The Latest on migrants trying to reach Europe (all times local):
12:00 p.m.
French lawmakers are poised to debate immigration reform, taking up one of the country's touchiest issues at a time when tent cities have expanded in cities across the country and asylum demands are spiking.
Migrants arrive at the Lampedusa harbor, Italy, early Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. The Italian Coast Guard says at least nine people have died when a migrant boat capsized near the island of Lampedusa as they were about to be rescued. Twenty-two people were saved. (Pasquale Claudio Montana LampoANSA via AP)
Monday's debate is part of French President Emmanuel Macron's promise to confront the issue head-on during the second half of his presidency.
Demands for asylum have fallen across Europe since 2015 while continuing to rise in France.
The issue is particularly visible in Paris, where tent cities sprawl along a highway leading to the city and in a northern neighborhood.
Migrants arrive in the Lampedusa harbor, Italy, early Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. The Italian Coast Guard says at least nine people have died when a migrant boat capsized near the island of Lampedusa as they were about to be rescued. Twenty-two people were saved. (Pasquale Claudio Montana LampoANSA via AP)
Macron's administration wants to discuss tightening eligibility for families and blocking social services for those who enter illegally, according to a draft document reviewed by the French newspaper Le Monde.
11:30 a.m.
Spanish aid group Open Arms says it has rescued 44 people, including a toddler and a months-old baby, on a wooden boat trying to reach European shores.
Gerard Canals, chief of mission of the Open Arms rescue boat, says the boat was found late Sunday in Malta's rescue zone, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Canals says that Malta's rescue coordination center told the group not to offer the migrants any assistance. But Open Arms decided to rescue them anyway because the boat wouldn't have made it to land without fuel.
In video remarks distributed by the aid group, Canals says that all 44 rescued — 38 men, 4 women, a 4-year-old boy, and a baby around 6 to 9 months old — are in good condition.
10:20 a.m.
The Italian Coast Guard says at least nine people have died when a migrant boat capsized near the island of Lampedusa as they were about to be rescued. Twenty-two people were saved.
The Coast Guard said Monday the overpacked smugglers' boat overturned as a patrol was boarding migrants some 6 miles off Lampedusa just after midnight.
Authorities said 22 migrants were rescued from the sea, and nine bodies were recovered. The search is underway for more missing.
Initial reports by authorities in Sicily who received the distress call put the number of migrants on board at around 50.
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)
