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On Friday afternoon ballot boxes across the Czech Republic opened up for people to elect their municipal representatives. Furthermore, a third of the country’s regions are in the process of electing 27 new senators into the upper chamber of Parliament.

October 5 is the 80th anniversary of the abdication of Edvard Beneš as president of Czechoslovakia. The move came just days after the Munich Agreement, under which the country was abandoned by its nominal allies and lost a third of its territory. However, it was not Beneš’s final abdication.

The Czech Republic’s communal elections, which will take place this Friday and Saturday, differ from their presidential and parliamentary equivalents in that citizens of other EU member states are also allowed to vote. This includes those living in the country on a temporary basis. However, interest in political engagement seems low among foreigners living in the country, with only a few thousand deciding to register.

A search is on for one of the world‘s most venomous snakes, the green mamba, which escaped from its owner in Prague’s Hlubočepy district on Tuesday night. Prior to its disappearance the snake bit its presumed owner, a thirty-year-old-woman who remains in hospital in an induced coma.

A team of Czech archaeologists have made a remarkable discovery at Abusir, near Cairo, unearthing a unique burial complex of an Egyptian dignitary dating back to the fifth Dynasty of the Egyptian Old Kingdom. The limestone tomb is located in the centre of a pyramid field where only members of the royal family and the highest state dignitaries of the time were buried.

The European Council on Tuesday approved a proposal that will allow EU member states that have a problem with carousel tax fraud to apply a generalized reversal of VAT liability. This is something Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has fought for for four and a half years on the argument that use of reverse charge could save the EU a large part of the around 170 billion euros lost every year in unpaid VAT.

The Czech Republic is gearing up for celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia. In Prague month-long birthday celebrations have already kicked off and will culminate in a gala weekend on October 27-28, featuring a military parade, concerts and outdoor happenings. I spoke to Vladimir Bláha, one of the co-organizers of the celebrations, about what’s in the pipeline.

As the nationwide celebrations of 100 years of statehood slowly reach their climax, the Czech News Agency (ČTK), which celebrates its birthday on the same day as the republic, has unveiled its own exhibition in the centre of Prague. ‘Okamžiky století’ [Snaphots of History] as the exhibit is called, details every year of Czech and Czechoslovak state history through iconic photographs.

The Czech deputy prime minister, Jan Hamáček, referenced key moments in the country’s modern history in an address to the UN General Assembly on Saturday. In an interview at the UN, he also discussed his visit to Chicago for major celebrations of the centenary of Czechoslovakia’s foundation.

A new Land and Water Centre has just been established by experts at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague. Its aim is to search for measures that would adapt the country’s landscape to the ongoing climate changes, including extended periods of drought and as well as increasingly frequent flooding.