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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The trial of best-selling Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk opened on Friday amid mounting concern in the European Union that the case could challenge freedom of expression. Pamuk faces a possible three-year jail term for "insulting Turkish identity" by saying that a million Armenians were killed in massacres 90 years ago and 30,000 Kurds in recent decades -- issues he says are taboo in the country. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn underlined on Thursday EU concern about l ...

By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Novelist Orhan Pamuk faces a court on Friday and a possible three-year jail term for "insulting Turkish identity" in a trial which the European Union says actually puts Ankara in the dock. The warning from Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn on the eve of the first hearing underlined EU concern about limits on freedom of expression in Turkey, which only starte ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Award-winning comedy actor Chris Langham was arrested in connection with an Internet child pornography investigation, police sources said on Friday. Langham, 56, who was named Best Television Comedy Actor at the British Comedy Awards on Wednesday, was arrested last month and released on police bail. "A 56-year old man was arrested on Tuesday, November 29 at an address in Cranb ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The jury in the Old Bailey trial of murdered London financier and the attempted murder of his wife will continue deliberating on Friday after it brought in a guilty verdict on one of the defendants on Thursday. Damien Hanson, 24, who had a number of previous convictions and only just been freed from prison for attempted murder, was convicted of stabbing to death John Monckton, 49, head of bond dealing at Legal & General. He was also convicted of conspiracy to rob. The jury  ...

By Sebastian Alison and Mark John BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders began a day of tough bargaining on a long-term budget for the bloc on Friday, some saying a long-awaited deal was possible but far from certain. All eyes will be on EU president Britain, which is expected to set out a new proposal trying to reconcile new, ex-communist east European states' demands for more aid with London's determination to cling to its cherished rebate from Brussels. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw re ...

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- A prominent South Korean scientist is defending himself against allegations of fraud in stem-cell research, in a case that could rank as one of biggest science fraud cases in years. Seoul National University says it will investigate whether some of Hwang Woo-suk's cloning research was fabricated. Hwang claimed the first cloned human embryo and the first cloned dog, but on Thursday a colleague said his research was false, and called him a fake. The South Korean rese ...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Negotiations continued Friday past a deadline to reach a new contract for New York transit workers, as the city braced for the possibility of the first transit strike in more than 25 years. The Transport Workers Union threatened to walk off the job if they could not strike a deal by 12:01 a.m. with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. A strike -- which could come as early as the Friday morning rush hour -- would paralyze the city's transportation system at the height of  ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The jury in the Old Bailey trial of murdered London financier and the attempted murder of his wife will continue deliberating on Friday after they brought in a guilty verdict on one of the defendants on Thursday. Damien Hanson, 24, who had a number of previous convictions and only just been freed from prison for attempted murder, was convicted of stabbing to death John Monckton, 49, head of bond dealing at Legal & General. He was also convicted of conspiracy to rob. The jur ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The country must improve its contingency planning for a possible bird flu outbreak and give greater support to global efforts to prevent a pandemic, a parliamentary committee said on Friday. Experts say a flu pandemic among humans could kill millions around the globe and cause major economic losses. The deadly H5N1 virus is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia where it has killed 71 people since late 2003. The committee said Britain should contribute more to improve surveilla ...

(CNN) -- If the results of a recent poll pan out, voters will see two big names from the Big Apple on the ballot in November 2008. Those names are Sen. Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican. The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Thursday indicated Clinton and Giuliani were the early favorites to win their respective party's nomination. But those polled said they believe the former first lady would have a smoother path to the nomination than her GO ...