Poland calls emergency meeting over missile landing on farmland

NATO is divided on whether or not the incident was a deliberate strike. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- What The World is following Poland calls emergency meeting over missile landing on farmland [Police officers check and secure an area outside a grain depot where, according to the Polish government, an explosion of a Russian-made missile killed people, in Przewodow, Poland, Nov. 16, 2022.] Credit: Michal Dyjuk/AP Poland Two people have died after a missile landed on farmland in Poland. Officials are still trying to establish who is responsible, but the incident has [exposed divisions]( within NATO. The alliance said on Wednesday that it was likely not a deliberate attack, possibly resulting from neighboring Ukrainian air defenses launching a Soviet-era projectile to fend off a Russian assault. The president of Ukraine — which is not a NATO member — called it "a Russian missile attack” and "a very significant escalation." Ukraine’s foreign minister said that suggesting missiles are part of Ukrainian air defenses is “a conspiracy theory," while Baltic states called for the collective defense of NATO. But the US and other Western nations have called for calm and [urged to wait for the facts]( to emerge, in hopes of avoiding the need for a collective NATO military response. United States A federal judge in the US has ordered the Biden administration to [end Title 42]( — a controversial, Trump-era border policy that imposed asylum restrictions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — calling it unlawful. The justice department requested that the judge allow the order to take effect on Dec. 21 to have five weeks to prepare. The legislation had allowed US authorities to expel more than 1 million migrants who crossed the US-Mexico border. While Title 42 was drafted by the Trump administration, the Biden administration has also [relied on it]( for its border control measures. Brazil Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said at the COP27 summit on Wednesday that his government will [crack down on illegal deforestation]( in the Amazon, similar to when he oversaw a large reduction in the deforestation of the Brazilian rainforest as president from 2003 to 2010. Under outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro, environmental agencies that regulate the region [were weakened](. The Amazon is the world's largest tropical forest and helps to regulate the climate and rainfall across the Americas, but nearly 20% of it has disappeared since 1970 due to logging and burning. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World [Izium was liberated in September. The hard work of returning back to normal has only begun.]( [Residents of Izium take a break next to some shattered stores. Most of the residents left but some elderly stayed behind.]( Credit: Shirin Jaafari/The World It’s been two months since Ukrainian forces took back this city, but life is far from back to normal. [The World's Shirin Jaafari visited Izium]( earlier this month and saw firsthand Russia’s trail of devastation, mines and one of the biggest mass graves discovered since the war began. [‘People want to shed light’: Spain finally investigates sexual abuse within Catholic institutions]( [A parishioner enters into the Catholic church of Cazurra, a village of around 75 inhabitants, in the Zamora province of Spain, Nov. 27, 2021.]( Credit: Manu Brabo/AP As full inquiries into clerical abuse swept Europe, Spain remained an outlier. Now, [two separate investigations]( are underway: one, commissioned by the Spanish parliament; the other, by the church itself. The initiative followed a groundbreaking report by El País newspaper revealing 251 new cases. Support The World with a monthly gift to keep us going all year long We just learned that a generous donor has offered to match every gift before the end of the year, one-to-one, up to $67,000! Recurring gifts are particularly meaningful, as they help us plan ahead so we can spend more time thinking about the coverage we’d like to bring you next week, next month and even next year. And every single gift will help us get closer to our goal. Will you [support The World with a gift today](? --------------------------------------------------------------- Bright spot As the world surpassed 8 billion people on Tuesday, The World's host Carol Hills spoke with demographer and author Jennifer Sciubba about what the growth means for societies around the globe. "The planet can feed and sustain billions more [people]," Sciubba said. "It is a matter of whether or not we have the political will and the know-how and the innovation to do so." 👫👫👫 [Listen]( to the discussion. 🎧 [Pakistanis shops in a weekly pet market in Lahore, Pakistan, Nov. 13, 2022.] Credit: Fareed Khan/AP In case you missed it on The World --------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. [The World]( is produced by [PRX]( and [GBH](.