Czech news in brief for June 12: Friday's top afternoon headlines

Good afternoon, it's a pretty slow news day as we finish up the work week and head towards a supposedly rainy weekend. Here are the top headlines.

A planned strike by employees of Czech Television and Czech Radio could last 24 hours and take place on June 22, organizers said today, also adding that they were still "fine-tuning" the exact format of the protest action. The strike has been called against the government's plans to change the funding model of the two public broadcasters, with many fearing the reform is just an excuse for a political takeover of public TV and radio.

Tense week ahead. The three-party ruling coalition has long framed the public media reform as absolutely fundamental, but has struggled for months to put together a viable plan. The government is now set to meet on Monday to come up with a solution to fund public TV and radio directly from the state budget rather than license fees.

The population of the Czech Republic decreased in the first quarter of the year, dropping by 19,800 to a total of 10.896 million people, the Czech statistical office announced today. From January to March, 37,000 people emigrated from the country compared to less than 30,000 who came from abroad, and nearly twice as many people died than children were born.

Birth rate in free fall. Once one of the continent's top achievers, Czechia has seen its birth rate fall dramatically over the past couple of years. The current Czech government has long promised to implement family-friendly measures to boost it up, but details remain scarce.

A Czech man has been sentenced to six years in prison for keeping CZK 14 million sent to him by mistake. The businessman in question had a contract to deliver road salt to Prague's Vinohrady hospital and, instead of receiving the agreed CZK 14,000, got CZK 14 million after a hospital employee mistakenly added three extra zeros to the payment order.

Tough ruling. Such cases are rare, and the court's decision may still be appealed. The indictment highlighted that the man not only kept the money but tried to cover his tracks with fraudulent actions. The hospital should also be compensated for damages, according to today's ruling.

The city of Prague has earmarked up to CZK 50 million to finance the organization of the Children and Youth Olympics, scheduled to take place in the capital from June 21-25. Municipal councilors said that were expecting for the state to pay for at least part of the event, but now have to bankroll the entire Olympics from its own budget.

Youth and Children's Olympics? Organized since 2003 in both summer and winter months, the Children and Youth Olympics are a Czech national competition of regional teams for athletes aged between 12 and 16. This is the first time Prague hosts the summer Olympics.

Users across the Czech Republic have been complaining about loading and connectivity issues with both Facebook and Instagram this afternoon, with the first reports appearing around 3.30 pm. Some users seemed to have been logged out of their accounts and unable to log back in, while others pointed to problems with the mobile apps.

Not just Czechia. According to early media reports, millions of people have been affected by similar problems around the world, although some users in the very same locations didn't face any issue whatsoever. Meta hasn't publicly commented on the matter yet.