Czech news in brief for March 27: Friday's top morning headlines

Prague police have launched an investigation into the publication of an AI-generated photo, shared by far-right politician and deputy Education Minister Zdeněk Kettner, showing one of the men accused of last week's arson attack in Pardubice, alongside activist Mikuláš Minář (organizer of last Saturday's mass anti-government protest), and Tomáš Halík, a well-known priest and theologian known for rather more liberal views.

Daylight savings time is here: at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, clocks across the Czech Republic will move forward by one hour to 3 a.m., robbing us all of one precious hour of beauty sleep. Daylight savings time, whose possible end has long been debated across the EU, will stay in effect until October 25. Some experts say the time-change may disrupt biological clocks and increase irritability.

The Czech ruling coalition's plans to cancel license fees for public TV and radio and change their funding model may threaten their stability and independence, according to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and a dozen other international press freedom organizations. The warning comes as the government prepares sweeping changes to how the two public broadcasters are financed and operate.

An accident involving two trucks closed down part of the Prague Ring Road in the direction of the airport near Zbraslav, Prague firefighters announced on X. One person appears to have been injured and handed over to emergency services. The highway was closed shortly after 4 a.m. and it's unclear how long the disruption will last.

The Czech football team defeated Ireland yesterday in a penalty shoot-out following a 2:2 draw after regular and extra time. Just one match away from qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, taking place this summer in North America, Czechs will face Denmark next Tuesday, also on home turf. This would be only the second time that post-1993 Czech Republic makes the cut for the World Cup, two decades after their first participation in 2006.