By GRAHAM DUNBAR, Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — The names of experts appointed to an Olympic panel looking at female gender issues ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are not being revealed, the IOC said on Friday.

A working group on “Protection of the Female Category” in sports was promised by the International Olympic Committee’s first female president Kirsty Coventry when she was elected in March.

A key campaign theme was the IOC taking more strategy-setting responsibility in fallout from the furor around women’s boxing at the Paris Summer Games that was widely used then and since as a culture war issue, including by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The governing bodies of boxing and track and field now require female athletes to take sex tests, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee in July effectively banned transgender women from Olympic sports to comply with an executive order by the Trump administration.

“The names of the members of the working group will remain confidential for now to protect the integrity of the group and their work,” the IOC said in a statement.

The female protection panel was announced on Friday among four expert groups — the others are reviewing Olympic sports programs and calendars, commercial issues, and the Youth Olympics — but the only one in which the list of members was kept secret.

No timetable was given for the panels’ work which is intended to start “as soon as possible,” the IOC body said, under the project banner “Fit for the future.”

Olympic program and dates

The panel for Olympic sports will look at the global calendar at a time of changing climate and a widespread expectation the 2036 Summer Games will move from the traditional July-August slot.

Candidates to host then include India and Qatar, though the panel’s stated remit on Friday did not include details of who, how and when to evaluate the 2036 bids. Many IOC members are known to want more input in a process that was opaque before Brisbane was selected as the 2032 host.

“It will also consider the suggestion that traditional summer or winter sports could cross over, the timing of the Games, and the sports calendar,” the IOC said.

The panel includes two members who successfully organized Olympics: Sebastian Coe in London in 2012 and Tony Estanguet in Paris last year.

The group could be tasked to look at more efficiently adding or removing sports and events from the Olympic programs.

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Sponsor value

The working group on commercial and marketing issues, including IOC vice president Juan Antonio Samaranch, will review how the Olympic Games “engages with partners, and how it can evolve and ensure that it is fit for today’s competitive market.”

Olympic venues are currently almost entirely clean of the names of IOC sponsors, who include equipment providers, though product placement was a growing trend in Paris.

The IOC also suggested it wants to generate more revenue from its Olympic Channel and in-house broadcasting production operation in Madrid.

The Youth Olympics panel has been asked to “look at the potential and relevance” of the event, and shape the process of picking a host for 2030, the IOC said.

No. 14 Minnesota has lost junior libero Zeynep Palabiyik for the remainder of 2025 with a knee injury, the program announced Friday.

A magnetic image resonance exam this week diagnosed Palabiyik with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and she has been scheduled for surgery next week. She will take a medical redshirt and has two years of eligibility remaining.

“We’re obviously heartbroken for Zeynep at this moment,” head coach Keegan Cook said in a statement. “But we’re also extremely confident in how she will heal, recover and ultimately grow from this. She has met every adversity of college volleyball with enthusiasm and determination. She will remain an emotional leader for the team this season and we will all look forward to having her back on the court with us.”

An Istanbul, Turkey native, Palabiyik started all 32 matches last year and four this season for the Gophers (3-1, 0-0 Big Ten). She ranked seventh in the Big Ten last year with 3.86 digs per set and third this year with 3.73. She has played in 56 career matches, including four NCAA Tournament games.

Women’s hoops schedule

Dawn Plitzuweit’s women’s basketball team released a nonconference schedule featuring 11 games, seven at home, on Friday.
The Gophers open the season Nov. 4 at home against North Dakota and start a home-and-home series against Big East program Marquette on Nov. 11. They will start a home-and-home series with Big 12 school Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., on Nov. 19.

On Nov. 24, Minnesota will play defending ACC champion South Florida in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in Nassau, Bahamas. Two days later, the Gophers will play either Alabama or Harvard. All were NCAA tournament teams last season.

2025-26 nonconference schedule

Television, streaming coverage and tipoff times will be announced at a later date.

Nov. 4 — vs. North Dakota (Williams Arena)
Nov. 7 — vs. Manhattan (Williams Arena)
Nov. 11 — vs. Marquette (Williams Arena)
Nov. 14 — vs. NJIT (Williams Arena)
Nov. 19 — at Kansas (Lawrence, Kan.)
Nov. 24 — vs. South Florida (Nassau, Bahamas)
Nov. 26 — vs. Harvard or Alabama (Nassau, Bahamas)
Dec. 1 — vs. Samford (Williams Arena)
Dec. 10 — vs. Alabama A&M (Williams Arena)
Dec. 14 — vs. Wyoming (Williams Arena)
Dec. 21 — at Drake (Des Moines, Iowa)

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By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is drawing swift condemnation from gun rights groups and LGBTQ advocates alike after floating that it was considering restricting transgender people from owning guns — a move that would all but certainly face immediate constitutional challenges if ever implemented.

The discussions come in the wake of the shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school last month that federal officials have said was carried out by a transgender shooter, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, cautioned that the talks were in the early stages and that no proposal has been finalized.

Even so, that high-level officials in the Trump administration were discussing such an idea sparked fury across the political spectrum. LGBTQ advocates called it misguided and dangerous as the vast majority of mass shootings in the U.S. are carried out by men and do not involve transgender people.

“Transgender people are less than 2% of the overall population, yet four times as likely to be victims of crime,” GLAAD said in an email. “Everyone deserves to be themselves, be safe, and be free from violence and discrimination. We all deserve leaders who prioritize keeping all of us safe and free.”

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Since Trump returned to office, his administration has targeted transgender people in several ways, including removing them from military service, scrubbing some federal websites of mentions of them, trying to bar changing the sex marker on passports, seeking personal information on gender-affirming care patients from doctors and clinics, and seeking to bar transgender girls and women from certain sports competitions.

The Justice Department said in a statement in response to questions about the firearms talks that the agency is “actively evaluating options to prevent the pattern of violence we have seen from individuals with specific mental health challenges and substance abuse disorders.” But, the department said: “No specific criminal justice proposals have been advanced at this time.”

Some conservative figures have coalesced around the idea of restricting guns for people diagnosed with gender dysphoria — the unease a person may have because their assigned gender and gender identity don’t match — through a federal law that bars people from possessing firearms if they are “adjudicated as a mental defective.”

“It’s incredibly worrying that that seems to be on the table for them,” Alejandra Caraballo, a transgender rights activist and Harvard Law School instructor. “This is not something that would be that incredibly difficult to do logistically or practically but it would be politically explosive in terms of the backlash of Second Amendment groups.”

Guns rights advocates — including politically powerful groups such as the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America — vowed to fight any proposal that imposes a blanket gun ban targeting a segment of the population.

“The Second Amendment isn’t up for debate,” the NRA said in a social media post on Friday. “NRA does not, and will not, support any policy proposals that implement sweeping guns bans that arbitrarily strip law-abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights without due process.”

Another gun rights group, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, called the discussions “disturbing.”

“Prohibiting whole groups of people from owning and using firearms because a sick individual misused a gun to harm and kill children is as reprehensible as restricting the rights of all law-abiding citizens because some people have committed crimes,” said Alan Gottlieb, the group’s chairman said in a statement. “That anyone in the Trump administration would consider such nonsense is alarming.”

Associated Press reporter Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia contributed.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two teenagers were arrested Friday on murder charges in the killing of a congressional intern who was struck by stray bullets during a shooting in the nation’s capital — a crime that President Donald Trump cited in announcing a law-enforcement surge in Washington.

Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, of Granby, Massachusetts, was fatally shot on the night of June 30 near Washington’s Mount Vernon Square. Both suspects in his killing — Kelvin Thomas Jr. and Jailen Lucas —are 17-year-old juveniles but are charged as adults with first-degree murder while armed, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

Police were searching for a third suspect whose name and age weren’t immediately released.

Tarpinian-Jachym was an “innocent bystander” who wasn’t an intended target of the gunfire, Pirro said at a news conference where she was flanked by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the city’s police chief.

“Eric didn’t deserve to be gunned down, and the system failed him — the system that felt that juveniles needed to be coddled,” Pirro said. “This killing underscores why we need the authority to prosecute these younger kids, because they’re not kids. They’re criminals.”

Tarpinian-Jachym was a rising senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was in Washington to work as a summer intern in the office of Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kansas.

In July, the House observed a moment of silence after Estes paid tribute to Tarpinian-Jachym, calling him “a dedicated, and thoughtful and kind person who loved our country.”

“We will never forget his presence and kindness in my office,” Estes said. “Those he met in his short term in my office will not forget him, either.”

Trump mentioned Tarpinian-Jachym’s killing — but not his name — during an Aug. 11 news conference where he announced a federal intervention for a “public safety emergency” in the District of Columbia.

“Any level of gun violence in our city is unacceptable,” Bowser said.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday’s arrests are “a testament to President Trump’s efforts to make Washington, D.C., safe again.”

“The Department of Justice will continue our work to prevent other young people from suffering the same fate as Eric,” Bondi said in a statement. “We hope this brings some measure of solace to his family.”

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The suspects, both district residents, exited a vehicle at an intersection and shot at two people riding bikes, including a 16-year-old male who was wounded, according to Metropolitan Police Department Commander Kevin Kentish.

Tarpinian-Jachym was struck by four shots. A woman who wasn’t a target also was shot but survived, according to Kentish. Surveillance video helped investigators identify the three suspects, he said.

Online court records didn’t immediately identify attorneys for the suspects.

MPD Chief Pamela Smith said she and Pirro spoke to Tarpinian-Jachym’s mother on Friday.

“Eric came to our city with a bright future ahead of him,” Smith said. “He deserved an opportunity to return home safely to his family, but was senselessly taken from his loved ones.”

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.