Daily news summary
Czech film wins main prize at Karlovy Vary
The main prize at the 52nd Karlovy Vary film festival, the Crystal Globe, went to Václav Kadrnka's medieval road movie Little Crusader, a Czech-Slovak-Italian coproduction. It is the first time in 15 years that the main prize has gone to a Czech film.The jury’s award went to Alen Drljević's feature film debut Men Don't Cry, reflecting on the legacy of war and the search for reconciliation. The award for best actress went jointly to Jowita Budnik and Eliane Umuhire for the drama Birds Are Singing in Kigali, revolving around the Rwandan genocide. Russian actor Alexander Yatsenko won best actor for his performance in the Russian film Arrythmia. The American romantic comedy Keep the Change won the best debut award, while the award for best feature-length documentary went to the Spanish film Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle. Hollywood star Jeremy Renner received the festival’s President’s Award and the outstanding Czech screenwriter and director Václav Vorlíček, 87, was honoured for his lifelong contribution to Czech cinematography.
Vaclav Havel Airport to get face recognition security cameras
The cabinet is expected to earmark over 70 million crowns to further enhance security at the country’s international airports next week, the news site Novinky.cz reports. The money should be used to purchase 145 cameras with face-recognition systems to be installed at Prague’s Vaclav Havel Airport and four other international airports around the country. Security measures are gradually being tightened at all the country’s airports. Overall half a billion crowns should be spent on airport security next year. An international conference of rail operators which took place in Prague over the past two days discussed similar measures in rail transport.
Work on Prague’s famous Charles Bridge started 660 years ago
A ceremony on Prague’s Charles Bridge early on Sunday morning marked the 660th anniversary since work on the famous stone bridge began. The bridge was commissioned by the Bohemian king and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV to replace the stone Judith Bridge which was destroyed by floods. According to legend, Charles himself laid the foundation stone at 5:31 in the morning on July 9, 1357. The date and time were said to have been chosen by court astrologers to form a palindromic sequence of ascending and descending numbers (1357-9-7-531). The bridge was completed in 1402. Charles IV never saw it finished; he died in 1378.
Video recording of fatal accident goes viral
A video recording of a fatal accident in which two young women shared their wild car ride live on Facebook has gone viral. Despite protests from the young women’s parents, it has been seen and shared by hundreds of thousands of people. The two women were speeding at 180 kms per hour, laughing, talking on the phone and joking about breaking traffic regulations when the crash happened. The camera kept recording as one of the women died at the scene of the crash while the other received first aid from people who were passing by. Traffic experts say that speeding and inattention are the most frequent causes of accidents on Czech roads.
Rescuers fight to save fox and terrier
Rescuers have battled for seven days now to save the lives of a fox and terrier who have been trapped in a caved-in burrow since Monday. On Saturday fire fighters managed to clear most of the landslide leading to the burrow. They are now waiting for the animals to dig their way out and have asked for the public to avoid the area since the animals would not come out if they registered any sign of activity. There is a camera in the vicinity monitoring developments.
Berdych through to the fourth round of Wimbledon Championships
Tomaáš Berdych put on a commanding performance at Wimbledon on Saturday getting through to the fourth round of the championship for the ninth time. The 2010 finalist erased the only break point he faced and won 84 per cent of his first-serve points to beat Spaniard David Ferrer 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 45 minutes. He will meet either eighth seed Dominic Thiem or American Jared Donaldson in the fourth round.
Weather forecast
Monday should be partly cloudy but hot and humid with day temperatures reaching 31 degrees Celsius.Meteorologists have issued a storm warning for the entire country over the next 24 hours.
