Britain's economy was plunged into a dizzying unknown on Friday as the country lurched towards the EU exit, with the world economy bracing for a hit on growth and unemployment.

Financial markets on Friday indicated the turbulence that lies ahead for the world's fifth biggest economy, with the pound falling to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985.

Britain's vote to become the first country to leave the EU opens up a Pandora's box of uncertainties threatening the survival of the whole post-war European project, analysts said Friday.

Reaching out to Russia and working to normalize ties with Israel, Turkey is moving to mend fences and restore its waning regional clout by returning to a policy known as "zero problems with neighbors."

Rebels, Christian militiamen, local fighters: a cluster of Syrian Arabs united by their hatred for the Islamic State group have cast their lot with Kurdish forces to defeat the jihadists.

A vote in favor of Brexit could embolden surging populist parties across Europe hoping to follow in Britain's footsteps and either leave the EU or significantly cut its powers, experts warn.

A complicated picture has emerged of 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who opened fire in a gay Orlando nightclub. The attack left 49 dead and dozens more wounded in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

___

The murder of 50 people in Orlando, Florida is the latest U.S. violence linked to Islamist extremists over the past quarter of a century.

On Monday, the Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the Florida shooting, in which 49 people were killed, saying in a radio bulletin that it was carried out by "one of the soldiers of the caliphate."

Forces allied with Libya's unity government are closing in on Islamic State group fighters in Sirte in a month-long operation aimed at ousting the jihadists from their North African stronghold.

Instead of going to school, Walid and Ibrahim spend hours each day rummaging through houses destroyed in Gaza's wars in search of scrap to raise a few shekels for their families.

It was one of the most awkward moments of a press conference that was full of them: when an American journalist asked Cuban President Raul Castro about the fate of political prisoners on the island.