Five London tower blocks containing 800 homes were being immediately evacuated Friday due to fire safety concerns over their external cladding following the deadly Grenfell Tower inferno, the local authority said.

Multiple blasts and a gun attack killed more than 50 people and wounded at least 170 in three Pakistani cities on the last Friday of Ramadan, Islam's holiest month, as officials warned the toll could rise.

Colombia's FARC rebels will complete their historic disarmament on Friday, ending half a century of war, President Juan Manuel Santos said during an official visit to France.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday launched the deep-water phase of the TurkStream gas pipeline project, calling Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan from a ship off the Black Sea coast.

Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi is urging the West to change course in the Middle East in order to save the historic atomic deal, saying "the moment of truth has arrived."

EU leaders warned Friday that Britain's plans to protect the rights of European citizens post-Brexit risked leaving them worse off, after Prime Minister Theresa May made what she insisted was a "fair" offer.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will next Thursday host European leaders taking part in July's G20 summit, where tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration are expected to come to the fore.

Julian Assange's lawyer accused Britain on Thursday of breaking international law by denying the WikiLeaks founder safe passage out of the country if he leaves Ecuador's embassy in London.

"Britain is... violating all the norms of international law, human rights and humanitarian law," said Baltasar Garzon, a Spanish ex-judge who leads Assange's defense team.

French President Emmanuel Macron's new government took a tough line on Calais migrants Friday, with his interior minister saying he does not want the northern port to become an "abscess".

Mexico may have a problem with violence, but its government says it is not the second most violent country in the world, as US President Donald Trump has claimed on Twitter.