Astronomers at the Kleť observatory in south Bohemia discovered a rare asteroid overnight Dec. 16, observatory director Jana Tichá told the Czech News Agency Dec. 18. The asteroid, now officially known as 2006 XR4, measures 20 meters (66 feet) in length and is at a distance of 600,000 kilometers (370,000 miles) from the Earth, Tichá said.

VISAS

The European Commission has begun checks into a number of Czech embassies after the offices were discovered to grant an unusually high number of visas, Euro magazine reports. The checks come as the Czech Republic is slated to join the Schengen border-free zone by the end of next year. Czech embassies in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine all issue a higher-than-average number of visas, the report said.

FIGS

Authorities seized 19 metric tons (21 short tons) of Turkish figs after finding a shipment contaminated with toxic substances Dec. 18. Tests revealed that the figs contained eight times the allowed levels of aflatoxins, carcinogenic substances produced by certain types of mold, which have been linked with liver cancer.

PREMIERE

Jiří Menzel's I Served the King of England premiered Dec. 18, after a decade of disputes over the rights to Bohumil Hrabal's text, on which the screenplay, by Menzel, is based. Menzel's first adaptation of Hrabal, his 1966 film Closely Watched Trains, won an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category.

INVESTIGATION