• Wheelchair-bound man rappels down Prague building

    Petr Josek / Reuters

    Jakub Koucky (R), a graduate from Jedlickuv Institute, is helped by a climber during the first ever attempt to rappel from Prague's Congress Center in a wheelchair, at an event to mark the institute's 100th founding anniversary in Prague, May 4, 2013. The institute was started by Rudolf Jedlicka a century ago to educate handicapped children. REUTERS/Petr Josek (CZECH REPUBLIC - Tags: ANNIVERSARY EDUCATION HEALTH SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

    Jakub Koucky, right, is helped by a climber during the first-ever attempt to rappel from Prague's Congress Center in a wheelchair, at an event to mark the institute's 100th founding anniversary in Prague on May 4. The institute was started by Rudolf Jedlicka a century ago to educate handicapped children.

  • Dozens injured from blast in Prague

    David W Cerny / Reuters

    An injured woman is pictured after an explosion in Prague April 29. The explosion in central Prague on Monday injured about a dozen people and others were trapped in a building damaged by the blast, a Reuters witness and emergency services officials said.

    Matej Divizna / Getty Images Contributor

    A firefighter inspects the scene of an explosion on April 29, in Prague, Czech Republic. At least 40 people were injured in the large explosion at a Film and TV school building on the Smetana embankment.

    David W Cerny / Reuters

    Firefighters search the area after an explosion in Prague April 29. The explosion in central Prague on Monday injured about a dozen people and others were trapped in a building damaged by the blast, a Reuters witness and emergency services officials said.

    From AP: PRAGUE -- A powerful explosion damaged an office building in the center of the Czech capital on Monday, injuring up to 40 people. Authorities believed some people were buried in the rubble.

    It is not certain what caused the blast in Prague's Divadelni Street, but a natural gas explosion was suspected, police spokesman Tomas Hulan said.

    The street was covered with rubble and was sealed off by police, who also evacuated people from nearby buildings and closed a wide area around the explosion site. Continue reading.

    Czech police have released video showing last month's gas explosion in Prague. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

  • Russian military plane crashes outside Prague

    Josef Vostarek / AP

    An AN-30 military aircraft lies off the runway at the Czech air force base in Caslav, some 20 miles east of Prague, Wednesday, May 23. An official says the Russian military plane caught fire after problems during the landing maneuver, injuring at least six people on board. Czech military spokeswoman Jana Ruzickova said the plane had 23 people on board, 14 Russians and 9 Czechs. Five Russians and one Czech national have suffered injuries, mostly burns. The plane and Russian officials were in the Czech Republic on a regular monitoring mission.

    AFP - Getty Images

    Firefighters evacuate debris from a Russian military Antonov An-30 aircraft lying on May 23, in a field near the airbase in Caslav, about 80 kms (50 miles) east of Prague, after skidding off the runway as it was landing. Seven people were injured, including two who were taken to a hospital in Prague by helicopters with serious burns after the plane caught fire.

     From AP: PRAGUE  — A Russian military jet malfunctioned while landing in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, injuring six people as it rolled off the runway, broke apart and caught fire, Czech and Russian officials said. At least one man was in life-threatening condition.

    The Russian-made An-30 plane had 23 people on board — 14 Russians and 9 Czechs, Czech military spokeswoman Jana Ruzickova said

     

  • Filip Singer / EPA

    Smoke rises over rooftops in Prague's city center, Czech Republic, on Feb. 3, 2012, during the ongoing cold wave. The temperature dropped nearly to minus 30 degrees Celsius, with at least one fatality reported. The cold in the capital was extreme enough to cause the cracking of tram rails.

    Smoke rises over Prague's chilly rooftops

    ...

  • Czechs and world leaders bid farewell to Vaclav Havel

    Radek Mica / AFP - Getty Images

    Left to right, Lech Walesa, Poland's president from 1990-1995, former U.S. chief diplomat Madeleine Albright and former U.S. president Bill Clinton, attend the funeral service for former Czech president Vaclav Havel at the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, on December 23, 2011. Havel, a dissident and playwright who was the hero of the 1989 Velvet Revolution against communist rule and became his country's first post-independence president, died on December 18, 2011 aged 75. World leaders joined Czech dignitaries to pay homage to Havel at his state funeral in the historic Prague cathedral.

    Michael Sohn / AP

    Mourners react as the car with the coffin passes during the state funeral of former Czech President Vaclav Havel in the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. Havel was the leader of the peaceful anti-communist "Velvet Revolution." He died Sunday, Dec. 18, at age 75.

    AP reports:

    Odd Andersen / AFP - Getty Images

    Britain's former prime minister John Major and current prime minister David Cameron arrive for the funeral service for former Czech president Vaclav Havel in Prague, on December 23, 2011.

    Czechs and world leaders paid emotional tribute to Vaclav Havel on Friday at a pomp-filled funeral ceremony, ending a week of public grief and nostalgia over the death of the dissident playwright who led the 1989 revolution that toppled four decades of communist rule.

    Bells tolled from churches while a wailing siren brought the country to a standstill in a minute of silence for the nation's first democratically-elected president after the nonviolent "Velvet Revolution."

    Havel's wife Dagmar, family members, friends and leaders from dozens of countries gathered Friday at the towering, gothic St. Vitus Cathedral which overlooks Prague. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron were among some 1,000 mourners who bowed their heads in front of the coffin draped in the Czech colors. Continue reading...

    Milan Jaros / EPA

    Scouts watch the funeral of late Former Czech President Vaclav Havel in the courtyard of the Prague Castle in Prague.

    Petr David Josek / Pool via EPA

    Soldiers carry the coffin during the state funeral of late former Czech President Vaclav Havel in the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.

    David Brauchli / Getty Images

    Mourners watch the state funeral of former Czech President Vaclav Havel transmitted live onto large-screen monitors outside St. Vitus Cathedral on December 23, 2011 in Prague, Czech Republic.

    David W. Cerny / Reuters

    A picture of the late former Czech President Vaclav Havel is seen among lit candles placed in tribute to him at Wenceslas Square in Prague December 22, 2011. Havel, an anti-Communist playwright who became Czech president and a worldwide symbol of peace and freedom after leading the bloodless "Velvet Revolution", died at the age of 75 on Sunday.

     

  • Mourners follow Vaclav Havel's last journey through Prague

    Petr Josek / Reuters

    People gather to mourn as the coffin of former Czech President Vaclav Havel is transported on a gun carriage to Prague Castle for the funeral ceremony in Prague, Czech Republic, on Dec. 21, 2011.

    Petr Josek / Reuters

    A hearse transporting Havel's body to Prague Castle.

    Reuters reports from PRAGUE:

    Vaclav Havel's actress wife led mourners through the streets of Prague Wednesday, following the playwright-president's body on its last public journey, to the castle where it will lie in state until a funeral Friday.

    Dagmar Havlova was joined by leading figures from the Czech state and society as well as thousands of the former dissident's fellow citizens wishing to pay tribute to the man who died on Sunday, 22 years after leading the "Velvet Revolution" that ended Communist rule over Czechoslovakia in December 1989.

    "This was an honest man," said 67-year-old Jaroslava Leskakova as she marched in the somber cortege behind the hearse through the sunlit cobbled streets of the old city toward the landmark Charles Bridge that leads to Prague Castle.

    "He did not think of himself but did all he could for people to be happy," said Leskakova of Havel.

    Michal Kamaryt / AP

    People jangle keys in a symbolic reference to the Velvet Revolution of 1989 as Vaclav Havel's body makes its final public journey.

    Marko Drobnjakovic / AP

    Dagmar Havlova, right, Havel's widow, and her daughter Nina Veskrnova, left, follow the vehicle carrying his coffin.

    Vit Simanek / AP

    Soldiers carry the coffin of former President Vaclav Havel as they reach Vladislav Hall at Prague Castle.

    Havel was repeatedly jailed by the Soviet-allied Communist authorities in the 1970s and 80s for his activism in the Charter 77 civil rights movement and then led the nation as president from 1989 to 2003.

    Moving from an arts center Havel helped found, where it had lain on view since Monday, to the castle he found himself suddenly thrust into as head of state, Wednesday's journey was symbolic of the transformation in Havel's own life, from censored playwright to a statesman rebuilding eastern Europe. Continue reading.

    Related content:

  • 'Velvet Revolution' icon Vaclav Havel dead at 75

    Petar Kujundzic / Reuters file

    Presidential candidate Vaclav Havel waves to his supporters from a balcony in Prague in this Dec. 19, 1989 file photo. Havel, a dissident playwright who was jailed by Communists and then went on to lead the bloodless "Velvet Revolution" and become Czech president, died at 75 on Dec. 18, 2011.

    From msnbc.com news services:

    "Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred," Havel famously said. It became his revolutionary motto which he said he always strove to live by.

    Havel was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and collected dozens of other accolades worldwide for his efforts as a global ambassador of conscience, defended the downtrodden from Darfur to Myanmar.

    Among his many honors were Sweden's prestigious Olof Palme Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian award, bestowed on him by President George W. Bush for being "one of liberty's great heroes."

    An avowed peacenik whose heroes included rockers such as Frank Zappa, he never quite shed his flower-child past and often signed his name with a small heart as a flourish.

    Read the full story here.

    Petr David Josek / AP

    People gather under a Czech national flag as thousands mark the passing of former Czech president Vaclav Havel at the Venceslaw's square in Prague, Czech Republic, Sunday, Dec. 18.

    Vaclav Havel, the leader of the "Velvet Revolution" that toppled Communist rule of Czechoslovakia, died after a long illness at 75 in his country home north of Prague. CNBC's Mandy Drury reports.

  • Joe Klamar / AFP - Getty Images

    Liverpool FC goalkeeper Pepe Reina pictured during his team's UEFA Europa League football game against Sparta Prague in the Czech capital on Feb. 17. The referee called a brief halt to proceedings when a flare thrown from behind Reina's goal flooded the pitch with smoke.

    Smoke stops play in Europa League soccer game