PRAGUE (AP) — Czech Cup winner Karviná was expelled from the top division as punishment by the Czech Football Association for its involvement in a major match-fixing scandal.
The association’s ethics committee also fined Karviná 10 million Czech koruna ($480,000) for offering bribes to two referees and two players to influence a league match and two relegation playoff games involving the club in 2024.
Karviná town mayor Jan Wolf offered the bribes and was banned from soccer for 12 years and fined 3 million Czech koruna ($144,000).
The committee announced its decision late Monday. The club, which is owned by the eastern Czech town, has five days to appeal.
The verdict will likely impact the club’s participation in European competitions, with UEFA to have a final say.
By winning the Cup, Karviná advanced directly to the fourth round of qualifying in the Europa League next season. If it were to lose the fixture it would still have a berth in the third-tier Conference League.
In March, the association said a total of 47 individuals and teams, including referees, officials, players, former players and clubs from the top four leagues, were facing a disciplinary investigation for their alleged involvement in the scandal.
The announcement came after Czech police detained dozens of people in nationwide raids.
The ethics committee also said it fined five players from lower leagues and banned them from 15 months to 12 years for agreeing to fix matches.
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FILE - A logo of the Czech Football Association is seen in front of the Czech Football Association headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic, on March 24, 2026, after the Czech police detained dozens of people following an investigation into a match-fixing scandal. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)
An Israeli airstrike hit one of the main hospitals still operating in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing six people and injuring at least 28 more.
In Iran, a body of clerics said it was necessary to consider withdrawing the country from a treaty meant to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. And in France, authorities barred an Israeli politician from entering the country because of his work as a prominent settler leader in the occupied West Bank.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Thursday. Read our full coverage here.
An Israeli airstrike hit one of the main hospitals still operating in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing six people and wounding 28 others.
The Israeli military said the strike on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza targeted a Hamas commander and other militants, without providing evidence. The commander it identified was not among the dead, but Gaza’s Health Ministry said the victims included a surgeon and a 13-year-old boy.
Israeli forces have previously targeted the Nasser Hospital, including an attack in 2025 that killed Mariam Dagga, who worked for The Associated Press, and four other journalists.
The Thursday hospital victims were among 10 Palestinians killed in four Israeli strikes on Thursday. Health officials reported strikes on two cars in Deir al-Balah and Gaza City and a building in Jabaliya. The Israeli military said the strikes had targeted militants.
Israel’s strikes on Gaza have continued despite a ceasefire deal with Hamas in October 2025, leading to the deaths of more than 1,600 Palestinians.
U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Thursday that he wanted Vice President JD Vance to focus on his efforts to root out fraud in U.S. government programs while dismissing the idea of diplomacy with Tehran.
Trump’s post came in the wake of a Wall Street Journal report that said Vance was considering direct talks with Iran after sending a letter recently to Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei. Vance’s office did not respond to a message Thursday.
The vice president was the face of an effort earlier this year to strike a deal with Iran to end the conflict. The deal later collapsed.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator, told Al Jazeera that U.S. officials requested that Russian President Vladimir Putin facilitate negotiations between the country and Iran.
“It was the Americans who, during a visit to Moscow, spoke with Mr. Putin and asked him to speak with Iran so that, in any case, Iran would agree to speak directly with them,” Qalibaf said.
The White House did not directly respond to a query about whether the U.S. has asked Putin to facilitate talks with Iran.
Iran’s Assembly of Experts said Thursday that considering withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is an “unavoidable necessity,” given recent repeated threats against the country, state TV reported.
The statement by the assembly, which is a clerical body responsible for appointing and overseeing Iran’s supreme leader, added to growing calls within Iran’s political establishment to reconsider the country’s longstanding nuclear policies.
Iran has enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels, but insists its program is only for civilian purposes. The late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared nuclear weapons forbidden under Islam.
Yossi Dagan, a prominent Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank, said authorities denied him permission to enter France.
The incident happened last week as he flew to Charles de Gaulle International Airport. France’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that Dagan, who heads one of six Israeli regional councils in the West Bank, was “subject to an administrative ban from the territory due to his active role in implementing Israel's settlement policy."
Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the decision by France “completely unacceptable." Israel’s foreign minister and interior minister, Gideon Saar, said later he also decided to bar leading French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon from Israel for his vocal position supporting Gaza and condemning Israel.
Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal and an obstacle to peace. France was one of several European countries this year to step up restrictions on Israeli settlers and settlements.
The United Kingdom, Qatar and Jordan led a coalition of more than 50 countries and organizations on Thursday calling on Israel to provide immediate entry of critical items for shelter, fuel, water, sanitation and health to Gaza.
With winter arriving, the group said “far too many people in Gaza are still without adequate shelter, and risk exposure to hypothermia, respiratory infections, waterborne diseases and other preventable illnesses.”
The statement echoed recent criticism by the Board of Peace and U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher.
The British military reported at least two tankers were struck by projectiles in recent days while traversing contested waters near Iran.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center, an agency that monitors maritime safety, said the oil tanker Dominica Prosperity was struck Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, northwest of Ras al-Khaimah. The agency reported the crew evacuated safely and no casualties were reported.
In another incident from Tuesday, the UKMTO said an unnamed tanker was struck by a projectile in the Persian Gulf. Multiple casualties were taken ashore for medical assistance while the remaining crew was safe and accounted for, the agency said.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Mourners carry the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
People inspect damage to Nasser Hospital after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike overnight in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners attend the funeral of Khalid Abu Anza, 53, who was killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike on Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
People walk at Nasser Hospital after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike overnight in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
