Talipot palms in a Rio de Janeiro park are flowering for the first and only time in their lives. These palms were introduced by landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx in the 1960s. The rare event has been widely reported and has sparked curiosity among visitors to Flamengo Park. The palms, native to southern India and Sri Lanka, can reach up to 30 meters and produce millions of flowers. Biologist Aline Saavedra notes that the interest in this phenomenon could inspire environmental preservation.

The mood is grim as hundreds of diplomats, lawyers and activists gather in The Hague for the annual meeting of the International Criminal Court. The gathering this week will include discussion of unprecedented challenges from U.S. sanctions, Russian arrest warrants and worries over the court’s future. The court’s oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties, is holding its 24th annual weeklong meeting this week. Delegates will approve the court’s yearly budget and debate proposals related to the institution’s functions but regular business has been overshadowed by U.S. sanctions and a sexual misconduct investigation.

A new survey of Affordable Care Act health insurance enrollees finds that many are already struggling with the high cost of health care. Most of the more than 1,300 enrollees surveyed say they anticipate that their health costs will be impacted next year if Congress doesn't extend COVID-era tax credits that will otherwise expire at the end of the year. Thursday's poll from the health care research nonprofit KFF finds that marketplace enrollees overwhelmingly support an extension of the subsidies. The survey found this group is more likely to blame President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress than Democrats if the tax credits are left to expire.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his five-hour talks with U.S. envoys on ending the war in Ukraine were “necessary” and “useful,” but also “difficult work,” with some of the proposals unacceptable to the Kremlin. Putin spoke to the India Today TV channel ahead of his visit to New Delhi on Thursday, and while the full interview is yet to be broadcast, Russian state news agencies quoted some of Putin's remarks. The Russian leader’s comments come as U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are set to meet with Ukraine’s lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, on Thursday in Miami for further talks, according to a senior Trump administration official. The high-stakes talks are part of Trump’s renewed push to end the nearly four-year war.

Israeli and Thai officials say remains that militants in Gaza handed to Israel were those of a Thai agricultural worker killed during the attack that started the war two years ago. The return of Sudthisak Rinthalak's remains leaves just one last hostage, Israeli Ran Gvili, to be returned in the first phase of the ceasefire deal. Both Hamas and Israel have accused each other of breaking the ceasefire agreement, and questions linger over the upcoming phases of the plan.

Bucks coach Doc Rivers said Wednesday there have been no talks between team officials and Giannis Antetokounmpo regarding the two-time MVP’s potential exit from Milwaukee. Rivers made the comments after ESPN reported that Antetokounmpo and his agent, Alex Saratsis, had started speaking with the Bucks about the superstar’s future and whether he’s best suited to stay in Milwaukee or play elsewhere. Rivers said “there’s been no conversations” in that regard. Rivers added that "Giannis has never asked to be traded – ever. I can’t make that more clear.”

Two recent killings — one of an outspoken representative of the lime growers, the other a popular mayor standing up to the cartels — in Mexico's western Michoacan state have sent a clear message that organized crime is in charge, something residents have known for years. Now under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has shown his willingness to launch military attacks against the cartels in the Caribbean and has offered to send the U.S. military to Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum faces increasing pressure to solve a puzzle no other leader has been able to. Years of failed tactics have left residents skeptical that the government will offer a solution.

Giannis Antetokounmpo left the Milwaukee Bucks’ game with the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night after straining his right calf in the first quarter. Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said after the Bucks’ 113-109 victory that Antetokounmpo was undergoing an MRI. Rivers added that he believed the Bucks had ruled out the possibility that Antetokounmpo had injured his Achilles tendon on the play. The two-time MVP had just assisted on AJ Green’ layup less than three minutes into the game when he headed back up the court and slipped in the painted area.

The Navy admiral who reportedly issued orders to fire upon survivors of an attack on an alleged drug boat is set to brief Congress. Lawmakers overseeing national security are expected to receive a classified briefing Thursday from Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley about the boat strike. It's a potentially crucial moment in the unfolding investigation into how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth handled the military operation in international waters near Venezuela. Lawmakers are seeking a full accounting after The Washington Post reported that Bradley on Sept. 2 had ordered an attack on two survivors to comply with Hegseth’s directive to “kill everybody.”

The Dallas Cowboys' 31-28 win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving Day was the most-watched regular-season game in NFL history. CBS reports the game averaged 57.23 million viewers. The early game between Green Bay and Detroit also drew big numbers, averaging 47.7 million viewers. This makes it the second-most watched regular-season game since Fox began carrying the NFL in 1994.

A raccoon broke into a closed Virginia liquor store and drank alcohol from the bottom shelves over the weekend. An animal control officer says the raccoon was found Saturday passed out next to the store's toilet. The officers says the raccoon then sobered up after a few hours. Officials say they released him back into the wild. Officials say the raccoon had zero signs of injury after the break-in.

Rescue teams are racing to reach communities isolated by last week’s catastrophic floods and landslides in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand as over 900 people remained missing. The economic damage was becoming more clear Wednesday. And concerns have emerged in Indonesia, the hardest hit country, that deforestation may have contributed to the disaster. Residents and emergency workers in the capital of West Sumatra said large piles of neatly cut timber were found among the debris. A minister said the government was investigating alleged illegal logging operations that could have worsened the impact along with extreme weather.

President Donald Trump and his top officials have recently criticized Minnesota's Somali community, drawing attention to immigrants from the war-torn East African country. This comes as federal authorities plan a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota focusing on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the U.S. Minnesota has the largest Somali American population, with an estimated 84,000 residents in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Local Somali leaders and allies have pushed back against Trump's plans — and against blaming the broader community for recent fraud cases in public programs.

President Donald Trump has long praised tariffs as key to increasing wealth in the United States, idealizing Gilded Age policies that preceded the implementation of a modern federal income tax. Among the potential benefits, Trump claims, is the ability to replace revenue from federal income taxes with money the U.S. is taking in from tariffs — a concept he has touted since his 2024 presidential campaign, most recently at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. But tariff revenue doesn’t even come close to where it would need to be if federal income taxes were eliminated. Experts say such a plan isn’t feasible.

One of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most vocal accusers is urging judges to grant the Justice Department’s request unseal to records from their federal sex trafficking cases, saying that “only transparency is likely to lead to justice.” Annie Farmer weighed in through her lawyer, Sigrid S. McCawley, after the judges asked for input from victims before ruling on whether the records should be made public under a new law requiring the government to open its files on the late financier and his longtime confidante. Farmer and other victims fought for the passage of the law, known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act.