[pol 1020] Circus Binnenhof

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 16:38 schreef Mutant01 het volgende:
Goede zaak dat ze protesteren tegen die fascistische paus.

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"Benedict, the author of such unfortunate and insolent remarks, is going down in history for his words," he said. "He is going down in history in the same category as leaders such as (Adolf) Hitler and (Benito) Mussolini."

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 15:38 schreef Reya het volgende:

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Op vrijdag? Vrijdag is al bedoeld om je kater van de dag ervoor weg te werken

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 17:33 schreef Aoristus het volgende:
Ongehoord, heb ik nu mijn downgrade upcabonnement rond, 10 euro minder, maar met telefoon, hebben ze mij m'n telefoonnummer niet gegeven

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 17:34 schreef Autodidact het volgende:
Ik moest laatst lachen over (de afwezigheid van) het historische besef bij X-Ray over het fascisme, maar dit slaat alles. Grote, holle woorden.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 17:38 schreef Autodidact het volgende:

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Is dat niet gewoon hetzelfde?

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 17:45 schreef Autodidact het volgende:
Ik heb mijn internetpakketje binnen, eindelijk (zie verhaaltje op vorige pagina)... en net aangesloten, ook van UPC. Even bier halen, dan router instellen en knallen maar.

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Morocco plans Arab world's first high-speed train

By Tom Pfeiffer
RABAT, Morocco — Work on the Arab world's first high-speed train — stretching from the Mediterranean to the door of the Sahara desert — could begin next year, the head of Morocco's rail company said.

The trains would travel at up to 300 kilometres (186 miles) per hour, slashing times from Tangier in the north via Marrakesh to Agadir in the south, and from Casablanca on the Atlantic to Oujda on the Algerian border.

"Marrakesh to Tangier in two and a half hours — it's as if the country's shrinking," rail operator ONCF's managing director Mohamed Rabie Khlie told Reuters in an interview.

"A high-speed rail network will put us in the rail industry's big league."

If the plans are approved, the 1,500 kilometres of track may take until 2030 to complete at a cost of around 25 billion dirhams ($2.87 billion), Khlie said.

Improving transport links from the center of the kingdom to long-neglected outlying regions is an important part of the government's attempt to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment and poverty.

A better rail network would also relieve congestion on Morocco's roads, where around 10 people die every day in accidents.

Once financing for the new lines is sealed, engineering work could begin in the second half of 2007, Khlie said.

Journeys from Casablanca to Marrakesh could be cut to 1 hour and 20 minutes from over three hours, and from the capital Rabat to Tangier to 1 hour and 30 minutes from 4 hours and 30 minutes.

And Khlie said plans mooted years ago for a tunnel from Europe to Africa across the strait of Gibraltar were still on course, meaning trains may one day travel direct from Madrid to Marrakesh.

"A Moroccan-Spanish committee is working very hard on this issue and it's going very well," he said. "We feel quite a clear willingness on the Spanish side to push things forward."

Network expansion

According to media reports earlier this year, the United Arab Emirates is studying the feasibility of a high-speed rail line between its airports in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

But Khlie said ONCF was the only train company in the Arab world with the financial health and technical capabilities needed to launch a high-speed rail project.

After years of restructuring with the help of loans from the World Bank, European Investment Bank and foreign governments, ONCF began turning a consolidated profit from 2004, giving it the financial muscle to embark on a broad expansion.

It plans to invest 15.5 billion dirhams in the 2005-09 period, as much as was spent in the previous 25 years, to expand and improve a cumbersome infrastructure, parts of which have changed little since the days of the French protectorate.

ONCF will acquire the status of a company next year, with a 50-year concession to operate the existing national network.

Under plans to liberalise the rail sector, private companies could be contracted to build and operate future rail lines that would link up with ONCF's network, Khlie said.

But he played down the idea that the government may split ONCF's infrastructure and operations activities, an option chosen by some European rail firms, or even privatise it.

"Nothing stops ONCF being brought to the stock market as long as the state keeps overall control," he said. "The priority today is not any privatization but to develop the network."
Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited.

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Resident to build luxury hotels
Entrepreneur launching Morocco hotel chain

Stephanie Paterik
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 15, 2006 12:00 AM

Seven time zones away on the continent of Africa, Scottsdale entrepreneur Christian Rivadalla is preparing to open his first hotel chain in Morocco next month.

Rivadalla, 40, made his money pioneering online hotel booking systems in the 1990s, when people had to call a hotel to book a room. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Best Western and others used his technology to streamline operations and catch customers on the Web.

He sold his company on Sept. 10, 2001, lucky timing considering that the industry would tank the next day, and retired early to a nice home in Scottsdale.
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Eager to get back into the hotel industry, he's using his wealth to launch the first location in what he hopes will be an exclusive chain, Octogone Hotels in Morocco. The first $12 million property, Earth, opens Oct. 1 in Marrakech.

"It's quite an undertaking to produce," Rivadalla said. "I don't speak any French or Arabic, which makes it very difficult to communicate in a Third World city called Marrakech."

Rivadalla has pushed back the hotel's opening date several times. He planned to open it in July, but when he arrived in Marrakech three months ago, the operations were not up to his standards. He's been there ever since, fine-tuning, Operations Manager Jennifer Rubin said.

"When you open your own business, you want it to be perfect," she said, adding that Rivadalla doesn't want to give guests less than what they pay for.

The biggest challenge for Rivadalla has been the language barrier. And interest rates ratcheted up construction costs.

He developed this property on his own; he said he would need investors to launch the rest.

"I have no partners," he said. "I could have gone faster with other people's money."

Seven more hotels are slated to open in Moroccan cities such as Casablanca, Rabat and Tangier, and the Sahara by the end of 2009.

Inspiration struck Rivadalla after several visits to a friend in Morocco. He loved the arid landscape and blend of French and Arabic cultures. But he also thought the hotel offerings were lacking, for foreigners in particular.

He decided to fill the niche by opening high-end boutique hotels throughout the region and marketing them to the rich and famous.

Earth includes 18 villas, little palaces in their own right, with a total of 52 rooms on 11 acres. Each villa is shaped like an octagon. The shape is integrated into artwork, and there will be amenities such as an eight-handed massage in keeping with the theme.

"The octagon (symbolizes) the perfect dream," Rivadalla said. "Everything (else) is square, and you can't live in a triangle."

Catering to international customers, the hotel will lend every guest a cellphone on arrival so they can make worldwide calls and order room service. Rivadalla is developing Octogone coins that guests can give to cab drivers if they don't know how to get back to the property after a late night.

There will be three restaurants. One is Moroccan, another serves sushi, and the third will pay homage to Rivadalla's Cuban heritage. Think black-tie, 1950s.

He said he is negotiating with high-end designers to secure a closet full of clothes. That way, if a traveler's luggage is lost, he or she can choose a few outfits to get by with. Oh, and the minibar is free.

"We're trying some trend-setting ways," Rivadalla said.

He anticipates guests will stay an average of three to nine days for luxury vacations, corporate functions and retreats. About 60 percent will come from France, 15 percent from England, 20 percent from Spain, Italy and Germany and the rest from the United States.

He hired a French general manager, along with a chef from Arizona.

Rubin visited the property in July, after construction was finished.

"When I got there, I didn't know what to expect, but it was absolutely amazing," she said. "It's almost like a picture out of Aladdin."

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AP
Moroccan Airline Expanding to Europe
Friday September 15, 8:31 am ET
Moroccan Budget Airline Jet4You Expanding Into Europe to Take on Ryanair

RABAT, Morocco (AP) -- Moroccan budget airline Jet4You will begin flights linking Casablanca with Paris and two Belgian cities in late October, taking on the Irish low-cost superstar Ryanair, which will start Europe-Morocco flights at the same time.

ADVERTISEMENT
Jet4you's Paris-Casablanca flights will begin Oct. 29, with flights linking the Moroccan commercial capital to Charleroi and Liege, Belgium, set to start on Nov. 1, Jet4you's Casablanca office said Friday.

The fledgling airline, with just two planes at present, began flights between Paris and the Moroccan tourist centers of Fez, Marrakech and Agadir in February.

Morocco's entry this year into the European flight zone has opened the door to low-cost airlines looking to cash in on Morocco's growing popularity as a tourist destination for Europeans.

Ryanair, Europe's largest no-frills airline, announced its first foray into Africa last month, with flights to the Moroccan cities of Fez, Marrakech and Oujda from London's Luton Airport, Hahn Airport north of Frankfurt, Germany, and the southern French city of Marseille.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 18:14 schreef Autodidact het volgende:
?

Ik heb geen stroomstoten gekregen hoor .

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congestion on Morocco's roads, where around 10 people die every day in accidents.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 18:53 schreef sigme het volgende:

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Mijn liefste heeft het gestoei met de elektriciteit vandaag ook ongeschonden doorstaan.

De leiding vóór de meter moest door. Met 220 erop dus. Een echte professional erbij halen was niet echt een optie: die hoort dat te weigeren . Gelukkig was er nog wel ergens iemand in de familie te vinden die er niet al te veel schrik van had.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 19:00 schreef du_ke het volgende:

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haha altijd fijn kenissen die houden van stoeien met stroom. Vriend van mij weet in een handomdraai krachtstroom af te tappen enzo .

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 18:56 schreef sigme het volgende:

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Tien doden per dag . Dat het er veel zijn verbaast me niet, maar zóveel...

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 19:16 schreef Mutant01 het volgende:

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Ik was vorig jaar met mijn eigen auto gegaan. Het is geen pretje om er te rijden, zeker niet in de steden. In Tanger is er zelfs een rotonde die nu bekend staat (onder Marokkaanse gastarbeiders dan) als de rotonde des doods. Mega druk, geen stoplichten, komen iets van 6 grote wegen op uit, onmogelijk om er af te komen als je er eenmaal op zit.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 19:24 schreef sigme het volgende:

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Ik ben er nu 4 keer geweest, steeds met eigen auto. Ik mijd de steden natuurlijk, niet vanwege de auto trouwens. Casablanca wel wat in rondkrummeld, op zoek naar de kustweg. Was een belevenis, ik reed, uiterst ontspannen natuurlijk, mijn liefste zweette peentjes naast me, maar er is nog geen krasje op de auto gekomen .

Toen ik er in 1996 voor het eerst was waren er wel heel veel minder particuliere auto's op de weg. Bijna alles wat er toen reed was taxi, bus of vrachtwagen. Sinds die tijd zijn de wegen enorm opgeknapt en het wegennet gegroeid, en ook het autobezit toegenomen.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 19:28 schreef Mutant01 het volgende:

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Netjes netjes, een sterke vrouw, daar hou ik van . Het is inderdaad steeds drukker en drukker aan het worden. S'avonds (uitgaanstijden) moet je al HELEMAAL niet gaan rijden, lopen is dan nog sneller.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 19:33 schreef sigme het volgende:

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's Avonds lopen in een klein Marokkaans stadje, op zoek naar wat te eten of gewoon wat slenteren *zucht*.

Het is er ook altijd zo lekker zwoel. In Nederland hou ik helemaal niet van zoveel volk op straat, maar in Marokko vind ik het altijd heel ontspannen.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 19:37 schreef Mutant01 het volgende:

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Ik zou nog wel eens wat zuidelijker dan Agadir willen gaan, lijkt me best stoer. Ben jij wel eens in Layoune geweest?

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Een Gode absoluut onwelgevallig volk is het land der christenen binnengevallen en heeft de bevolking te vuur en te zwaard vervolgd en uitgeplunderd. Met hun vuige praktijken hebben zij de altaren bezwadderd en geschonden. Zij hebben de christenen besneden en het besnijdenisbloed aan de altaren gesmeerd of in de doopvonten gegoten. En zij snijden de navel open van onschuldigen die zij wensen te folteren met een gruwelijke dood, zij rukken hun organen uit het lijf en binden hen aan de brandpaal, spelen hen over de grond en geselen hen voordat zij de ongelukkigen, die teneerliggen met hun ingewanden uit hun buik, ter dood brengen. Wat zal ik nog zeggen over de ijselijke vrouwenschennis, waarover het rampzaliger is te spreken dan te zwijgen?

Aan wie anders valt de taak toe deze toestand te wreken en op te heffen dan aan u, die God meer dan alle andere volkeren begiftigd zijt met luisterrijke krijgsroem, grenzeloze moed, behendigheid van lijf en leden en de kracht iegelijk tot deemoed te dwingen die zich tegen u verzet.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 20:49 schreef MrX1982 het volgende:
Zegt iemand met naam Rock de Braziliaan.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 20:52 schreef MrX1982 het volgende:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MTSXTagFeE

Elvis Presley .

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 20:54 schreef Rock_de_Braziliaan het volgende:
Elvis Presley, domme dode lul. Held van vele andere domme levende lullen.

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Before there was Elvis, there was nothing.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 20:58 schreef Rock_de_Braziliaan het volgende:
Niet is meer heilig.

[afbeelding]

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 21:03 schreef Autodidact het volgende:
Iemand die stoned was?

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A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man’s music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis.

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Op vrijdag 15 september 2006 21:01 schreef MrX1982 het volgende:
Raad de quote:
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