The Daily Dozen: 12 things to know about Czechia today

Parental allowance|The governmental coalition rejected a proposal to discuss increasing the parental allowance by a third to CZK 400,000, Lidovky.cz reports. Shadow Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Aleš Juchelka said before the debate and vote that the proposal would cost about CZK 10 billion, and that the coalition could adjust it so that the increase in expense would only amount to half of that cost.

Company price caps| Starting next January, large firms will start paying capped prices for electricity and gas usage. Under the EU framework for assisting businesses, large firms are also able to combine the price caps with subsidies issued by the government – provided that they do not exceed EUR 4 million (almost CZK 100 million). Read more in our story.

Highly profitable year|The aggregate net profit of banks and savings banks in the Czech Republic rose by CZK 30.8 billion to CZK 81.78 billion year on year for the first three quarters of 2022, Seznam Zprávy reports, citing data from the Czech National Bank. Additionally, their interest income increased by CZK 180.2 billion to 305.8 billion crowns.

Car production| The production of passenger cars in the 11 months of 2022 in the Czech Republic increased by 9.3 percent year on year to 1,118,639 cars, ČTK reports. In November, the numbers fell by 4.6 percent to 118,264 vehicles due to shortages of car parts and strained logistics chains.  Zdeněk Petzl from the Association of the Automotive Industry said that 2022 will "undoubtedly" surpass the production volumes in 2021 and 2020.

Foreign students|Slovaks, followed by Russians and Ukrainians make up the largest share of the more than 52,000 university students from abroad who studied in Czechia last year, while the numbers of students from India and Belarus are gradually increasing, according to the Czech Statistical Office. Read more in our story.

Drug shortages| The Czech Health Ministry negotiated the supply of 300,000 packages of Nurofen for children for the Czech Republic, roughly a third of which should arrive by Christmas, Minister of Health Vlastimil Válek announced yesterday. Válek said there is a lack of Nurofen syrup across Europe. Read more in our story.

Hoax threat|Police evicted the High Court building in Prague 4 this morning after receiving an anonymous call about a bomb threat that proved false, ČTK reports. Firefighters were also present at the scene, and the area around the building was closed off. According to the Criminal Code, spreading alarmist messages is punishable by up to two years in prison.

More long weekends|Next year brings more long weekends than 2022, thanks to a number of state holidays falling on Monday or Friday, Lidovky.cz reports. These include May Day and Victory Day, on May 1 and 8, both of them falling on Mondays; and the Day of the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy and International Student Day, Nov. 17, which falls on a Friday.

Beth Hart|The U.S. blues-rock singer will play at Prague's O2 universum on Nov. 10, 2023. She is considered one of the most talented singers of her generation, and in the past sold out world tours and concerts in famous halls such as the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and the Royal Albert Hall in London. Her latest album A Tribute To Led Zeppelin pays tribute to the iconic band with covers of Led Zeppelin songs.