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On Sunday several hundred people took the last opportunity to view the original Devil’s Bible or Codex Gigas, one of the largest manuscripts in the world completed sometime in the 13th century. The tome, once considered the eighth wonder of the world, is the oldest Czech chronicle written in Latin. The priceless bible was stolen by the Swedish army from the Czech lands during the Thirty Years War in the mid 17th century and is now permanently housed in Sweden. It has only been exhibited abroad on three occasions – it was lent to New York, Berlin and most recently Prague. Over 61,000 people turned up to see it at the National Library in Prague.

The leaders of the three parties in the Czech governing coalition – the Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and the Greens - have said they are ready to overcome their differences in order to preserve the three-party alliance. Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek called a meeting of party leaders on Friday to ascertain their position after serious differences had emerged both during the presidential elections and over Christian Democrat leader Jiří Čunek’s possible return to government posts. The Green Party is strongly opposed to Mr. Čunek’s return and the prime minister has said he would only take him back if the two smaller parties in government reached agreement on the matter.

The prime minister has not ruled out possible changes to the reform of the health sector introduced at the beginning of this year. In an interview for the daily Pravo Mr. Topolánek said the new health care system would be reviewed in six months’ time enabling the government to do some fine-tuning, such as exempting newborns and pensioners from having to pay for medical services. The introduction of direct payments for medical services on a blanket scale has come under severe criticism from opposition parties, trade unions and the general public.

The opposition Social Democrats have stepped up their opposition to the US radar base. The party leadership is planning a nation-wide petition against the base and the party will hold a second internal party referendum on the issue in the spring. The vast majority of Social Democrats were opposed to the radar base in the first internal party referendum held recently. Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek last week warned party deputies that those who choose to ignore the official party line when Parliament votes on the matter could find themselves off the list of candidates when the next general election comes around.