In the weeks following Iran's Jan. 8 ballistic missile attack on the Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq, 110 American service members deployed there were diagnosed with what has been the signature, albeit invisible, wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: traumatic brain injury caused by concussive blasts from exploding weapons.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who gained an instant national profile when she toppled a top Democratic leader in 2018, has launched her own political action committee to boost challengers in 2020 congressional races.

The move shows the 30-year-old New York freshman's intentions to continue battling with her party's establishment.

Thailand's top court has dissolved a nascent political party that has rankled the country's military establishment.

The court said the party's leader, 41-year-old Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, violated election law because he gave the new party about $6 million – far more than Thai law allows for political donations. Thanathorn insists the money was a loan.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that the barricades that have blocked railways in the country for two weeks must come down, calling the situation "unacceptable and untenable."

After a federal lawsuit this week claimed that PFAS-based substances were incinerated at the Norlite facility in Cohoes, the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation says it is investigating.

Updated at 6:38 p.m. ET

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday that he will permit his company to release three women from nondisclosure agreements with his company, a reversal after resisting to do so under pressure from his rivals at a Democratic presidential debate earlier this week.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, Bloomberg said that Bloomberg LP had identified three nondisclosure agreements made with women "to address complaints about comments they said I had made."