Poland: Lawmakers endorse restricting access to border areas

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s lawmakers have approved new regulations that authorize the government to declare areas along the nation’s borders off-limits to everyone except residents and people who live, work or study in designated no-access zones. The lower house of parliament, or Sejm, also rejected a Senate proposal that would have given journalists free access to the restricted areas. The Sejm voted Tuesday to amend the law on Poland’s borders amid a conflict between Poland and neighboring Belarus. Poland’s government and the European Union have accused authorities in Belarus of directing thousands of migrants and refugees from the Middle East to Poland’s eastern border. A state of emergency introduced along the Poland-Belarus border in September expires on Thursday.