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Actor Antonio Banderas will be among the guests at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival that kicks off on July 3. Organizers said on Tuesday that the Hollywood star will join another famed guest, John Malkovich who will be presented with the Crystal Globe Awards for Lifetime Achievement. The festival will present more than 220 films, 65 of which will have their world premiere in Karlovy Vary.

Iranian diplomats in Prague have been summoned by the Czech Foreign Ministry, which has dismissed claims that it is interfering in Iran’s internal affairs by voicing concern over the country’s recent elections. In Tehran last week, Czech charge d’affairs Josef Havlas was summoned by the Iranian authorities, which criticized EU ‘interference’ in the wake of the country’s presidential elections. The Czech Republic is head of the European Union until June 30. In a statement on Monday, the Czech presidency of the bloc urged other EU member states also to summon Iranian diplomats and ‘transmit the same message’. In the statement, the presidency said it continued to be ‘deeply concerned’ by the violence that prevailed in Tehran following the elections.

Interim Prime Minister Jan Fischer said on Monday that the Czech Parliament had ‘no reason’ to re-examine the EU’s Lisbon treaty in light of guarantees approved in Brussels last week, which pave the way for Irish ratification of the EU reform document. On Friday, EU leaders agreed to a series of guarantees making it possible for the Irish government to hold a new referendum on the Lisbon treaty this autumn. The guarantees are designed to assure Irish voters that Ireland’s traditional neutrality and national sovereignty in certain fields, such as taxes and abortion, will not be jeopardised by the treaty. Last week, Czech President Václav Klaus said that he thought the guarantees changed the treaty, and therefore, the document should be ratified once more by Czech politicians. But, speaking after a government meeting on Monday, Czech PM Jan Fischer said that it would not be necessary to re-ratify the treaty. The Czech Republic’s staunchly eurosceptic President, Václav Klaus, has refused to sign the Lisbon treaty pending Ireland’s approval of the document.

The US Navy intends to open a regional technology office in Prague, the daily Lidové noviny reported on Monday. According to the paper, US Chief of Naval Research, Admiral Nevin Carr, was in Prague to discuss plans for the project last week. According to Admiral Carr, the centre, which would select firms to conduct American-funded projects, would offer opportunities to Czech science and industry. According to Mr Carr, the Czech Republic is an ideal location for a regional office as it lies in the centre of Europe. A timeframe for the opening of the office is not yet known. The US Navy currently has such regional technology centres in London, Santiago, Tokyo and Singapore.