The Daily Dozen: 12 things to know about Czechia today

Flawed democracy|Czechia rose four spots in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index but still fell short of being ranked as a full democracy. The country came in 25th out of 167 ranked countries and had the best score for Central and Eastern Europe. The scores placed the Czech Republic in the category of "flawed democracies." Read more in our article.

Industry growth|The Czech industry returned to the level of the pre-Covid year of 2019, after a growth of 1.7 percent year-on-year last year, iDnes reports. The growth was driven by the performance of the car industry, which saw an increase of 11.7 percent year-on-year. On the other hand, the production of food products and production and distribution of electricity, gas and heat decreased by 1.5 percent, and 3.1 percent respectively.

Efficient spending| Although funds earmarked by the Ministry of Regional Development (MMR) for the purchase of medical equipment between 2014 and 2020 were in most cases used efficiently, the money was not distributed equally between Czech regions, according to an inspection of the Supreme Audit Office, cited by iDnes. Still, MMR said that it was working on improving the fund distribution process for the 2021-2027 time period.

Turkey earthquake|A group of 68 Czech firefighters will head to Turkey to help the local search and rescue missions. Additionally, Czech politicians took to social media today to offer condolences to the people and leaders of Turkey and Syria, in the wake of the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake which left 1,300 people dead in those countries. Read more in our story.

Karlovy Vary|Czech sanctions against Russian visitors are having an effect on businesses operating in Karlovy Vary, who flocked to the the spa city before the war in Ukraine, The New York Times reports. To fill the gap, municipal authorities launched an advertising campaign targeting Russian speakers who live in Germany, which wasn't well received locally.

Air quality|Czech air quality at the end of 2022 saw an unusual deterioration, most likely because the economic crisis made people use solid fuels for heating, Lidovky.cz reports, citing data collected by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute. The number one pollutant is benzoapyrene, which belongs to the group of toxic, highly carcinogenic substances. Its concentration at the end of last year was the highest in the last five years.

Sun and deep freeze|After a cloudy morning, skies will clear later today, and remain clear until the weekend for most of the territory of Czechia, Czech Hydrometeorological Institute announced. Daily highs will remain below freezing, while lows will drop to -12 Celsius on Wednesday. The weather will gradually warm up starting on Thursday, when the highs will reach 4 degrees.

Tennis victory|Czech tennis player Jiří Lehečka’s win Sunday night over Portuguese number one João Sousa has sent the Czech Republic to this year's edition of the Davis Cup. Lehečka, just 21 years old, comfortably overcame Sousa in straight sets (6:4, 6:1) to put his country 3:1 ahead of Portugal in the best-of-five tie. Read more in our article.

Hockey controversy|Czech former ice hockey goaltender Dominik Hašek criticized the NHL for allowing the son of Russian hockey player Alex Ovechkin to skate on the ice during an All-Star Game that took place during the weekend, Fox News reports. Hašek tweeted that the performance was "spitting in the face of approximately 500 killed, thousands injured and tens of thousands of kidnapped Ukrainian children."