The Daily Dozen: 12 things to know about Czechia today

In Iustitia is calling for a change to the Czech Penal Code to ensure better protection for the LGBTQ+ community in Czechia. The initiative comes after a deadly shooting that happened at an LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava earlier this week. Although Czechia is generally viewed as the most progressive country for LGBTQ+ rights in the former eastern bloc, same-sex marriage is not legal in the country, and neither is fostering children. Read more here.

A law that the lower house of the Czech parliament passed today will offer publishers and media houses more leverage in negotiating fees with search engine providers, news aggregators, and social media channels, ČTK reports.

The amendment to the copyright law, which is based on EU directives, forces social media giants such as Google, Twitter, and Facebook to gain a license from a collective administrator or a particular publisher for the commercial use of their articles.

According to the website Médiář, in the absence of a license, Google could only use short excerpts from articles or hypertext references.

Trolleybuses are coming back to Prague after 50 years, DPP announced today. A new trolleybus line from Letňany to Čakovice will start its trial run tomorrow. The line was built as part of the electrification project of bus line 140 between Palmovka and Miškovice.

The operation of trolleybuses in Prague ended on Oct.15, 1972. "By electrifying line 140, we are correcting a mistake made 50 years ago by the communist leadership of Prague, when the trolleybus service in Prague ceased," said Adam Scheinherr, deputy mayor of Prague for the field of transport and chairman of the DPP supervisory board.

Fans of Netflix and chill won't have access yet to a cheaper version of the subscription, which comes with ads, ČTK reports. The subscription will only be available, as of Nov. 3, in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, Britain, and domestically in the U.S.

The ads will be between 15 and 30 seconds long and will air during or before series and movies, for a total of four to five minutes of advertising per hour.

Danuše Nerudová's team announced yesterday that it has collected more than 80,000 signatures, which are enough for her presidential bid. The former rector of the Mendel University Brno ranked third in polls conducted last month, behind General Petr Pavel and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who hasn't yet officially announced his presidential bid. Read more here.

The opening of the first Apple Premium Partner store in Czechia caused a ruckus today in Prague's Chodov Mall. Although there are several iStyle shops in the country, today's event marks a first, since this is the first “Apple Premium Partner” store to open in the country. There are differences between an Apple Premium Reseller and Apple Premium Partner, concerning the look of the stores, the staff, as well as the services they offer. Read more here.

A family of four in the Czech Republic now spends CZK 1,600 on baked goods per month, an increase of CZK 400 compared to last year, representatives of the Union of Bakers and Confectioners in the Czech Republic said yesterday, according to ČTK. They calculated the consumption according to the data of the Czech Statistical Office.

The executive director of the union, Bohumil Hlavatý, said that the wholesale price of bread rose by 32 percent year-on-year in August, and consumer prices in stores by 38 percent.

This year's edition of the Disraptors Summit 2022 hosted a panel highlighting successful women in the tech sector, Týden.cz reports. The speakers included Hana Stelzer from Impactso, Barbora Kordanová from uLékaře.cz, and many others.

The aim of the Women in Tech program, which is supported by the Chamber of Commerce through the Research Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the technology company Huawei, is to present women from the startup environment who are currently running successful businesses.

Around 350,500 Czechs, mainly university students, took part in the international Erasmus + program since 1998, when the Czech Republic joined, and until 2021, Czech National Agency for International Education and Research head Michal Uhl said today. Their numbers are likely to increase in the future, given budget increases of around CZK 300 million from 2021 to this year.

A video taken by the city police in the city of Opava has gone viral on the TikTok social media app, Refresher reports. The traffic camera captured footage of an accident caused by a driver of a passenger car who did not respect stop signs and was hit by oncoming traffic as they rushed into an intersection. Two of the drivers suffered minor injuries as a result of the collision, according to Czech police.

A new species of mushrooms discovered by mycologists on the island of Madeira will honor the fictitious Czech genius Jára Cimrman, ČTK reports. The name was chosen by the mycologist of the Moravian Regional Museum in Brno, Hana Ševčíková, who was one of its discoverers.

According to Cimrman's creators from the Jára Cimrman Theater, the folk hero excelled in practically all fields, including mycology, and once landed a plan on Madeira on the way beyond the Arctic Circle due to adverse winds.

The U.S. Library of Congress added to its collections three dozen photos by Czech photographer Roman Franc, Česká televize 24 reports. The way Franc created group portraits was impressive, members of the institutions said. Franc, who is known for his portraits of former Czech President Václav Havel, wrote on Facebook: "I'm glad as hell that my group photos of firefighters and hunters got into the same collection as the photographers I studied at school."