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Police are investigating an incident of hate speech on social networks and in the media after a class photo of first-graders in a school in Teplice, which appeared in a regional daily, sparked threats and racist comments. The school has been given heightened police protection, but the children’s parents say they still fear for their offspring’s safety.

The Moravian Amazon, an area along the lower parts of Morava and Dyje rivers in the southern part of the Czech Republic, is considered to be one of the richest habitats in Central Europe. But scientists are ringing alarm bells, warning that the number of old trees in the UNESCO Biosphere area which provide a home to rare species of beetles, are being crowded out and their numbers are rapidly declining.

The Czech Republic’s dominant electricity producer and long time state cash cow, ČEZ, is seeing boosted production from its nuclear power plants after coming through a rough patch. And intense interest is focused on a possible split of the company in a bid to fund more nuclear reactors.

The remains of Czech actor Ivan Jandl were interred today at Prague’s Vyšehrad cemetery thirty years after his death at the age of 50. Jandl was the first Czech to win an Oscar, albeit of the Special Juvenile variety, for the then nine-year-old’s performance in the Swiss-American production of the 1948 film The Search.

ANO leader Andrej Babiš, who looks set to be the country’s next prime minister, has come under scrutiny by the foreign media, where he is often described as a populist leader and the Czech Donald Trump. In a live interview for CNN on Wednesday Babiš rejected both labels.

This Wednesday saw a conference in Prague called I, Robot, (Já, robot) bringing together researchers in both the public and private spheres to debate advances in robotics and artificial intelligence. One of the participants was Olga Afanasyeva, the COO of the Prague-based start-up GoodAI, which has been profiled by publications like The Economist, Forbes and also Radio Prague. Much of the discussion focussed on the future “just around the corner” or already here.

‘The Fire Next Time’ is the main theme of this years’ annual Prague Writers’ Festival, which gets underway in the Czech capital on Friday. The event, which is being held for the 27th time, brings together prominent writers and thinkers from around the world. One of the biggest guests this year is the Syrian poet Adonis, a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The race for president, hereto overshadowed by the general elections, is gathering momentum. November 7th is the deadline for registering in the elections and over the next eight weeks the candidates registered will start campaigning in earnest.

The Czech presidential race heated up significantly on Sunday with an announcement by former prime minister Mirek Topolánek that he would throw his hat in the ring in the upcoming presidential election. He has since acquired ten senatorial signatures and can now file to run.

Prague Castle has opened its doors to the public to see state rooms which were renovated over the course of the summer. The public will be able to visit this Friday and Saturday, November 3 and 4.