AUSTRALIA: Six people were shot and killed at a rural property after officers who arrived to investigate reports of a missing person were ambushed, authorities said today.

At least two heavily armed shooters opened fire on the officers at the rural property in Wieambilla, Queensland. 

Two officers were critically injured and died at the scene and a neighbour was also killed during the gunfight.

NIGERIA: Police killed three gunmen while repelling an attack on an Electoral Commission office in Owerri in south-eastern Nigeria on Monday.

Several commission offices have been attacked recently, particularly in the south-east, where a large number of attacks have been attributed to the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra movement, though no group has claimed responsibility for the new attack. 

VENEZUELA: President Nicolas Maduro announced his intention on Monday to fully open the border crossings with Colombia from January 1.

Relations between the countries were broken off in 2019 but Mr Maduro has said the environment is conducive to improved ties with the election of Gustavo Petro as Colombia’s first leftist president. 

AMNESTY: The failure of the Spanish and Moroccan authorities to properly investigate the deadly events that took place on the border of Spain’s north African Melilla enclave in June smacks of a cover-up, Amnesty International has said in a new report published today.

Six months since the tragedy, there has been no accountability for the violence and no justice for the at least 37 people killed and 77 others still missing after local border guards and refugees clashed.