The Daily Dozen: 12 things to know about Czechia today

New scarf for Orbán | Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger welcomed his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán with a new scarf showing Slovakian national symbols. Orbán’s recent decision to wear a scarf depicting “Greater Hungary,” which showed the former, large territory of Hungary before the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, will likely be one of the talking points for members of the Visegrád Group.

The agenda of today's meeting includes immigration and border checks between Czechia and Slovakia. Read more.

War in Ukraine | A former member of the member of the Bruntál council was fined CZK 45,000 for statements made at the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Novinky.cz reports. Daniel Makay wrote on Facebook that Russia should use smaller tonnage hydrogen bombs in Ukraine and strike harder. This led to a misdemeanor count of approving a crime, and the misdemeanor charge of denying, questioning, approving and justifying genocide.

Financial security blanket | A recent survey by the STEM/MARK agency for Home Credit, cited by Seznam Zprávy, showed that 33 percent of Czechs tapped into their savings to make ends meet amid the increase in prices this year, while 17 percent were left with no savings at all. Financial advisors recommend people to save the equivalent of between three and six times the necessary monthly expenses as a rainy day fund.

Czech goes to space | Czech fighter pilot Aleš Svoboda joined the reserve team of astronauts of the European Space Agency (ESA), Czech Radio reports. Svoboda is the only Czech who made it to the ESA team. Svoboda is following in the footsteps of military pilot Vladimír Remek, the first and so far only Czechoslovak astronaut who went to space in the late 1970s.

New campus for PCU | Prague City University is moving to a new campus. The first phase of the move starts in January 2023, and consist in a move of the PCU founding campus in Vinohrady to a new City Centre Campus in Prague 1. The following step, scheduled for 2024, is the opening of a new second campus in the creative district of Pragovka.

Heat and hot water shortages | Failures of Pražská teplárenská pipes les to interruptions in hot water and heat supplies to the eastern part of Prague since Thursday night, ČTK reports. The affected areas included, among others, Jižní Město, Modřany, Krč and Vršovice. Supply to some of these areas has already been restored.

Christmas markets | Large Christmas markets return to Prague’s center this year without restrictions. The markets on Old Town Square and lower Wenceslas Square, which open on Nov. 26, will offer a minimalist style with a nod to Czech traditions and the story of a Heavenly Christmas. Read more.

Czech Tour de France | Next year's edition of a road race for amateur cyclists modelled after the famed Tour de France will feature three routes, Nymburský deník reports.

These range from 142 kilometers with an elevation gain of 1,900 meters, to 65 kilometers with an elevation gain of 700 meters. According to its organizers, L'Etape Czech Republic by Tour de France is "a cycling race for the public that will allow you to compete in the style of cycling professionals and enjoy the unique atmosphere of the legendary Tour de France."

Airline tragedy |On Nov.24, 1966, a plane flying from Sofia to Prague crashed near Bratislava. The plane made an unplanned landing due to inclement weather. All of the 82 people on board died, making it the biggest air accident in Czechoslovakia. Urban legends said that the crash was allegedly orchestrated First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Bulgaria, Todor Zhivkov, although there's no evidence to support this.