GREEN MAG

No. 7 Florida seems to be peaking at the right time as an uber-impressive stretch of wins has led to a big move up the AP Poll ahead of a matchup against a dangerous Texas squad on Wednesday in Austin, Texas.

The Gators (21-6, 12-2 Southeastern Conference) jumped five spots in the rankings this week on the strength of dominating wins at home over South Carolina 76-62 on Feb. 17 and at Ole Miss 94-75 on Saturday. The latter featured 24 points from Alex Condon and 20 from Thomas Haugh.

Florida has won seven straight contests and 12 of its past 13. The Gators hold a two-game lead over No. 17 Alabama, No. 20 Arkansas and No. 22 Tennessee in the SEC standings with four regular-season games remaining.

Urban Klavzar scored 15 points, Xaivian Lee collected 11 points and 10 assists and Boogie Fland added 11 points in the Saturday victory, which was Florida's sixth double-digit victory during its current streak.

The Gators committed an unseemly 19 turnovers in the latest contest, but they more than made up for that by shooting 57.1% from the floor, hitting 50% (11 of 22) of their shots from beyond the arc and forging a 39-24 edge on the glass.

"The ceiling is crazy if we shoot 50% (from 3-point range), especially having these guys under the rim," Klavzar said. "They do an exceptional job every game, but there are going to be times where we're going to have to make some huge shots from three."

Florida, the defending national champion, is back in the top 10 for the first time since late November. However, coach Todd Golden believes his team is still a work in progress.

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"We did not take care of the ball very well, and that's (an) area that we can really focus on improving before we go to Texas," Golden said. "But when we did, we did a really good job of sharing it and finding shots for our teammates. We had 26 assists on 32 made baskets, so that was encouraging to see."

The Longhorns (17-10, 8-6) return home after a 91-80 loss at Georgia on Saturday that snapped their season-high five-game winning streak. Matas Vokietaitis led Texas with 22 points, going 8-for-10 from the floor, while Dailyn Swain had 21 points and Jordan Pope scored 17 in the loss.

Texas erased a 14-point second-half deficit to tie the game at 67 with 7:37 left, but Georgia swung back with a 17-6 run over the ensuing 4 1/2 minutes to hold on. The Longhorns shot 57.1% from the floor but faltered on defense, allowing Georgia to record season highs in field-goal percentage (59.6%) and 3-point percentage (55%).

"We've been doing a great job just attacking teams and, in the paint, scoring down low," Texas guard Tramon Mark said. "We've just got to keep doing that and get better on defense. I think we're almost there."

The Longhorns are in an shaky position regarding a potential NCAA Tournament at-large bid. After Florida, Texas plays at archrival Texas A&M on Saturday and then visits Arkansas.

"We respect everybody," Longhorns coach Sean Miller said. "We have to be ready to go, and when our team is not ready to go, we don't have the margin to overcome that."

--Field Level Media

HOUSTON (AP) — Rockets forward Kevin Durant will be less than two months shy of his 40th birthday when the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics begin, but he said Monday night he told USA Basketball Managing Director Grant Hill he'd like to be considered for the U.S. men's team when the time comes.

Rockets Knicks Basketball

"I didn't want to just take my name out of consideration just because of the simple fact that I'm older and I did it before," Durant said after scoring 18 points for Houston ina 125-105 winover the Utah Jazz. "Grant understands my love for Team USA. That's my family. The level of love I have for Team USA and the whole organization over there is unmatched, so I'd love to be part of it until I'm done playing."

Durant has played in the last four Olympics, becoming USA men's basketball's career scoring leader in the process, but he says he doesn't want to just be handed a spot on the 2028 team. He wants to earn it.

"I understand how tough that decision is for Grant, and how many great players are going to emerge the next year and a half, and I'm also very old compared to a lot of these players," Durant said. "I know I've got my work cut out for me to make that team."

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During the 2024 Paris games, Durant became the first American player to win four Olympic gold medals in men's basketball. United States stars Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird won five gold medals in women's basketball, but Durant says joining that club is not his motivation for wanting to go through another Olympic cycle.

"I just love playing for Team USA. I love representing my country. That's the first and most important thing — it's putting that USA across my chest and representing where I come from," he said.

Durant is averaging 25.9 points per game on 50.7% shooting in his 18th NBA season.

AP NBA:https://apnews.com/NBA

Inter Milan must overturn a two-goal deficit against Bodø/Glimt in Tuesday'sChampions League playoffif it is to avoid becoming the latest giant to be cut down by the tiny Norwegian team.

Norway Champions League Soccer

Bodø/Glimtleads 3-1 after the first leg and has its sights on the round of 16.

Inter — a beaten finalist in two of the last three seasons — plays the second leg at home, but is in danger of suffering one of the biggest upsets in the competition's history.

"We should have done better, and there's a lot of disappointment," said Inter coach Cristian Chivu. "But we've reset and I'm now interested in our approach and our confidence, being the best version of ourselves and knowing we can turn it around."

Bodø/Glimt's victory in last week's first leg in Norway saw it follow upback-to-back wins against Manchester City and Atletico Madridat the end of the league phase.

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"We feel we can compete with most teams, but at the same time we have nothing to lose," said Bodø/Glimt midfielder Patrick Berg.

Atletico has work to do after drawing 3-3 at Club Brugge.

Newcastle appears to be cruising into the next round after a 6-1 win in Qarabag, while Bayer Leverkusen is in control against Olympiacos following a 2-0 win the first leg.

AP soccer:https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

By Andrew MacAskill, William James and Michael Holden

LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Former British ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson was released from police custody on Tuesday after being arrested in London on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following revelations over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Mandelson, 72, was fired ‌from the most prestigious posting in Britain's diplomatic service in September, when the depth of his friendship with the convicted sex offender started to become ‌clear.

Police earlier this month began a criminal investigation into Mandelson after Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government passed on communications between the former ambassador and Epstein.

"Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public ​office," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement relating to an investigation into a former government minister.

Mandelson was filmed leaving his central London home on Monday afternoon. He was accompanied by plainclothes officers wearing body cameras, before being driven away in a car.

A separate statement later said he had been released on bail, pending further investigation, and he was seen returning home at around 0200 GMT.

The arrest means police suspect a crime has been committed but does not imply any guilt.

There was no immediate response from Mandelson's lawyers.

EMAILS SHOWED MANDELSON AND EPSTEIN CLOSER ‌THAN THOUGHT

Emails between Mandelson and Epstein, released by the U.S. Department ⁠of Justice in late January, showed the two men had a closer relationship than had been publicly known, and Mandelson had shared information with the financier when he was a minister in former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government in 2009.

Mandelson, who this month resigned from ⁠Starmer's Labour Party and quit his position in parliament's upper chamber, has previously said he "very deeply" regretted his association with Epstein. But he has not commented publicly or responded to messages seeking comment on the latest revelations.

Mandelson's homes in London and west England were searched by police earlier this month.

"He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, 23 February and has been taken ​to ​a London police station for interview," the police statement said.

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"This follows search warrants at two addresses in ​the Wiltshire and Camden areas."

Last week, King Charles' younger brother Andrew ‌Mountbatten-Windsor was also arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office over separate allegations he sent confidential government documents to Epstein. He has always denied any wrongdoing.

PRESSURE GROWS ON STARMER OVER VETTING BEFORE APPOINTMENT

A conviction for misconduct in a public office carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and must be handled in a Crown Court, which only deals with the most serious criminal offences.

Mandelson's relationship with Epstein, who died in prison while awaiting trial in 2019 on sex trafficking charges, is at the centre of a British political scandal that has forced the resignation of two senior government officials.

Starmer, who has faced calls to step down over Mandelson's appointment, faces further scrutiny after parliament ordered the release ‌of documents relating to his vetting. A minister said on Monday that the first documents should be ​published in early March.

MANDELSON HAD A DECADES-LONG CAREER IN UK POLITICS

Mandelson has had a turbulent, decades‑long career ​in British politics.

He came to prominence in the mid-to-late 1990s as one of ​the architects of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's New Labour project.

But Mandelson was forced to resign twice from the cabinet, first in ‌1998 for failing to disclose a home loan he had taken from ​a colleague, and second in 2001 after ​allegations that he had tried to influence a passport application.

But he was reappointed as a minister in Brown's Labour government from 2008 to 2010 and eventually returned to public office when Starmer made him ambassador to the United States in late 2024.

His appointment as ambassador to the United States was initially seen as a ​shrewd move. He scored an early victory by ensuring Britain ‌was the first country to agree a deal with the United States to lower some of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

But he was fired a few ​months later when documents showed his close ties to Epstein.

Starmer has said that Mandelson lied about the extent of his ties to Epstein during ​the vetting process.

(Reporting by William James; editing by Michael Holden, Jon Boyle and Andrew Heavens)

VATICAN CITY, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Since the late 1500s, a small workshop in the Vatican has cared for the hundreds of mosaics that decorate the interior of St. Peter's Basilica in a sea of colour.

Inside the Vatican studio that preserves the mosaics of St. Peter Basilica

The 12 artists on staff ‌at the Vatican Mosaic Studio also produce smaller artworks that Pope Leo uses for a kind of "mosaic diplomacy", gifting them ‌to foreign leaders visiting the Vatican or on his own trips overseas.

It can take months for the studio to create one mosaic in a slow and intensive process ​piecing together tiny coloured tiles into devotional items such as depictions of Jesus and Mary or non-religious scenes like a view of Rome's Colosseum.

"It is very important today to use the mosaic technique because we are saving the ancient tradition," Paolo Di Buono, the studio's director, told Reuters.

Their work is made to last for centuries. "We have the idea that we are working for something that (is) ... almost eternal," said Di Buono.

In the basilica, the ‌studio is responsible for 8,360 square metres (90,000 sq ⁠ft) of mosaics, including in the central dome. Mosaics were used, instead of paintings, because of the smoke produced by candles and incense during liturgies.

VATICAN MOSAICS GIVEN TO US PRESIDENTS

One of the studio's most recent productions ⁠was a portrait of the pope, installed at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

The image, produced by a team of three people over five months, contains around 16,000 individual tiles.

"It is meticulous work because the tiles are very small," said Nicoletta Marino, one of the studio's artists. "It takes ​a ​lot of patience."

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Adriano Galise, another artist in the studio, showed photos of mosaics ​he created being given by the late Pope Benedict ‌XVI to U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during official visits to the Vatican.

"The fact that our mosaics are used as a gift by the pope is one of the most important traditions in the Vatican," said Di Buono.

The artists in the studio have different methods for creating their works.

Galise prefers to lay out a black-and-white image with a blueprint of possible places to lay tiles, resembling the plan for a jigsaw puzzle. Others start with a coloured picture or drawing.

ARCHIVE OF 27,000 MOSAIC TILE COLOURS

The studio is an artist workshop ‌but also an historic archive. It houses a catalogue of 27,000 varieties of ​coloured tiles, stored in a 9,000-drawer filing cabinet spanning two floors.

About 23,000 of ​the tiles are artefacts - stockpiles of colours from past centuries ​that can no longer be produced and will one day be exhausted. Some of the artefacts were created ‌with poisonous materials that are no longer used today.

For the ​portrait of Leo, studio artists dipped ​into the archive to better capture the shading on the pope's face.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica, artists from the studio are restoring the mosaics in the dome of the Clementine Chapel, one of the church's oldest and most venerated spaces. It is in ​the grotto, near the tomb of St. Peter, ‌the first pope.

"We preserve the works made by our predecessors," Di Buono said of the studio's care of the ​mosaics. "We are connected in a sort of long chain, of which we are the last part."

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; ​Additional reporting by Matteo Negri and Gabriele Pileri; Editing by Janet Lawrence)