Havel Hospitalized With Chest Infection

Czech President Vaclav Havel has been hospitalized, showing signs of chronic bronchitis, his spokesman said. Havel, 62, was taken to Prague’s Military Hospital for treatment with antibiotics after a viral infection worsened, spokesman Ladislav Spacek said. The president had canceled all engagements for the week because of what aides said was a fever. It is the sixth time that Havel, a former chain smoker, has been hospitalized since December 1996, when a third of his lung and a cancerous tumor were removed. He had emergency surgery for a ruptured colon in April 1998 and fought off a life-threatening case of pneumonia four months later.