The Daily Dozen: 12 things to know about Czechia today

Czech presidential elections | Two candidates whose presidential bid got rejected filed complaints with the Supreme Administrative Court, Czech Radio reports. Businessman Karel Diviš and entrepreneur Karel Janeček said the Ministry of Interior miscounted the signatures they submitted. Out of the nine people who met the criteria for running in the upcoming elections, three have more chances to win than others. Read more in our presidential explainer.

Hard times | Due to the high rate of inflation, Czechs are now spending more and have less disposable income. According to data from PAQ Research, more than a third of households in the country have no money whatsoever left over at the end of a month. Less than 20 percent of people were in the same situation last year. Read more

Russian oil | Czechia's efforts to wean itself off Russian oil are progressing, thanks to the approval yesterday of a plan for shipping crude oil from the Mediterranean to Central Europe via the Transalpine Pipeline (TAL), Reuters reports. Still, Czechia will have to wait until 2025, when the TAL+ modification of the pipeline will be completed, to completely halt Russian oil supplies.

Books | The average Czech reader reads two to three books per month, most of them fiction, iDnes reports, citing a survey by the online second hand bookshop Knihobot. Around 24 percent of those surveyed spend at least one hour a day reading. Tereza Kohutová, marketing director of the online antiquarian bookshop Knihobot, said that young people buy fewer books than seniors, buy more second hand, and accumulate fewer books.

Farewell to Výton bridge | Despite efforts from preservationists, the winning design for bridge at Výton will preserve the support pillars in the Vltava river but will replace virtually everything else. The bridge at Výton has been protected cultural heritage since 2004. Prague Deputy Mayor Adam Scheinherr said the negotiations to save the bridge have been "one of the most demanding and, unfortunately, unsuccessful on my part.” Read more

Colors of Ostrava | Brazilian music legend Gilberto Gil will perform in the Czech Republic for the first time next summer, as part of the Colors of Ostrava festival. Held between July 19 and 22, 2023, the festival will feature OneRepublic as its headliner, and a lineup of British electropunk duo Sleaford Mods, British jazz-psychedelic band The Comet is Coming, British singer Tom Grennan, Mexican cumbia formation Son Rompe Pera, and German techno brass band LaBrassBanda, among others.

Death of a village | Despite repeated protests from its inhabitants, on Dec.1, 1992, the village of Libkovice in the Most region was demolished to make way for coal mining. The moment was captured on film by documentarian Ibra Ibrahimović, who later published a book with photos in 1999, titled "Libkovice: Good God" (Libkovice: Zdař Bůh in Czech). Some of the photographs are now available online for Seznam Zprávy.

Czech video game alert | A small Czech studio has released the English version of an interactive audio game that features British actress Rosamund Pike, Czech Radio reports. "Evidence 111," which is suitable for the visually impaired, is based on an open-ended story set in small-town England in the mid-1980s, which develops according to player choices as the game progresses.

Small wonder | The tropical rainforest exhibition at the Prague Botanical Garden exhibits the smallest water lily in the world, which no longer grows in the wild, ČTK reports. Until 2008, the dwarf water lily, an aquatic plant that can reach a maximum size of 15 centimeters, only grew in one place in the world, namely a hot spring in Rwanda.