Europe

BROVARY, Ukraine (AP) — A helicopter carrying Ukraine’s interior minister crashed into a kindergarten in a foggy residential suburb of Kyiv on Wednesday, killing him and about a dozen other people, including a child on the ground, authorities said.

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III has asked that annual profits from a 1 billion-pound ($1.2 billion) Crown Estate windfarm deal be used for the public good rather than the royal family.

The Crown Estate confirmed Thursday that it had signed lease agreements for six offshore wind projects. Such a windfall would normally lead to a jump in funding for the royals under complex arrangements that support the activities of the monarchy in the U.K.

ROME (AP) — The archbishop of Vienna, a longtime friend and former student of Pope Benedict XVI, has confirmed that it was he who wrote a letter to his former teacher urging him to accept election as pontiff in 2005 if the votes went his way.

Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn issued a statement Wednesday confirming a revelation in a new book by Benedict’s personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, that was published soon after Benedict died Dec. 31 at age 95.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez signed a friendship treaty in Barcelona on Thursday to strengthen relations between the European neighbors, as both leaders faced protests on their home fronts.

The one-day summit came amid a day of widespread strikes on the other side of the Pyrenees against Macron’s bid to increase the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64. Sánchez, as host, had to endure a noisy rally by Catalan separatists near the meeting venue.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s prime minister said Thursday that the country was reviewing the supervision of its gas and oil installations and other strategic locations after a weekend incident in which three foreign divers had to be rescued from near a key oil port where they had no authorization to be.

Premier Mateusz Morawiecki also said he had requested the secret security services to produce a detailed report on the incident.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The new executive director of European Union border agency Frontex pledged Thursday to ensure that illegal pushbacks of migrants trying to reach Europe wouldn’t take place under his watch.

Hans Leijtens was appointed as a replacement for Fabrice Leggeri, who resigned last year following media allegations that the agency was involved in that practice. A report by EU anti-fraud watchdog OLAF into Frontex later concluded that employees from the agency were involved in covering up pushbacks of migrants from Greece to Turkey.

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg on Thursday slammed corporate bigwigs meeting in Davos, Switzerland, for “fueling the destruction of the planet” by investing in fossil fuels and prioritizing short-term profits over people affected by the climate crisis.

Thunberg was joined by prominent young activists Vanessa Nakate, Helena Gualinga and Luisa Neubauer in a roundtable with International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol at the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering.

PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of thousands protested on the streets of Paris and other French cities Thursday amid nationwide strikes against plans to raise the retirement age, but President Emmanuel Macron insisted he would press ahead with the proposed pension reforms.

Nationwide strikes severely disrupted transport, schools and other public services across France.

During a news conference at a French-Spanish summit in Barcelona, Spain, Macron said that “we must do that reform” to “save” the pension system.

PARIS (AP) — Workers in many French cities took to the streets Thursday to reject proposed pension changes that would push back the retirement age, amid a day of nationwide strikes and protests seen as a major test for Emmanuel Macron and his presidency.

Demonstrations gathered thousands of people in the cities of Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Nantes, Lyon and other places as strikes were severely disrupting transport, schools and other public services across the country.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany faced mounting pressure to supply battle tanks to Kyiv and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aired frustration about not obtaining enough weaponry as Western allies conferred Thursday on how best to support Ukraine nearly 11 months into Russia’s invasion.