EU ban and Iran reaction

You can also watch this video by clicking HERE or on the Play Button

Empire State Building: Profits Surpass All Horizons

The owners of the Empire State Building like to promote it as the most famous office building in the world.
But the real moneymaker at the 102-story skyscraper is not the 2.7 million square feet of commercial space occupied by tenants like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
It is the view.
The cramped observation decks on the 86th and 102nd floors are startlingly profitable.
The decks attract four million visitors a year and generated $60 million in profits last year, while the owners made little if any money on the office space, according to newly disclosed documents that offer a rare glimpse at the building’s balance sheet.
The financial results at the Empire State Building illustrate how observatories, once considered a modest sideline and a pleasant diversion, have become big business for owners seeking to wring every dollar out of office towers around the world.
But other real estate magnates were deeply impressed by the revenue from the observatory.
“That’s an astounding amount of money,” said Richard S. LeFrak, whose family owns 40 million square feet of apartment houses, office buildings and hotels in New York and New Jersey. “I would never have guessed anything like that. But the Empire State Building is an iconic structure. People have been making that pilgrimage since they put it up.”
In Chicago, the owners of the Willis Tower, formerly named the Sears Tower and the tallest building in the United States, unveiled glass balconies for the observation deck in 2009 that allowed visitors to look straight down, 1,353 feet, onto South Wacker Drive. Since then, attendance has jumped 28 percent, to an estimated 1.4 million this year.
Top of the Rock, the observatory at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, reopened six years ago after a long dormancy and now pulls in 2.5 million visitors a year and a $25 million profit, according to real estate executives who have been briefed on the project.
Eight companies are vying to operate what would be the largest and highest observation deck in the city — the one at 1 World Trade Center, the 1,776-foot tower under construction in Lower Manhattan.
Five high-speed express elevators are expected to whisk five million visitors a year to a three-level observatory on Floors 100 through 102. If ticket prices were set at $25 each, annual revenues could exceed $100 million, not counting ancillary sales of key fobs, thermometers, coffee mugs and T-shirts.
It remains to be seen whether the observatory at 1 World Trade will undercut the performance of the Empire State Building’s, or establish a new market among the millions of tourists expected to visit the 9/11 memorial and museum downtown. But the Empire State Building prospectus does warn that competition from 1 World Trade and Top of the Rock “could have a negative impact on revenues.”
Still, as it stands now, the unquestioned champion of observatories is at the Empire State Building. Even with adult tickets ranging from about $20, for a trip to the 86th floor, to $55, for those who want to avoid the lines and get to the top, attendance never sags.
“Just about everybody on the planet has seen the Empire State Building thousands of times in movies and television, and they want to visit,” said Barry Tenenbaum, president of New York City Vacation Packages, a tour operator in New York City. “The unobstructed view from the deck does not disappoint. It’s so majestic, thrilling and romantic.”
Even in the 1990s, attendance at the higher, 107-story observation deck at the World Trade Center never exceeded two million.
In the 1930s, when developers in New York City were competing to build the tallest skyscraper in the world, many buildings had an observation deck that offered panoramic views of a skyline less filled with towers.
It cost 40 cents to ride to the 70th floor at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, in what was known as the RCA Building; 55 cents to get to the observatory on the 60th floor of the Woolworth Building or the 71st floor of the Chrysler Building; and $1.10 for the Empire State Building’s observatory.
But that was long before the big crowds, high-speed elevators and timed ticketing turned observatories into profit centers.
Today, the Empire State Building is controlled by Peter L. Malkin and his son, Anthony E. Malkin. They have invested hundreds of millions of dollars burnishing the landmark, including replacing all 6,514 windows.
For decades, the building was a rabbit warren of more than 850 small-time tenants. The Malkins are combining spaces in hopes of attracting larger, higher-rent tenants. As a result, revenue from the office space, which is two-thirds occupied, is expected to climb substantially.
In the meantime, the observatory accounts for the bulk of the profits.
T. J. Gottesdiener, managing partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the firm that designed 1 World Trade Center and the new observatory at the Willis Tower in Chicago, said architects now understood that observatories were an important revenue source for office buildings.


from The New York Times

"The Artist" movie

How about reading the article and filling in the blanks?

"The Artist", a silent, black-and-white film from France …………… (be) the big winner Sunday at the 69th annual Golden Globe awards.

From Spielberg to Martin Scorcese, George Clooney to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, the "A" list of film celebrities ………………………………. (turn up) for the gala event in Beverly Hills as the 90 international entertainment reporters in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association spread their awards among a handful of films.

They ………………………………. (give) three Golden Globes to the French-made audience favorite "The Artist". The silent, black-and-white story of old Hollywood ………………………………. (win) best comedy film as well as awards for lead actor Jean DuJardin and musical score composer Ludovic Bourse.

"The Artist" ………………………………. (star) 35-year-old Argentinean actress Bérénice Bejo and ………………………………. (direct) by her husband, French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius.

The Golden Globe for best foreign language film ………………………………. (go) to the Iranian drama A Separation, directed by Asghar Farhadi.

But some film-goers at Odeon Cinemas in the UK ………………………………. (complain) that Oscar favorite "The Artist" ………………………………. (have) no dialogue and ………………………………. (be) bad enough to warrant a refund.

According to the Telegraph of London, movie fans in Liverpool ………………………………. (demand) their money back claiming they ………………………………. (have) no idea that the Golden Globe-winner was a silent film. They also ………………………………. (complain) the film ………………………………. (be) reduced to a smaller screen size.

Director Michel Hazanavicius ………………………………. (explain) that the smaller size …………………………………….. (give)"The Artist" an authentic look of original silent films, which ………………………………. (be) hugely popular from the late 19th century to the early 1930s.

Odeon and UCI Cinemas Group initially ………………………………. (deny) the complaints some moviegoers ………………………………. (make) at screenings at their multiplex in Liverpool city center. But later Odeon spokesman ………………………………. (say): "Odeon Liverpool One can confirm it ………………………………. (issue) a small number of refunds to guests who …………………………… (be) unaware that "The Artist" ……………………… (be) a silent film. The cinema ………………………………. (be) happy to offer guests a refund on their film choice if they raise concern with a member of staff within 10 minutes of the film starting."

Some French audiences also ………………………………. (have) difficulty with the film. Director Hazanavicius ………………………………. (explain): "It ……………………………………….(be) funny because we ………………………………. don't have a special word in French for 'silent', we ………………………………. say 'mute'. And initially people ………………………………. (keep) asking, 'Is this a movie about mute and deaf people?'”








You can also watch this video by clicking HERE or on the Play Button

Go on board! It's an order!

Here is a translation of the transcript of the conversation between Capt. Francesco Schettino, commander of the grounded Costa Concordia, and Capt. Gregorio De Falco of the Italian coast guard in Livorno.


If you want to listen to the actual conversation in Italian click HERE or on the Play Button

Go through the transcript and then answer the following questions, please

(1) How many instances of orders have you read?

• Less than 10

• More than 10

.
(2) Can you spot any polite requests?


(3) Can you list expressions or words that express anger?



—De Falco: "This is De Falco speaking from Livorno. Am I speaking with the commander?"

—Schettino: "Yes. Good evening, Cmdr. De Falco."

—De Falco: "Please tell me your name."

—Schettino: "I'm Cmdr. Schettino, commander"

—De Falco: "Schettino? Listen Schettino. There are people trapped on board. Now, go with your boat under the prow on the starboard side. There is a pilot ladder. You will climb that ladder and go on board. Go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear? I'm recording this conversation, Cmdr. Schettino..."

—Schettino: "Commander, let me tell you one thing..."

—De Falco: "Speak up! Put your hand in front of the microphone and speak more loudly, is that clear?"

—Schettino: "In this moment, the boat is tipping..."

—De Falco: "I understand that, listen, there are people that are coming down the pilot ladder of the prow. You go up that pilot ladder, get on that ship and tell me how many people are still on board. And what they need. Is that clear? You need to tell me if there are children, women or people in need of assistance. And tell me the exact number of each of these categories. Is that clear? Listen Schettino, that you saved yourself from the sea, but I am going to...really do something bad to you...I am going to make you pay for this. Go on board, (expletive)!"

—Schettino: "Commander, please..."

—De Falco: "No, please. You now get up and go on board. They are telling me that on board there are still..."

—Schettino: "I am here with the rescue boats, I am here, I am not going anywhere, I am here..."

—De Falco: "What are you doing, commander?"

—Schettino: "I am here to coordinate the rescue..."

—De Falco: "What are you coordinating there? Go on board! Coordinate the rescue from aboard the ship. Are you refusing?"

—Schettino: "No, I am not refusing."

—De Falco: "Are you refusing to go aboard commander? Can you tell me the reason why you are not going?"

—Schettino: "I am not going because the other lifeboat is stopped."

—De Falco: "Go aboard. It is an order. Don't make any more excuses. You have declared 'abandon ship.' Now I am in charge. Go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me? Go, and call me when you are aboard. My air rescue crew is there."

—Schettino: "Where are your rescuers?"

—De Falco: "My air rescue is on the prow. Go. There are already bodies, Schettino."

—Schettino: "How many bodies are there?"

—De Falco: "I don't know. I have heard of one. You are the one who has to tell me how many there are. Christ."

—Schettino: "But do you realize it is dark and here we can't see anything..."

—De Falco: "And so what? You want go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!"

—Schettino: "...I am with my second in command."

—De Falco: "So both of you go up then ... You and your second go on board now. Is that clear?"

—Schettino: "Commander, I want to go on board, but it is simply that the other boat here ... there are other rescuers. It has stopped and is waiting..."

—De Falco: "It has been an hour that you have been telling me the same thing. Now, go on board. Go on board! And then tell me immediately how many people there are there."

—Schettino: "OK, commander"

—De Falco: "Go, immediately!"

Titanic and Costa Concordia: comparison

"Have you seen 'Titanic'? That's exactly what it was," said Valeria Ananias, a 31-year-old Los Angeles schoolteacher aboard the Concordia.

It seems that the world views the Concordia through a prism of fact, myth and fantasy that surrounds the Titanic, largely because of the popular movie that came out in 1997 and will be re-released in 3D this year.

Virtually everyone who has seen the movie has thought about what they would have done during such a disaster—and now the Concordia allows us to update and refresh those thoughts.

Are such comparisons to a 100-year-old tragedy fair? Accurate?

There is one comparison between the Concordia and Titanic that appears to be correct: Both were disasters affected by human error.












Please go through the following facts and state the similarities and the differences between the Titanic and the Concordia


The Titanic was the biggest ship built to date in England at that time—and the Concordia was the biggest ship built so far in Italy. One crashed into an iceberg, the other, a reef or rock.

The Concordia was slightly larger (952 feet to the Titanic's 883 feet) and both had a top speed of 23 knots.

Ominously, both had issues with their christening, and believers in superstition may attribute the ships' tragedies to it.

Before a ship's maiden voyage, it's common for a dignitary to "christen" the vessel by breaking a bottle of champagne on the hull for good luck.

The Titanic was never christened. The Concordia was christened during a ceremony when the ship came online, but the champagne bottle never broke. After each tragedy, people wondered whether the lack of a proper christening was a bad omen.

Christened in 2006, the Concordia was the largest and most luxurious in the Costa cruise fleet, boasting bars, restaurants, a gym, large spa and several lavish suites.

In its day, the Titanic had similar amenities—although there were more severe class differences on the Titanic, and the chasm between first- and third-class passengers was enforced by class-only eating, sitting and mingling areas. In today's cruising world, the passengers in the $199 cabins on the weekend cruises out of Miami can, and do, sun themselves alongside the folks in the $3,000 suites.

The Titanic had 2,207 people on board; the Concordia about 4,200. The Titanic was much smaller: 46,328 tons compared with the Concordia's 114,500 tons.

Safety standards for large passenger ships grew out of a convention in 1914, two years after the Titanic disaster—which means that all modern-day cruise ships, including the Concordia, should have benefited from the lessons learned from the Titanic. The rules eventually were adopted by the International Maritime Organization, an agency of the United Nations.

Ships are required to have public address systems for announcements to passengers, and lifeboats must be at least partially enclosed. They also must hold weekly "abandon ship" and fire drills.

Lifeboats also are required to be capable of being loaded, launched and maneuvered away from the ship within 30 minutes of the Master's signal to abandon ship.

People aboard the Titanic didn't panic because the ship listed only a few degrees. There weren't enough lifeboats for all of the passengers aboard and some lifeboats left without being full.



"It's amazing that 100 years later, we're still arguing about how many lifeboats are needed, what kind of training the crew had and what the evacuation procedures were," said Bob Jarvis, a maritime law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "One-hundred years later, we still don't do a good job getting passengers ready for a disaster."


Many passengers aboard the Concordia have complained the crew didn't give them good directions on evacuating and waited so long to lower the lifeboats that many couldn't be released because the ship was listing so heavily.

Some passengers also have complained that the Concordia's captain, Francesco Verusio, abandoned the cruise liner before all his passengers had escaped. The Titanic's captain, Edward Smith, died the night the ship sank. Some historians say he went down with the boat.

A century ago, people thought the Titanic was unsinkable because it was so large and mighty. Today, people marvel that a ship like the Concordia could have run aground while sailing a routine course.

"To see a ship like this in 2012, with all the sophisticated navigation equipment, doing something that it does every week, you don't expect that today," Jarvis said.


source: NYDispatch

Investigating Costa Concordia's black box (video)

You can also watch this video by clicking HERE or on the Play Button


(A) How about finishing these questions, based on the information provided in the video?

1. How many people …………
2. How many tons …….
3. When was the captain ………..
4. What are investigators ………
5. What did the captain ……
6. When did the ………
7. What do prosecutors ……….
8. Why did rescuers ……….



(B) Please organize a summary of the information including at least 15 of the following expressions


1. rescue workers
2. an Italian cruise ship
3. killed
4. were injured
5. missing
6. was arrested
7. has been accused of
8. navigation data recordings
9. sequence of events
10. calm seas and clear weather
11. consult the black boxes
12. captain
13. leaving the ship before
14. refused to return
15. unexplained delays
16. underestimated
17. safety
18. slipped slightly
19. deteriorated

Australian survives bungee jump that goes wrong

You can also watch this video by clicking HERE or on the Play Button




(A) How about filling in the blanks?


(Reuters) - An Australian woman ………………………… (survive) a terrifying fall after her bungee cord ………………………(snap) during a 111-meter leap off Africa's Victoria Falls Bridge, plunging her into the crocodile-infested Zambezi River below.

Erin Langworthy, the 22-year-old from Perth who ……………………….. (suffer) only cuts and bruises in the fall on New Year's Eve, said it ………………… (be) a "miracle" that she had survived the plunge into the rapids below the bridge, which ……………………. (border) Zambia and Zimbabwe.

But once in the water, she ……………….(be) far from safe - the river is notoriously infested with hungry crocodiles and she ……………… (be) certainly a meal these crocs ……………………….. (not want) miss.

Amazingly, with the hungry predators only feet away and before she ………………………. (enter) the rapids, Erin …………………… (manage) swim to the riverbank on the Zimbabwe side to wait for assistance.

Erin ……………………………..(treat) at a nearby clinic before ………………… (evacuate) to South Africa. Luckily she ………………………. (suffer) only minor injuries and can retell the bungee jump that nearly …………………….. (cost ) her her life.

Zambia's Information Minister Given Lubinda ……………………….. (say) in a report published on the Lusakatimes.com web site:

"The bungee …………………………. (be) a very viable operation considering that more than 50,000 tourists jump on it every year. It ……………………. (be) in operation for 10 years and this is the first time I …………………………. (hear) of an incident. The probability of an incident ………………… (be) one in 500,000 jumps"



(B) Are the following items mentioned in
1- the article,
2- the video or
3- both?

• Her name
• Her age
• Her nationality
• Her hometown
• The accident: when
• Bridge: place and height
• River: name and characteristics
• People witnessing the accident
• Rescue
• Treatment: where and how long
• African authorities
• Bungee jump operators

(C) Is there any item that gets a different description in the video and in the article?


(D) How about joining the following sentences using some of these linkers:

although - though - even though
since - as
however - yet - nevertheless - anyway
in spite of (the fact that)
due to (the fact that)
that's why
because of (the fact that)

1. The company that runs the bungee jump claims its plunges are safe. The Australian girl had a terrible accident.

2. She was told it was safe to jump. The rope snapped.

3. The rope snapped. She plummeted into the river.

4. She fell from a high bridge. She survived.

5. She survived. She's a good swimmer.

6. She's a good swimmer. She managed to unravel the rope bound around her feet.

7. Her legs were tied together with the bungee cord. She managed to pull herself to shore.

8. The Zambezi River is notoriously full of hungry crocodriles. None of them attacked Erin





edited from Reuters and NJD World