Václav Havel says he required intensive care during US trip in May

Václav Havel was placed in intensive care in New York after suffering serious heart arrhythmia during a visit to the United States last month. The playwright and former president, who is 73, made the illness public on Friday. In a statement on his website, he said that he had recovered completely. A former chain smoker, Mr Havel had bouts of lung cancer in the 1990s and suffers from breathing difficulties. The one-time dissident is currently in Prague preparing to film a staging of his most recent play Leaving.