The Latest on migration to Europe: (all times local):
8:55 p.m.
The crew of a humanitarian rescue ship has pulled 73 migrants from an overcrowded rubber boat in the central Mediterranean Sea, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Libya.
A boy is helped as he boards the Ocean Viking rescue ship in the Mediterranean Sea, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. The humanitarian ship operated by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders pulled over 70 migrants from a rubber boat north of Libya. (AP PhotoRenata Brito)
The boat in distress was spotted from aboard the Ocean Viking with binoculars as the ship patrolled international waters on Wednesday.
An Associated Press journalist on the Ocean Viking witnessed the rescue on Wednesday. The Norwegian-flagged ship had rescued 109 people from two unseaworthy boats a day earlier, including a 5-day-old baby.
The ship has asked Libyan maritime authorities with coordination responsibility in the area for a safe alternative place to disembark passengers. Authorities in Libya had offered the port of Al-Khums.
Rescue migrants look out from a rescue boat as they are taken to the Ocean Viking ship in the Mediterranean Sea, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. The humanitarian ship operated by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders pulled over 70 migrants from a rubber boat north of Libya. (AP PhotoRenata Brito)
The U.N. refugee agency does not consider Libya safe.
4:00 p.m.
Police in Bosnia say officers found 34 migrants in a van near the country's border with Serbia.
A police statement issued Wednesday said a Bosnian citizen was arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle the migrants in the area around the town of Bratunaca in eastern Bosnia.
Six-year-old Quadri from Nigeria sits on a rescue boat next to his mother, left, in the Mediterranean Sea, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. The Ocean Viking humanitarian ship operated by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders pulled over 70 migrants from a rubber boat north of Libya. (AP PhotoRenata Brito)
The statement says the people in the van didn't have identification documents but stated they were Syrians and Palestinians. The group included minors.
Police in Sarajevo separately arrested a migrant from Algiers on suspicion of attacking personnel on patrol at the capital's railway station. Police said the man arrested Wednesday morning carried a knife.
Thousands of migrants have been stuck in Bosnia while trying to reach countries in western Europe. Migrants usually enter Bosnia from Serbia or Montenegro, planning to continue on to European Union member Croatia.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed satisfaction on Monday after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor.
Candidates from his pro-European Union centrist Civic Coalition, or running with the party's backing, won in a series of cities in the second round of local elections held on Sunday, among them Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw and Rzeszow.
“It is very difficult to clearly say who won and who lost,” Tusk said Monday. “But if we compare these results, especially in the most attractive places, on these attractive battlefields ... then I actually have reasons for satisfaction.”
“Law and Justice has simply disappeared in many places,” Tusk added at a news conference, referring to the main opposition party.
The results put Civic Coalition in a favorable position as the country looks next to elections to the European Parliament on June 9.
Mayors were chosen in a total of 748 cities and towns where no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote during the first round on April 7.
Candidates for Tusk’s party also recaptured cities where they had not held power for many years, including Zielona Gora, Legnica and Torun.
The local and regional elections were viewed as a test for Tusk's pro-European Union government four months after it took power at the national level. Sunday's second round strengthened the Tusk government's leverage in the cities, which should facilitate cooperation on development projects and allotment of EU funds.
Tusk's allies also won in some places in the first round two weeks ago, including in Warsaw, where incumbent Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was an easy victor.
In the first round, the right-wing Law and Justice, prevailed on the level of regional assemblies in the country's 16 provinces, where it took 34.3% of the votes, while Tusk's Civic Coalition got 30.6%. Law and Justice governed on the national level from 2015-23.
Tusk’s socially liberal Civic Coalition traditionally has strong support in cities, while Law and Justice has a more solid base in conservative rural areas, particularly in eastern Poland.
Civic Coalition is the largest group in a three-party coalition that governs the EU nation of 38 million people. The coalition is pro-European Union but otherwise spans a wide ideological spectrum with left-wing politicians in the Left party as well as conservatives in the Third Way.
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Campaign posters promote candidates as Poles vote in local and regional elections in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacts during his and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with students in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk listens to the media in Berlin, Germany, Friday, March 15, 2024. Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
