for now under fiscal deal

U.S. one dollar bills are displayed in this posed photograph in Toronto October 22, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Mark Blinch/Files

By Jason Lange

WASHINGTON | Tue Jan 1, 2013 1:30pm IST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A deal worked out by U.S. Senate leaders to avoid the "fiscal cliff," was far from any "grand bargain" of deficit reduction measures.

But if approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, it could help the country steer clear of recession, although enough austerity would remain in place to likely keep the economy growing at a lackluster pace.

The Senate approved a last-minute deal early Tuesday morning to scale back $600 billion in scheduled tax hikes and government spending cuts that economists widely agree would tip the economy into recession.

The deal would hike taxes permanently for household incomes over $450,000 a year, but keep existing lower rates in force for everyone else.

It would make permanent the alternative minimum tax "patch" that was set to expire, protecting middle-income Americans from being taxed as if they were rich.

Scheduled cuts in defense and non-defense spending were simply postponed for two months.

Economists said that if the emerging package were to become law, it would represent at least a temporary reprieve for the economy. "This keeps us out of recession for now," said Menzie Chinn, an economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The contours of the deal suggest that roughly one-third of the scheduled fiscal tightening could still take place, said Brett Ryan, an economist at Deutsche Bank in New York.

That is in line with what many financial firms on Wall Street and around the world have been expecting, suggesting forecasts for economic growth of around 1.9 percent for 2013 would likely hold.

At midnight Monday, low tax rates enacted under then-President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003 expired. If the House agrees with the Senate - and there remained considerable doubt on that score - the new rates would be extended retroactively.

Otherwise, together with other planned tax hikes, the average household would pay an estimated $3,500 more in taxes, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. Budget experts expect the economy would take a hit as families cut back on spending.

Provisions in the Senate bill would avoid scheduled cuts to jobless benefits and to payments to doctors under a federal health insurance program.

AUSTERITY'S BITE

Like the consensus of economists from Wall Street and beyond, Deutsche Bank has been forecasting enough fiscal drag to hold back growth to roughly 1.9 percent in 2013. Ryan said the details of the deal appeared to support that forecast.

That would be much better than the 0.5 percent contraction predicted by the Congressional Budget Office if the entirety of the fiscal cliff took hold, but it would fall short of what is needed to quickly heal the labor market, which is still smarting from the 2007-09 recession.

"We continue to anticipate a significant economic slowdown at the start of the year in response to fiscal drag and a contentious fiscal debate," economists at Nomura said in a research note.

In particular, analysts say financial markets are likely to remain on tenterhooks until Congress raises the nation's $16.4 trillion debt ceiling, which the U.S. Treasury confirmed had been reached on Monday.

While the Bush tax cuts would be made permanent for many Americans under the budget deal, a two-year-long payroll tax holiday enacted to give the economy an extra boost would expire. The Tax Policy Center estimates this could push the average household tax bill up by about $700 next year.

The suspension of spending cuts sets up a smaller fiscal cliff later in the year which still could be enough to send the economy into recession, said Chinn.

He warned that ongoing worries about the possibility of recession could keep businesses from investing, which would hinder economic growth.

"You retain the uncertainty," Chinn said.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Top Afghan negotiator optimistic over peace prospects

Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai speaks during an interview in Kabul December 31, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Mohammad Ismail/Files

By Michael Georgy and Hamid Shalizi

KABUL | Tue Jan 1, 2013 11:32am IST

KABUL (Reuters) - A top Afghan peace negotiator said he was cautiously optimistic about prospects for reconciliation with the Taliban and that all sides now realised a military solution to the war was not possible.

Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai also told Reuters that the Kabul government hoped to transform the Afghan Taliban, who have proved resilient after more than a decade of war against U.S.-led NATO and Afghan troops, into a political movement.

He predicted the highly lethal Haqqani militant network, the most experienced at guerrilla warfare, would join the peace process if the Afghan Taliban started formal talks.

Signs are emerging that the Afghan government is gaining momentum in its drive to persuade the Taliban to lay down their arms before most NATO combat troops pull out by the end of 2014, a timeline that makes many Afghans nervous.

Members of the Afghan government, the Taliban and some of their old enemies in the Northern Alliance, which fought the Taliban for years, discussed ways of easing the conflict during a recent meeting in France.

"I think one consensus was that everybody acknowledged that nobody will win by military (means)," said Stanekzai, who was badly wounded in a 2011 Taliban suicide bombing attack. "Everybody acknowledged that we have to enter into a meaningful negotiation."

Pakistan, long accused of supporting Afghan insurgents such as the Taliban, has sent the strongest signals yet that it will deliver on promises of helping the Kabul government and the United States bring stability to its neighbour. Pakistan is seen as critical to the process after three decades of upheaval in Afghanistan.

Ten years of Soviet occupation were followed by devastating civil war and the rise of the Taliban, who ruled from 1996 to 2001.

On Monday, Pakistan freed four Afghan Taliban prisoners who Afghan officials said were close to the group's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, and still had the clout to persuade commanders to pursue peace.

"EVERYBODY SHOULD BENEFIT"

Stanekzai stressed that in order to bring long-term stability, reconciliation efforts should aim to bring the Taliban and other insurgents into Afghan politics.

"The purpose of the peace process is we want all Afghans to be part of the political system," said Stanekzai, who studied at Cambridge and was in charge of disarmament in Afghanistan before becoming a senior member of the High Peace Council.

"This peace process should not just be a deal between a few people or between the government and the Taliban, but everybody should benefit from the peace process, and everybody should see a peaceful prospect for themselves for the future."

Some activists fear that the government will make concessions in order to pacify the Taliban that could hurt efforts to improve women's rights.

Stanekzai said Afghan security forces had made progress but acknowledged that more work was needed to ensure they would be ready to take over when the U.S. combat mission ends in 2014.

He also believes a free and fair presidential election in April 2014 are essential to prevent any further conflict. The last vote was plagued by allegations of widespread fraud.

"This is the time where we have to enter in negotiations to make sure that does not happen. But, as you know, politicians are always politicians. They are always in a power game."

Stanekzai warned that reconciliation was complex, with many moving parts having to be synchronised.

The Haqqanis, who are close to al Qaeda and have been blamed for a number of high-profile attacks on Western and Afghan targets in Kabul, are regarded as a possible spoiler.

But Stanekzai did not seem too concerned about the group.

"When you go to a market you always use a brand name and then you sell your very low-quality product under that brand name," he said.

"We enter a negotiation with the Taliban which is the brand marketable name. The rest is easy."

Asked if he thought there would be a major breakthrough in peace efforts this year, Stanekzai said conditions had been established to make that possible. But he noted that Afghanistan was highly unpredictable.

"Anything can happen. You don't know which direction these different actors will take," he said.

Stanekzai knows that first hand.

He recalled how a man posing as a Taliban peace envoy kissed the hand of ex-Afghan president and chairman of the High Peace Council Burhanuddin Rabbani before detonating a bomb hidden in his turban.

Rabbani was killed instantly and Stanekzai was badly wounded. Faith in Islam has helped him recover.

"The suicide bomber was between the both of us and when he lowered his head, I remember there was a light and a bang and that was the last thing I remember. Next thing I remember was I was in the hospital," said Stanekzai, sitting near his cane.

"It's life," he said. "In Islam, in our religion, it says even if you are in the middle of fire, Allah can save you."

(Editing by Nick Macfie)

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