France will gradually open its labour market to Romanian and Bulgarian workers, who will be able to take jobs in sectors such as construction, agriculture and hotels, European affairs minister Catherine Colonna said today.

Bulgaria and Romania today expressed anger at Britain’s decision to restrict access to its workers, as one minister noted thousands of Britons had been allowed to buy holiday homes at Bulgarian resorts.

Thousands of Romanians who fled areas flooded by the Danube River are now facing crowded conditions in tent communities and dwindling food supplies, residents and volunteers told reporters.

The European Commission said today it will investigate reports that the CIA set up secret jails in eastern Europe to interrogate al-Qaida captives.

Romania’s agriculture minister said today that no new cases of bird flu were discovered in tests on 400 more birds from the country’s Danube Delta region.

Romania’s Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said today his cabinet would resign and early elections would be called after a court blocked essential justice reforms required by the European Union.

Landing on Romanian soil after nearly two months in captivity in Iraq, journalist Marie Jeanne Ion tugged off her yellow headscarf today and ran across the tarmac into her younger sister’s arms.

A suicide car bomber blew himself up yesterday near an Islamic shrine, killing five Iraqis in the latest attack on Shiite Muslim pilgrims marking a major religious holiday.

Three Romanian journalists have gone missing in Iraq and authorities believe they may have been kidnapped, officials said today.

Romania’s new prime minister vowed to bring press freedoms, an independent justice system and a working market economy today as his centrist government was sworn in.

Bucharest Mayor Traian Basescu claimed victory today in Romania’s presidential run-off, pledging to fight corruption and prepare Romania to join the European Union by 2007.