Mankind heading for disaster, says Havel ahead of Prague conference

Former Czech president Václav Havel has warned that if mankind does not change its approach, civilisation faces disaster. Mr Havel made the comments on the eve of a conference of his Forum 2000 foundation in Prague. He said that to avoid catastrophe, humanity needed to fight its short-sightedness, bovine belief in its omniscience and swollen pride. Speakers at the 14th Forum 2000 conference, which began on Monday morning, include Iranian human rights campaigner Shirin Ebadi, Cuban dissident Jose Luis Garcia Paneque and British writer Misha Glenny.