Dozens of miners remained trapped underground Monday in a Canadian mine in Sudbury, Northern Ontario.

Officials said 39 miners were stranded in Vale's Totten Mine after a shaft was damaged around noon Sunday.

There are no injuries, the company said in a release as rescue operations begin.

"We are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of these employees..." the company release said.

But Nick Larochelle, president of Local 6500 of the United Steelworkers, told CTV News that he is concerned for the trapped men.

Rescue operations are underway with workers "mobilizing to exit the underground mine after the conveyance for transporting employees was taken offline, following an incident in the shaft," the company statement said.

"The employees will exit via a secondary egress ladder system with support of Vale's mine rescue team."

The company said it has been in frequent communication with the trapped miners.

The mine is located near Sudbury, with a population of about 165,000 and is about four hours north of Toronto. The Totten mine produce copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum, gold and silver, and has about 200 employees, according to the company.

The company website states that Vale has been operating mines in Sudbury for more than 100 years. It has five mines, a mill, smelter, refinery and almost 4,000 employees, making it one of the largest integrated mining complexes in the world./aa

Japan has for the first time named China, Russia, and North Korea as three countries responsible for cyber threats to the country.

The government of outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Monday released a draft cybersecurity strategy for the next three years, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.

Suga’s Cabinet is expected to adopt the draft soon. The new strategy will replace the current one adopted by Japan in July.

“The situation in cyberspace contains the risk of rapidly developing into a critical situation and that the three states are suspected of being involved in hostile cyber activities,” the report said, citing the government draft.

It is not clear whether the incumbent Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government will adopt the strategy before Suga steps down as the prime minister in the first week of next month.

The LDP will hold party leadership elections on Wednesday and the new leader is expected to succeed Suga, who announced early this month not to re-run for the party leadership.

According to the report, the draft said: “Japan will take tough countermeasures using every effective means and capability available including diplomatic responses and criminal prosecutions.”

Japan will also “accelerate cooperation” with its three Quad partners -- the US, Australia, and India -- in cyber security, besides the Association of Southeast Asian Nations “to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”/agencies

A call by farmers for a shutdown across India received a mixed response Monday as markets remained open in the capital New Delhi and business activities remained largely unaffected.

But border areas witnessed massive traffic snarls due to road blockades by protesters and security checks by police. The shutdown was successful in Punjab and Haryana states.

More than 40 farmers’ organizations protesting against the government’s three new farm laws called a shutdown Monday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“It was a successful strike, and we will decide about the future strategy after consultations,” said Rakesh Tikait, leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Indian Farmers Union), while speaking to reporters.

Earlier, Tikait said the striking farmers will not return home unless the farm laws are repealed.

“We will continue our struggle until the last breath. Our government just wants to see the farmers leave their profession and hand over their lands to corporate groups,” Balbir Raj, a farmer from the northern state of Punjab, told Anadolu Agency.

He said they will not allow this to happen.

“India is a country of farmers, and the government cannot force us to accept anything they have decided,” a farmer from the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh, Surendra Bhati, told Anadolu Agency.

“We will lose everything if we follow the diktat of the government,” he added.

A spokesperson for Northern Railways said farmers blocked railway tracks in the Delhi, Ambala and Ferozpur divisions. Due to this, about 25 trains were affected.

- Effect of shutdown seen in Punjab, Haryana

In the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, farmers blocked highways and roads and sat on railway tracks in many places, affecting normal life.

Punjab remained almost under a complete shutdown, during which transport services remained suspended and shops and other commercial establishments remained closed in most places. Protesting farmers in Haryana blocked many national highways.

Nearly all trade unions in the southern state of Kerala supported the shutdown, and public transport services were affected in the state. People had to use private vehicles. The strike was supported by the ruling Left Democratic Front and the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front. Its effects were also seen in West Bengal, where the Left Front supported the call for a strike.

Many opposition parties support move

The governments of non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled states like Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Punjab, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh have also given their support to the strike. Apart from this, the Congress Party, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Samajwadi Party, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), left parties and Swaraj India supported the strike.

Farmers from different parts of the country, especially Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at Delhi’s borders since November last year.

They are demanding the repeal of three agricultural laws of the government.

Farmers fear that this will end the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system -- the minimum or guaranteed price at which the government purchases certain major crops like wheat, paddy and soybeans from them.

However, the government is touting these laws as major agricultural reforms.

While several rounds of talks with the government have fallen through, farmer leaders insist on the total repeal of the laws. The movement, one of the biggest challenges Prime Minister Narendra Modi has faced since coming to power in 2014, has also attracted international support./aa

Billions of dollars are needed to prepare Africa’s cities for climate change and to turn urban centers into engines of green growth, a report released Monday by the Coalition for Urban Transitions and FSD Africa said. 

The report, which is based on an analysis of cities in Ethiopia, South Africa and Kenya, which combined represent 18% of Africa’s urban population, notes that investing in climate readiness in African cities will have immense economic gains.

"Economic analysis commissioned for the report shows that across the 35 major cities in the three countries, delivering more compact, clean and connected development would require an additional investment of $280 billion but would produce a return of more than four times that, with total benefits worth $1.1 trillion by 2050, equivalent to $330 billion in today’s terms (net present value)," the report notes.

Mark Napier, the CEO of FSD Africa, in a statement said that "Africa’s destiny will be determined by the way its cities develop. We firmly believe that with well-structured green investment, it is possible to deliver both environmental benefits and strong economic growth at the same time.”

Nick Godfrey, director of the Coalition for Urban Transitions, for his part said that “whilst the scale of the investment needed is significant, the economic dividends are far greater, and
there are existing mechanisms capable of financing a more sustainable, healthier and prosperous urban future across Africa.”

The investment will also create hundreds of thousands of jobs, improve health, reduce pollution and raise productivity across the continent, while at the same time reducing carbon emissions and making cities more resilient to the impact of rising temperatures, the report said./aa

Six rights organizations Monday called on Guinea to begin the trial of suspects who were involved in the massacre of more than 150 people and the rape of dozens of women in Guinea in 2009.

The victims were killed after Guinea’s security forces opened fire on tens of thousands of people who had gathered at a stadium in Conakry on Sept. 28 for a march against Moussa Dadis Camara’s intention to run for president.

Camara served as the president of Guinea's National Council for Democracy and Development, which seized power in a military coup in December 2008 after the death of long-time President Lansana Conte.

In a statement, the rights groups said a recent coup in Guinea has complicated massacre justice.

“The trial should begin as soon as possible. Twelve years later, victims and their families should not have to wait any longer for justice to finally be delivered,” the statement said.

“As Guinea embarks on a political transition process after the Sept. 5 coup, the opening of this trial would send a strong signal that the authorities are willing to put respect for human rights and the fight against impunity at the center of their priorities.”

The rights groups included the Association of Victims, Relatives and Friends of September 28, 2009 (AVIPA), Equal Rights for All (MDT), the Guinean Human Rights Organization (OGDH), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch.

The previous Guinean government had promised to begin the trial no later than June 2020. But the organizations expressed concern over “an evident lack of will to complete preparations for this trial.”

“It is urgent for the trial to be held and reparations awarded before all the victims die. It is more than urgent for Guinea to put an end to the cycle of impunity that has deeply marked the country’s history for more than 60 years,” the groups said on the eve of 12th anniversary of the massacre.

There was no immediate reaction from the transitional government on the statement.

But Mamady Doumbouya, the head of the National Committee for Rally and Development (CNRD) who overthrew President Alpha Conde in a coup earlier this month, stated that “justice will be the compass guiding every Guinean citizen.”

The groups reminded the authorities that international law requires states to provide effective remedies to victims of human rights violations and that any lack of justice or the adoption of an amnesty for serious crimes is incompatible with these requirements.

“Fight against impunity should be at the heart of the authorities’ actions,” the rights groups said./agencies

China on Monday launched a new satellite into space, according to state-run media.

The country’s space authorities launched Jilin-1 Gaofen 02D satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center from northwest China’s Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia, a landlocked autonomous region, Xinhua News reported.

Kuaizhou-1A rocket carried the satellite which entered the planned orbit successfully.

The same launch had failed last year.

The report added that it was the 11th mission for the Kuaizhou series carrier rockets./aa