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Sunday, February 15, 2026

JT Toppin puts on low-post masterclass in No. 16 Texas Tech's OT win over No. 1 Arizona

February 15, 2026
JT Toppin puts on low-post masterclass in No. 16 Texas Tech's OT win over No. 1 Arizona

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Texas Tech's JT Toppin had already scored three baskets in overtime so the next time he got the ball, Arizona's defense collapsed, trying to make anyone besides thepreseason All-America selectionbeat them.

Toppin obliged.

The 6-foot-9 forward whipped the ball back out to the perimeter where Donovan Atwell was waiting. The guard made a 3-pointer that was crucial toNo. 16 Texas Tech finishing a 78-75 road victory over No. 1 Arizonaon Saturday.

"I knew he was going to be over there," Toppin said. "We work on that every day."

The pass to Atwell capped a sensational day for Toppin, who had arguably his best all-around performance of the season with 31 points on 13 of 22 shooting, 13 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. While the Red Raiders (19-6, 9-3 Big 12) have been slightly inconsistent this season, Toppin has been unshakable, scoring at least 10 points in 21 straight games.

Texas Tech beat the No. 1 team for just the third time in school history. The last time was a 65-62 win over Baylor on Jan. 11, 2022.

Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland said Toppin's pass was indicative of the team's dedication as they navigate a difficult conference schedule. Texas Tech has won three straight.

"We're not guessing — this isn't luck," McCasland said. "These dudes practice hard and put themselves in position every day. There's no shortcuts to this. It's a grind and you've got to love it. These dudes love it."

Toppin finished with his 16th double-double of the season and 47th of his career and is now averaging 21.9 points and 11 rebounds per game. He played all but 41 seconds in Saturday's win, showing incredible stamina in a rugged game between two of the most physical teams in the country.

He was at his best during the opening minutes of overtime, scoring on an array of tip-ins and low-post moves that Arizona couldn't defend.

The Wildcats had nothing but good things to say about him postgame.

"He has a really quick second jump," Arizona forward Tobe Awaka said, who had 16 points and 12 rebounds. "He has great body placement, in terms of the ball and tracking it down. He seems to always be in the right place at the right time. Just kudos to him and the type of player he is."

Texas Tech wasn't a one-man show Saturday. Christian Anderson scored 19 points after making six 3-pointers. Atwell finished with 11, including the clutch 3 in overtime and another from behind the arc with 25 seconds left in regulation that capped a 9-0 Red Raiders run and helped push the game to overtime.

Still, Toppin is the team's All-America selection for a reason. He lived up to the billing on a huge stage in a raucous road environment.

"JT Toppin was not going to be denied at the end of this game," McCasland said.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign uphereandhere(AP News mobile app). AP college basketball:https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-pollandhttps://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

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No matter the stage, Anthony Kim's first win in 16 years is a comeback story we can all get behind

February 15, 2026
No matter the stage, Anthony Kim's first win in 16 years is a comeback story we can all get behind

Put aside, just for a moment, the LIV Golf-PGA Tour's subtext of perpetual scuffling. Try not to think about the posturing and skepticism that accompanies virtually every LIV story. Focus, just for a second, on the simple facts:

Yahoo Sports 4Aces GC player Anthony Kim from the US celebrates after he won the LIV Golf Adelaide tournament at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide on February 15, 2026. (Photo by Brenton Edwards / AFP via Getty Images) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE --

Anthony Kim won a golf tournament. Against Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. In 2026.

Kim, one of sports' true prodigal sons, claimed LIV's Adelaide event in Australia on Sunday, riding a final-round, nine-birdie 63, turning a five-shot deficit into a three-shot victory. If nothing else — if Kim's story goes no further than this right here — it's a pretty incredible comeback for a guy who briefly ruled the golf world, then literally disappeared for more than a decade.

Every so often, golf produces one of these back-to-the-mountaintop stories, when a name from the past has a late-career week of their lives. Think Jack Nicklaus at the Masters in 1986, Tom Watson (almost) at the Open Championship in 2009, Tiger Woods at the Masters in 2019, Phil Mickelson at the PGA Championship in 2021. Everything comes together for one weekend, past meeting present, and it's remarkable to see.

Obviously, Kim's victory doesn't have anywhere near that historical resonance; about the only thing Adelaide and Augusta National have in common is a starting letter. But Kim's first professional win in nearly 16 years is an impressive story of facing down the demons of addiction and injury.

It's tough to remember now, but for a brief moment, Kim's popularity in golf was second only to Woods — and Woods' personal scandals erupted right as Kim was playing his best golf. Before Scottie Scheffler, before Brooks Koepka, before Jordan Spieth, before Rahm and DeChambeau, before Rory McIlroy had won a single tournament, there was Kim. He went toe-to-toe with Tiger, he hung with Michael Jordan, he was a SportsCenter darling back when SportsCenter was, well, the center of the sports universe.

Scanning leaderboards from Kim's prime 2009-10 era feels like looking at faded family pictures in a scrapbook. There's only one player from Kim's most recent win, the 2010 Shell Houston Open, still in the top 20: ageless wonder Justin Rose. The tee sheet at Kim's most recent Masters, 2011, included Ernie Els, Mark O'Meara, Craig Stadler and Watson.

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But after suffering an Achilles injury in 2012, Kim stepped away from the game. And not in the "showing-up-on-NBA-sidelines-and-ESPN-red-carpets" kind of way. No, he flat-outvanishedfor more than a decade. Rumors of Kim surfaced here and there — he was playing golf with buddies in Oklahoma, he was keeping in shape in California, he hadn't touched a club in five years — but no one managed to get even a picture of Kim, much less his story.

"I was around some bad people," Kim said in 2024. "People that took advantage of me. Scam artists. When you're 24, 25, even 30 years old, you don't realize the snakes that are living under your roof."

That's why Greg Norman'sdramatic 2024 reveal of Kimas a new LIV addition caused such a ripple in certain segments of golf fandom. Kim was once the coolest dude possible, the heir to Woods, the herald of a new era of golf. What would he have left after so many years away from the game?

Not much, to start. He failed to earn even a single point in his first two seasons on the tour, and was relegated. That could have been the end of his story, but he managed to place third in LIV's Promotions Event, posted a T22 in the first tournament of the season … and now this. A win is a win, especially when two of the world's best are in your final grouping.

It'll be interesting to see how the golf establishment views this victory. LIV players, as expected, haveralliedaroundKim. European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald was one of the first non-LIV players to praise Kim's achievement, unsurprising given that it occurred in the middle of the night for America:

For LIV, this is undoubtedly the most significant victory in the tour's history. This story will break wide in a way that, say, Rippers GC's latest team victory at Adelaide won't. The presence of Rahm and DeChambeau legitimizes the win, and LIV's challenge now is transforming this burst of fans' attention into longer-term connections.

For Kim, the takeaway is much more simple. Yes, he'll rise up to around 200th in the world rankings, but that's not the real story here. Kim picked himself up from life's floor, got his life back together, and returned to the top of the leaderboard. Right now, that's more than enough.

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Ancient Egyptian artifacts stolen from Australian museum

February 15, 2026
A split composite image of an cat statue, left, and a head sculpture (Queensland Police)

He turned "cat burglar" into a job description.

A 52‑year‑old man has been charged afteran Egyptian cat sculptureand "priceless" artifacts were stolen from an Australian history museum,Queenslandpolice said Sunday.

The suspect is accused of smashing a window at the AbbeyMuseum of Art and Archaeology in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, in the early hours of Friday morning, before making off with the ancient haul.

Authorities quickly recovered the stolen treasures, including the 2,600-year-old wooden feline, a 3,300-year-old necklace, a mummy mask and a collarfrom a mummy.

All the stolen items have now been recovered with only minor damage after searching a camper van, police said, with most of the artifacts still intact.

Police located the vehicle in a parking lot at a ferry terminal at around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, roughly 50 miles from the museum, following a two-day search.

The suspect, who has no fixed address, was allegedly found in possession of the final missing item — the wooden cat sculpture. He was arrested on Russell Island, a small island off the coast of Queensland, hours later and has been charged with breaking and entering, along with three counts of willful damage.

He is due to appear in Cleveland Magistrates Court on Monday.

The heist wasn't quite as movie‑made asthe Louvre heist in October 2025, when four masked thieves pulled off a daylight robbery in just seven minutes, smashing display cases to steal eight pieces of France's historic crown jewels.

France's Ministry of Culture confirmed the jewels stolen included a necklace and a pair of earrings from the Marie-Louise collection; a necklace, earrings and a tiara from the Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense collection; and a brooch, bodice bow and a tiara from the collection of Empress Eugénie.

The stolen jewels areworth an estimated $102 million, and the majority were not recovered.

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'Be practical.' Obama says Democrats need to change approach on homelessness

February 15, 2026
'Be practical.' Obama says Democrats need to change approach on homelessness

Former PresidentBarack Obamaspoke about homelessness in a new interview, urging his fellow Democrats to change their approach on the issue and saying many Americans don't want to "navigate around a tent city" in major urban areas.

USA TODAY

"Morally, ethically speaking, it is an atrocity that in a country that's wealthy, we have people just on the streets, and we should insist on policies that recognize their full humanity," Obama said, speaking to progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen in aninterviewreleased Feb. 14.

Obama had been speaking about immigration enforcement before making the comments on homelessness, arguing that progressive and moderate Democrats debate the two crises similarly online.

More:'Clown show': Barack Obama on Trump post depicting Obamas as apes

"Sometimes, I think what happens in the online debate is, if somebody suggests, well, we have to have some immigration enforcement, then somebody is going to point at that child and say, 'So you don't care about that kid, so you must be a bad person.' The same would be true, let's say here in Los Angeles, around the homeless issue," he said.

Obama said Democrats need to acknowledge that "the average person doesn't want to have to navigate around a tent city," and the party won't be able to build enough support to tackle the problem if Democrats can't build a working majority.

"That doesn't mean that we care less about those folks," the former president said, referring to people experiencing homelessness. "It means that if we really care about them, then we've got to try to figure out, how do we gain majority support and be practical in terms of what we can get through at this moment in time, and build on those victories."

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Former President Barack Obama campaigns with Democratic candidate for New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill during a rally in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., November 1, 2025.

Homelessness in many parts of the United States has been on the rise. In 2024, the most recent year of data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, more people were experiencing homelessness compared with any year since data collection began in 2007. The department'spoint-in-time surveyfound an 18% jump in homelessness from 2023 to 2024, with a total of 771,480 people experiencing homelessness.

The issue has been a lightning rod issue not only between moderate and progressive Democrats, but among Republicans as well.President Donald Trumphas repeatedly tried to crack down on people experiencing homeless in the nation's capital and across the country.

In July 2025, hesigned an orderdirecting Attorney GeneralPam Bondito seek to reverse federal and state legal precedents that limit authorites' ability to movehomeless people from streetsand encampments into treatment centers. Critics immediately raised concerns that the effortswould only worsen the problem.

Trump's move came after theSupreme Court ruled in June 2025 that people without homescan be arrested and fined for sleeping in public spaces, overturning a lower court's ruling that enforcing camping bans when shelter is lacking is cruel and unusual punishment.

A month later, Trump rejected the longstanding "housing first" approach to tackling homelessness during the federal takeover of Washington law enforcement, resulting in awidespread sweepof homeless encampments.

"I'm going to make our Capital safer and more beautiful than it ever was before," Trump shared in a post onTruth Social. "The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital."

Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her atkapalmer@usatoday.comand on X @KathrynPlmr. Sign up for her daily politics newsletterhere.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Obama talks homelessness, Democratic fights in podcast interview

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Russian opposition figure Navalny killed by toxin found in poison dart frogs, Europeans say

February 15, 2026
Russian opposition figure Navalny killed by toxin found in poison dart frogs, Europeans say

Russian opposition figure and outspoken Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, whodied two years ago, was killed while in prison by a lethal toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America, five European countries have saidin a statementSaturday.

CNN Flowers and a picture of late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny lay at a makeshift memorial in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2024. - Petras Malukas/AFP/Getty Images

Analyses of samples taken from Navalny's body have "conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine," the statement said. The substance is not found naturally in Russia, it added.

The five countries – UK, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands – said Moscow "had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison" to Navalny while he was held in a penal colony north of the Arctic Circle.

Only "the Russian state had the combined means, motive and disregard for international law" to contribute to Navalny's death, they added.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday the United States had no reason to dispute what he called a "troubling report."

"Sometimes countries go out and do their thing with based on the intelligence they've gathered. We obviously are aware of the report. It's a troubling report," Rubio said while in Slovakia.

"We're not disputing or getting into a fight with these countries over it, but it was their report, and they put that out there."

Russian officials have repeatedly denied being responsible for Navalny's death and on Saturday Russian news agency TASS quoted the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as dismissing the frog poison claim as "propaganda."

The Russian Embassy to the United Kingdom dismissed the findings as a "political pageant." "As with the Skripal case there are strident accusations, media hysteria, zero evidence, and a host of questions the accusers would rather ignore," a statement from the embassy said.

The embassy claimed that the intention was to "revive a waning anti-Russian fervour within Western societies. If there is no pretext, one is laboriously invented."

CNN has reached out to the Kremlin for comment.

The announcement came during theMunich Security Conferencein Germany, during which Navalny's death was announced in 2024.

At the event two years ago, Navalny's wife Yulia Navalnaya came on stage at the conference in tears and received a standing ovation.

Speaking at the same security conference on Saturday, Navalnaya said: "Two years ago, I was here in Munich. It was the most horrible day (of) my life. I came to the stage and I said that my husband, Alexey Navalny, was poisoned."

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Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of Alexei Navalny, is pictured on stage at the Munich Security Conference in 2024. - Tobias Hase/dpa/Getty Images

In apost on Xearlier in the day, Navalnaya said that she "was certain from the first day that my husband had been poisoned, but now there is proof: (Russian President Vladimir) Putin killed (Alexey) with chemical weapon."

"I am grateful to the European states for the meticulous work they carried out over two years and for uncovering the truth," she said, adding: "Vladimir Putin is a murderer. He must be held accountable for all his crimes."

When Navalny died, the Russian prison service said that he had "felt unwell after a walk" and "almost immediately" lost consciousness.

He had been imprisoned in an Arctic penal colony since returning to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he had been treated after beingpoisoned with Novichok, a Soviet-era nerve agent.

Ajoint investigationby CNN and the group Bellingcat implicated the Russian Security Service (FSB) in the poisoning. It found that the FSB had formed an elite team specializing in nerve agents that trailed Navalny for more than three years.

Russia denied involvement then, too, with Putin saying at the time that if the Russian security service had wanted to kill Navalny, it "would have finished" the job.

Navalny, who had organizedanti-government street protestsand used his blog and social media to expose alleged corruption in the Kremlin and in Russian business, was viewed as one of the most serious threats to Putin before his death.

In a2018 interview with CNN, he said that he had a "clear understanding" of the risks involved in taking on the government.

"But I'm not afraid and I'm not going to give up on what I'm going to do. I won't give up on my country. I won't give up on my civil rights. I won't give up on uniting those around me who believe in the same ideals as me. And there are quite a lot of people like that in Russia," he said.

In a statement released on Saturday, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that "Russia saw Navalny as a threat. By using this form of poison, the Russian state demonstrated the despicable tools it has at its disposal and the overwhelming fear it has of political opposition."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was asked at the Munich Security Conference if he feared that Putin would use the same toxins against him. "I don't think about myself because we have already lost a large number of people. I am one of many Ukrainian citizens who continue to fight," Zelensky said. "I cannot think about Vladimir Putin, about his poisons or toxins that he has or had."

The five countries said in their joint statement that they have written to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons about what they called a "Russian breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention."

CNN's Sebastian Shukla, Anna Chernova and Christian Edwards, Svitlana Vlasova and Moriah Thomas contributed to this reporting.

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