World Briefs

Czech Republic - At least 10 people died in flooding in the eastern Czech Republic, and rising river levels prompted flood warnings across central Europe following heavy rains this week.

Officials said at least six people were drowned late on Wednesday and four more died when medical teams were unable to reach them.

MARACAY, Venezuela – Venezuela and the US said they will restore their ambassadors after President Chavez expelled the US envoy in his final diplomatic bout with the Bush administration.Chavez's foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, said the governments have agreed to overturn the "persona non grata" status given each other's ambassadors in September, when Chavez expelled U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy.

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua – Antigua's former chief financial regulator surrendered Thursday to face U.S. charges that he aided an alleged $7 billion swindle by Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, according to a government official.

Leroy King, who will now face extradition proceedings, was taken into custody by island authorities, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the case.

Prosecutors said that as administrator of Antigua and Barbuda's Financial Services Regulatory Commission, King should have caught the fraud. He is accused of accepting more than $100,000 in bribes to turn a blind eye to irregularities.

King faces charges including wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to obstruct the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

LOS ANGELES – Farrah Fawcett, the "Charlie's Angels" star whose feathered blond hair and dazzling smile made her one of the biggest sex symbols of the 1970s, died Thursday after battling cancer. She was 62. She died at 9:30 a.m. in a Santa Monica hospital, spokesman Paul Bloch said.

PARIS – Search crews in the mid-Atlantic have retrieved the bodies of the chief pilot of Flight 447 and a flight attendant, Air France said Thursday.

Air France, in a statement on its Web site, said the pilot and male flight attendant have been identified but did not release their names. A pilots' union named the flight captain as Frenchman Marc Dubois.