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LONDON (AP) — Buckingham Palace says the monarchy cost British taxpayers 35.7 million pounds ($60.8 million) last year — 56 pence (just under $1) for everyone in the country.

More than a third of the money was spent on repairs and maintenance to aging palaces.

Some 3.4 million pounds was spent in the year to March 31 refurbishing part of London's Kensington Palace into a home for Prince William, his wife Catherine and their toddler son Prince George.

The work included removing asbestos, installing new heating and "simple redecoration." William and Kate paid for carpets, curtains and furnishings themselves.

As the accounts were published Thursday, Keeper of the Privy Purse Alan Reid said the royal household was keen to "maximize the value for money" of the monarchy.

On Thursday, European leaders are gathering in Belgium to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I — the bloodbath that ended millions of European lives.

And killed 116,516 U.S. troops. And laid the groundwork for World War II.

The centenary ceremony in Ypres, Belgium, provides a good reminder that whenever relations among European nations break bad, the rest of us need to pay attention.

It's time to listen up again.

That's because the Flanders Fields Commemoration will be followed by a fractious European Union summit on Friday. European leaders had been expected to use their time together to discuss strengthening their economies and responding to Russia's aggression in Ukraine. But much of their energy will instead go to scrapping.

In fact, their feuding already is so intense that some analysts fear this summit could mark the beginning of the United Kingdom's slide out of the EU. An exit would dramatically change the political union designed to spread peace and prosperity across the English Channel and the European continent.

"If the U.K. left, it would fundamentally change the outlook of the EU," said Jacob Kirkegaard, an analyst with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "The EU would become more protectionist and less global" without the U.S.-friendly attitude of the British people.

"That would be a very bad outcome for the U.S. because what you (Americans) want is an EU that is outward looking" and open to transatlantic trade, Kirkegaard said.

He notes that the EU, with roots stretching back some 60 years, has faced crises before. But its leaders have always found ways to muddle through and then draw closer — and he thinks that will happen again.

That view is shared by Danny Alexander, chief secretary to Britain's Treasury.

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MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a smoky fire at the Stanford Linear Accelerator affected traffic on a nearby interstate, but the blaze didn't cause any injuries or pose a threat to the public.

The report came into the Menlo Park Fire Department shortly before 10 p.m. PDT Wednesday from the San Francisco area research center, which studies particle physics and radiation science.

Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman says heavy black smoke from the two-mile long accelerator structure under Interstate Highway 280 affected traffic on the roadway.

He says crews first shut down the affected area of the accelerator and then used suppression units against the fire.

The blaze was brought under control about 10:30 or about 45 minutes after it was reported.

Schapelhouman says it appears to have started in an electrical switching cabinet, but its cause will be investigated.

AQUARIUS REEF BASE, Fla. (AP) — Fabien Cousteau has a week left in his 31-day underwater living experiment in the Florida Keys, and he's not exactly eager to return to the surface.

"If anything, I'm panicking about the lack of time we have left," he said. "I'm feeling really comfortable and happy down here."

In an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press inside Aquarius Reef Base, 63 feet below the surface of the waters off Key Largo, Cousteau said the scientists from Florida International University and Northeastern University who joined his "Mission 31" have had unprecedented access to a coral reef.

"The FIU researchers have accomplished more than six months' worth of data gathering in just two weeks because they were here, living under the sea in this undersea habitat," he said. "This highlights how important a habitat is for scientific research as well as outreach."

A team of filmmakers and researchers dove with Cousteau on June 1 to Aquarius. At the mission's mid-point, the FIU researchers traded places with researchers from Northeastern, who will return to land July 2 with Cousteau. They've been studying the effects of climate change and pollutants such as fertilizers on the reef.

Aquarius, federally owned and operated by FIU, allows researchers to dive for hours without needing to return to a boat or go through decompression. The lab — about the size of a school bus and encrusted with coral — includes living quarters for six.

Cousteau conceived of "Mission 31" as an homage to the Conshelf underwater living experiments orchestrated in the 1960s by his grandfather, ocean exploration pioneer Jacques Cousteau.

The three Conshelf missions were partly aimed at exploring the possibilities for colonizing the oceans. After almost a month without sunlight, Cousteau said living underwater long-term was technically possible for humans, but it may not be financially feasible on a large scale.

"If it's for science, education, outreach, filmmaking, those sorts of things, this is a great platform for that," he said.

The mission has been broadcast live online, and it has proceeded without any serious medical or technical problems, aside from an air conditioning failure one night that left the aquanauts sweating as the temperature inside Aquarius rose to 98 degrees with 100 percent humidity.

"It was extraordinarily uncomfortable, like sleeping in the Amazon, minus the bugs," Cousteau said.

There's been so much work to do on the reef that no one has had time to be too homesick or to develop cabin fever, he said.

"Getting out there is so entertaining and so different every time that you'd be hard pressed to think that you've started to go crazy," he said.

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Kay reported from Miami Beach, Florida.

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Online:

Mission 31: http://mission-31.com/