News

Firefighters have been called to an emergency in the industrial area in Olomouc-Chválkovice where roughly 150 litres of concentrated nitric acid leaked into the sewage system around midday on Friday. Firefighters are stacking sandbags around the outlet to prevent the dangerous chemical from entering the Bystřice River through the sewer. They are also neutralising the acid, which is reported to have leaked from a barrel. Three fire squads and a special chemical unit are intervening at the site.

This year's International Documentary Film Festival Ji.hlava will open with the world premiere of the documentary film “This is Havel Speaking, Can You Hear Me?”. The film captures the last three years of the late Czech president Václav Havel’s life. The film's director, Petr Jančárek, said over 200 hours of unique footage were shot during the filming process. The festival will start in Jihlava on October 24 and will also screen Agnieszka Holland's much-discussed film The Green Border. Visitors to the festival will be able to choose from 357 films in both competition and non-competition sections.

Hunters have started hunting wild boar in Klanovice forest on the outskirts of Prague (Prague 21) and the municipality has warned people who use the locality, to avoid it in the early morning and after dark. This pertains particularly to cyclists, joggers and dogs owners who are often there in the early morning and late evening. The warning has appeared on social networks and the local paper but many people are reportedly unaware of it. According to Prague 21, the hunting will continue in the vicinity until the end of November. Wild boars have overbred in the area and are a risk to people.

Since the introduction of spot checks on the country’s eastern border with Slovakia on October 4, police officers checked over 110 000 people, turned away 745 illegal migrants and detained 32 people smugglers, Police President Martin Vondrášek told reporters after a meeting of the State Security Council on Thursday.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that despite the growing number of illegal migrants detained on Czech territory, their overall numbers are still lower that in preceding years. He emphasized the need to better safeguard Schengen’s outer borders so that member states would not have to address the problem individually and periodically renew border controls on internal borders.