World briefs 08/01/02

Explosion kills at least 19 in Ukrainian mines

KIEV, Ukraine -- An underground explosion tore through a coal mine Wednesday night in Ukraine, killing at least 19 .

Two miners were still missing after the explosion, which occurred 3,557 feet underground.

Dozens of rescue teams converged at the scene at the Zasiadko mine in Donetsk in southeastern Ukraine.

Nineteen bodies had been recovered as of late Wednesday.

It wasn't immediately known what caused the blast, the latest in a series of accidents at Ukrainian mines -- believed to be the most dangerous in the world, with about 3,700 miners killed since 1991. Critics blame the dangers on a lack of funds to modernize equipment and neglecting safety regulations.

Two arrested after eggs thrown at Queen's car

LONDON -- Police arrested two teenagers after eggs were thrown at a car carrying Queen Elizabeth II as she toured northern England on Wednesday.

The two eggs hit the royal Rolls-Royce as the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, were being driven to the National Ice Centre in Nottingham, where they were to meet former Olympic skating champions Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean.

Buckingham Palace said police detained two 17-year-olds in the crowd after the eggs hit the windshields and a door of the car. Only one of them apparently threw the eggs.

The royal couple appeared unfazed by the incident.

'Millionaire' winner charged by British police

LONDON -- A British army officer who won $1.56 million on the TV quiz show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" was charged Wednesday with deception and conspiracy by police investigating claims he cheated on the program.

Maj. Charles Ingram, 38, was charged by Scotland Yard detectives and released on bail until a court hearing Aug. 7.

His wife, 38-year-old Diana Ingram, and Tecwen Whittock, a 52-year-old college teacher from Cardiff in Wales, also were charged.

All three face a charge of obtaining a reward by deception and one of conspiring to do so.

Charles Ingram, from Wiltshire County in western England, won the show's top prize in September, but the episode wasn't broadcast and Ingram's check was withheld because of suspicions he had cheated. News reports suggested investigators believe someone in the audience relayed correct answers to questions by coughing.

Ingram denies wrongdoing.

Water 'necklace'will be memorial to Princess Di

LONDON -- The Princess Diana memorial fountain will not be a fountain after all, but a "necklace" of water designed by an American whose concept deadlocked the competition judges and attracted controversy.

The committee that debated the choice for 18 months finally deadlocked. Government Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell made the final decision.

Jowell, calling it a "judgment of Solomon," picked the design of Seattle's Kathryn Gustafson, whose proposal was for an oval ring of stones filled with water that would sit like "a necklace across the existing contours of the site" in London's Hyde Park.

The other finalist for the $4.7 million project was a plan for a colored dome of water by British artist Anish Kapoor.

-- From wire reports