The Daily Dozen: 12 things to know about Czechia today

An exhibition running until Oct. 28 at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris commemorates the children killed in the World War II massacre at Lidice, Czech Radio reports. The exhibition features dozens of paintings by children from more than 60 countries. Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, Czech Culture Minister Martin Baxa drew a parallel between the brutality of the war in Ukraine and that of the Nazi regime.

A number of NGOs in Czechia and Germany criticized a deal allowing Poland to continue operations at the Turów coal mine, Euractiv reports. The complaint, which came from Greenpeace, Bund Sachsen and the Uhelná association, says that the bilateral agreement does not resolve the negative impact of open-pit mining at Turów, which negatively affects Czech border towns located nearby.

The Litoměřice city administration painted over a washing machine that appeared this week on the plinth of the Red Army statue in Jiráský sady in Litoměřice, Deník.cz reports. A sign on the plinth, which city officials installed following the incident, apologized to Ukrainians for the "the vandal who spat in the memory of your ancestors who fought and died in the ranks of the Red Army for our liberation from Nazism." 

In addition to the initial painting of the washing machine, the monument was also stained with red paint, which the city's technical services are working on removing, ČTK reports, citing mayor Radek Löwy.

Large-scale reconstruction works at Červená Lhota will leave the pond surrounding the castle without water next summer, Deník.cz reports. The scenic, 16th-century castle, which is located about 20 kilometers from Jindřichův Hradec, stands at the middle of a lake on a rocky island. The construction works are estimated to last at least two years and cost CZK 30 million.

Czech police are looking for a man who stole a Superman mannequin on his way out of a cinema located on the top floor of the Atrium Flora shopping mall, iDnes reports. The theft, which caused almost CZK 30,000 crowns of damage to the operator of the cinema, could land the perpetrator behind bars for two years.

"If you recognize the thief in the footage or know where he might be, please call 158," police spokeswoman Violeta Siřišťová said.

The Czech Republic ranked 20th in the evaluation of the state of the rule of law in 140 countries of the world, in a study carried out by World Justice Project (WJP). Compared to 2021, this year's ranking of Czechia improved by two places, surpassing France, U.S., Italy and Slovakia. The country's main shortcomings were in the "open government" and "absence of corruption" categories, the WPJ study said.

A 58-year old spruce from the Ústecký region will bring cheer to Old Town Square during the upcoming festive season. The spruce grew to a towering height of 25 meters in a small village near Česká Kamenice. The company Taiko, which organizes Prague markets, selected the tree from 26 entries sent in a public submission. The Technologie hlavního města company from Prague will oversee its felling, transportation, and subsequent decoration.

The Yummy app, which is making grocery shopping easier, will soon be available in the Czech Republic. The app aims to reduce packaging and food waste by sending customers "packages with fresh ingredients for cooking, precisely measured for the number of servings ordered." The app will first test the market in Poland, followed by Czechia, and then the rest of Central and Eastern Europe.

For the fifth consecutive year, RunCzech is organizing a charity event collecting old running shoes that will be donated to the Armáda spásy Czech charity. The event takes place between Nov. 1 and Dec. 1 at Running Mall, and allows the donors either to receive a voucher with a discount of 42 percent, valid in RunCzech Store on selected running shoes, or to choose a pair on the spot from the pairs that are part of the promotion.

Despite winning an Oscar in 1985 for his costumes in "Amadeus," Theodor Pištěk sees himself as painter, Czech Radio reports. His first joint exhibition with his son Jan, Pištěk & Pištěk, dva světy (Pištěk & Pištěk, Two Worlds), celebrates both his 90th birthday on Oct. 25, and his pictorial works. Miloš Forman’s movie, which follows Austrian musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, won 8 Oscars in total.

The Kladno hockey club's former goalkeeper Miroslav Termer died yesterday at the age of 79, Sport.cz reports. In the 1970s, Termer won four national championship titles with Kladno, which also became the winner of the Champions Cup of European countries. After his retirement in 1983, he worked for a number of years as a scout for the St. Louis hockey team in the NHL.

The lower house of Czech parliament passed today an amendment increasing the mobility benefit for persons with physical disabilities from CZK 550 to 900, ČTK reports. The bill will now head to the Senate, and then, if passed, to the president who can sign it into law. Around 260,000 people receive the basic mobility benefit in the Czech Republic, which has a population of around 10.5 million.