The Daily Dozen: 12 things to know about Czechia today

Bill of sanctions|President Miloš Zeman signed Wednesday a law that gives Czechia the right to introduce national sanctions against foreign companies and individuals who commit serious unlawful acts. The law allows Czechia to deny entry or stay to foreign nationals or freeze their property. Read more in our story.

Murders on the rise|A total of 136 murders took place in the Czech Republic by the end of October, which is 31 more than in the whole of last year, Seznam Zprávy reports, citing police statistics. Still, Director of the Institute for Criminology and Social Prevention Petr Zeman notes that the number has been decreasing for a long time, after peaking in 1998, so this is unlikely to show a new trend.

First for Czech hockey|The Dynamo Pardubice hockey club issued an edition of its own postage stamps to celebrate the centenary of its founding, iDnes reports. Dynamo is the first hockey club to do something similar, a reflection of the vision of its owner Petar Dědek, who said he wanted the club to be the first not only on the ice, but also everywhere else.

To the moon and back|Czech choreographer Yemi A.D. was chosen as part of the eight-person crew of the first-ever civilian flight to the moon, iDnes reports. The dearMoon project is the creation of Japanese billionaire Jusaku Maezawa, who will also be on the moon trip.

"Yemi is a multidisciplinary creative force, social innovator and choreographer who teaches people and organizations how to move into their creativity," his bio on the dear Moon website reads.

Hostile architecture|Newly installed wooden barricades at a Christmas market in Prague to stop homeless people from loitering sparked a debate about “hostile architecture” against the homeless in the Czech capital. Prague authorities ruled them illegal and ordered their removal. Read more in our story.

Not so fast|A cycling path that was officially opened on Tuesday under the Mánes bridge was subsequently fenced off the next day, iDnes reports. Authorities in Prague 1 say this was done for security reasons, as the park next to it was still being reconstructed. Petr Bidlo from the city hall of the Prague 1 district said that Prague authorities should have "waited a little longer before cutting the ribbon" to the bike path.

Gift for Putin vandalized|An unknown vandal spray painted a Prague statue of a goblin resembling Russian President Vladimir Putin, iDnes reports. The statue, which earlier this week temporarily replaced the controversial monument of Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev, was spray painted with the words: "Am I heading for war or peace?" The statue will be up for auction in January 2023.

Earthquake in Cheb|A minor earthquake hit the town of Cheb in West Bohemia, on the Czech-German border, yesterday afternoon. Seismologists detected it as a magnitude 3.1 earthquake on the Richter scale, meaning that it was visible. However, the earthquake did not cause any damage. Read more in our story.

Snow and frost|Next week will bring a record snow cover and temperatures below freezing to the Czech Republic, Novinky.cz reports. It will start snowing on Sunday and Monday, with 30 centimeters of snow expected in the northeast of the Czech Republic, and up to 20 centimeters in lower areas, meteorologist Dagmar Honsová said.