“The cancellation of [the certificate] does not suspend, terminate or delay any permitting processes that are currently running in parallel,” Gabriel said in a statement. (…) The annulment also does not “affect, cancel or terminate any rights the company currently holds, or has previously acquired, with respect to the Rosia Montana project".

The firm will require a new archaeological certificate to apply for a construction permit for Rosia Montana, but is confident its development schedule allows for enough time to secure a new certificate before applying for the construction permit. Once the court has provided its reasons for the annulment, the company will make the necessary changes and apply for a new archaeological certificate. The archaeological discharge certificate must be obtained for every area in the footprint of the proposed mine, and serves as an acknowledgement that the company has successfully completed an archaeological review of historic mining activity on the site.

Romania's downtrodden Gypsies – once enslaved, like African-Americans, yet still struggling to overcome deep-seated prejudice – seem particularly inspired.

"When I saw Obama on TV, my heart swelled with joy. I thought he was one of us Gypsies because of his skin color," said Maria Savu, whose infant grandson – Obama Sorin Ilie Scoica – was born in the central Romania village of Rusciori. Little Obama is the third child of a poor family that barely gets by on 200 lei ($66) a month in welfare benefits. He came into the world on Nov. 4, the day Americans voted in their new multiracial president-elect, and Savu, 43, told the Evenimentul Zilei newspaper she hopes his name will bring him luck.

(…)

In Romania, Banel Nicolita, a member of Romania's national soccer team, is a Gypsy who comes from a family of eight who once lived in a house made of mud. His accomplishments, against all odds, have earned him the nickname "the Obama of Romanian football."

Romania officially is home to 500,000 Gypsies, or Roma, although it's widely believed that there are really at least twice as many. Many people of Roma extraction don't declare their ethnicity due to widespread prejudice, and many live in poverty. The European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency says Gypsies also suffer routine discrimination in education, employment, health services and housing – just a few of the reasons so many identify with the struggles of American blacks.

"Obama's victory is a motivation for us," said Gruia Bumbu, chairman of the National Agency for the Roma. Like African-Americans, Gypsies were slaves until roughly the same time in the 19th century. But the Roma never launched a broad civil rights movement, and today, Bumbu said, "we are 20 to 30 years behind. When you see that an African-American becomes president, it shows you that the dreams can turn into reality," he said. "It's like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel – the fight for equal opportunities can have a happy ending."

When Camelia Condurat could not muster the change to buy bread for her three young daughters, she found some flour and yeast in the cupboard and made it herself. "If you do not even have 50 cents to buy a loaf of bread, what can you do?" she said. "You scrape by."

Getting by has become a grueling daily mission for Condurat, a 24-year-old Romanian. When her husband, Costel, lost his job as a bricklayer in October, she sought work for the first time since coming to Spain four years ago. She prepares food and cleans at a local restaurant, working 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, for €700 a month, or about $900. Half her wages pay the rent for the tiny three-bedroom apartment her family shares with two lodgers. What is left does not cover the family's needs, so she spends rare free moments queuing for handouts at the government welfare office, the Red Cross and the local church. Costel Condurat, 39, a former Romanian policeman who earned about €1,000 a month before he was laid off, stays home with their children.

"It is so, so hard," she said in fluent Spanish, looking down at her calloused hands as her girls, aged 3, 5 and 6, clambered onto her lap. "I'm ashamed to ask for help. But I have three girls, so I leave my pride at home." (…)The Condurats, for instance, said their elderly Spanish landlord had let them fall behind with the rent and popped by most days with bread or biscuits for the girls, who call him Grandpa.

But hospitality may wear thin. Spain's unemployment rate is now the highest in the European Union, up from 8 percent at the end of 2007. Among immigrants, unemployment is estimated at 17 percent. About five million immigrants are registered as living in Spain, a country of 46 million, with Moroccans, Romanians and Ecuadorians topping the list. (…)

The government in November began a return program, under which immigrants can take unemployment benefit in a lump sum provided they go home and give up the right to return to Spain for three years.

Early next year, the government will curb the number of relatives who can join legally employed migrants after one year. Spouses and children under 18 will still be able to come, but not parents and parents-in-law.

"Spain saw really strong growth over the past five years and we could not have done this with our own citizens. But now we're in a very different situation," Labor Minister Celestíno Corbacho said in an interview.

Unable to send money home or support themselves, some immigrants are leaving. About 600 entered the government return program in the first three weeks, of an estimated 87,000 who would qualify. The Red Cross, which offers financial assistance to those who want to leave but cannot afford to, said it had helped about 900 people this year, double last year's figure. Immigrants said some are going home unassisted; there are no figures, either official or unofficial.

Corbacho admitted he did not expect "a huge exodus." "If you have a family that has kids in school, where one partner is working and the other is not - to break with all this, that is a decision that the family will take only after they have no other hope," he said.

Despite the cooler reception and grim job climate, most immigrants seem determined to stay. In interviews, some immigrants or leaders of immigrants' association said they feared the humiliation of returning empty handed, others that they had sacrificed too much to give up and leave.

Camelia Condurat was separated for four years from her two eldest daughters.

"When I went to fetch them from Romania, they cried, and I said: 'I'm your mom,"' she recalled, perched on a floral sofa in the narrow living room that also serves as the girls' bedroom.

"If we went back to Romania, we would start from zero, all over again," she said, adding, "People would say, 'After five years in Spain, have you come back with nothing?"'

• O femeie sufera jaf armat la un drive-through bancomat (ts2). Ce situatie de rahat!
• Un gagistru fura o masina de politie cu tot cu pusca montata intre scaune. Folosind GPS, politia a arestat barbatul de 36 de ani cateva minute mai tarziu (oih2).
• Shelan Waisberg, o femeie de 34 de ani, a fost arestata si are de infruntat 28 de acuzatii, dupa ce a sunat o gramada de parinti de la o anumita scoala si i-a facut sa vina pentru o sedinta imaginara unde s-ar fi discutat asalturi sexuale si dementa odraslelor (oih1).
• Intr-o crima ciudata, un barbat de 25 de ani, Rafael LaSota si o femeie de 19, Michelle Liard, au fost arestati pentru asasinarea prietenei si vecinei lor de 13 ani, Alexandra Firgin-Hewie (oih3).
• Intr-o stire care are mai mult de-a face cu prostia, un vietnamez de 33 de ani si-a construit o prietena robot. Afacerea l-a costat $25,000 si l-a silit sa se mute cu parintii intrucat a ramas lefter. Roboata vorbeste 13,000 de propozitii in japoneza si engleza, are par japonez din Japonia, stie algebra, trigonometrie si geometrie si poarta numele Aiko – love child (oih4).
• In urma mortii unei “consumatoare” de liposuctie (hzc), s-a decis ca si clinicile de cosmetic surgery sa fie regulated.
• Canada se afla pe ultimul loc intr-o comparatie a serviciilor pentru copii in 25 de tari dezvoltate facuta de UNICEF (pcc)

  Sweden achieved all benchmarks, while France and the remaining Scandinavian countries met at least eight. Most of Europe, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea met between four and six, while the United States met three. Canada and Ireland met only one benchmark, the one that calls for half of staff in accredited early-education services to have proper post-secondary qualifications.

Paris Hilton has completed a new album and says she wrote all the songs. She also played all the instruments and is planning on personally pressing every single CD between her knees.

Brad says the only thing Angie's ever managed to cook for him is cereal In her defence though, it was Hottest, Most Fertile Woman in the Universe Cereal with extra raisins.

Idiot athletes: 1) Hockey player Sean Avery refers to Elisha Cuthbert as "sloppy seconds." 2) Football player Plaxico Burress accidentally shoots himself in the leg. 3) The Wrestler's Mickey Rourke – while not technically an athlete, most certainly an idiot – tells a fan who has problems with a camera that, "You're Asian, you're supposed to be able to take pictures."

Nine-year-old Alec Greven writes a self-help book called "How To Talk To Girls." Chapter 12 is titled "Not like Sean Avery."

Jessica Simpson says, "I've been contemplating taking a college course in religion. I love religion." Not that I was looking for more reasons to feel smug in my atheism, but when they're practically thrown at you ...

Britney Spears makes a triumphant comeback. These past few years of hardship have helped her grow as an artist and she is now able to wear a hat and lip-synch at the same time.

Event InfoHost:    ToRo Arts Group
Type:    Other - Festival
Network:    Global

Time and PlaceDate:    Friday, December 12, 2008
Time:    7:00pm - 11:00pm
Location:    Innis Town Hall
Street:    2 Sussex Ave
City/Town:    Toronto, ON
     View Google Map

Contact InfoPhone:    6478936680
Email:    office@toroartsgroup.com

Description

In anticipation of ToRo Arts Group’s second annual Toronto-Romanian Film Festival (February 2009), “romaniancinemaNOW: a film festival preview” has been programmed to take place on December 12th, 2008.
This preview aims to shed light on the other facets of the New Romanian Cinema and their respective international recognition, as well as to address questions related to
how the New Romanian Cinema, has continued to maintain and perpetuate such successes on both national and international circuits.

First on the inspection block are the formative years of the Romanian film industry within the walls of the National University of Theatre and Cinematic Arts, a locus of fresh talent to which Romania’s national cinema looks to continue its already established international fame.

Providing an academic comparison of the differences between Canadian and Romanian approaches to film education, the night’s special guests, Tereza Barta and Laurence Green, Associate Professors from York University’s Department of Film, have been invited to deliver their own interpretations of how certain educational dynamics, existent in the Romanian model, have and perhaps will continue to underpin the very
successes that the films on offer on December 12 will reference.

Showcasing a roster of Romania's most artistic and promising emerging student filmmakers from UNATC, the program will include, among others, Interior. Block of Flats, Hallway (Ciprian Alexandrescu, 2008), winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Uppsala International Short Film Festival and Late (Paul Negoescu, 2008), an official entry at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival, as well as two official selections from the Transilvania International Film Festival, Sandpit #186 (Adina Pintilie, 2007) and My Unfinished Films (Eva Pervolovici, 2008).

Tickets
$15 adults
$10 students (with valid student ID)

Seating is general admission

TO PURCHASE TICKETS, AND FOR FULL PROGRAM INFO, VISIT:

http://www.uofttix.ca/view.php?id=420

1. Interior. Block of Flats, Hallway (2007)
Directed by: Ciprian Alexandrescu

2. Late (2008)
Directed by: Paul Negoescu

3. Synopsis Docu-drama (2008)
Directed by: Vlad Trandafir

4. My Unfinished Films (2008)
Directed by: Eva Pervolovici

5. Sandpit #186 (2006)
Directed by: Adina Pintilie

6. Chamber Music (2007)
Directed by: Matei-Alexandru Mocanu

7. Radu + Ana (2007)
Directed by: Paul Negoescu

8. My Left Eye (2007)
Directed by: Anamaria Chioveanu

*NOTE: There will be a rush-line at the event, however we encourage you to buy tickets in advance.