Thirty-nine miners were faced with a 10-hour vertical climb after they became trapped deep underground in eastern Canada. They got stuck below the Totten mine in Sudbury, Ontario, on Sunday after the lift system was damaged. The miners were said to be unharmed, with access to food and water. Rescue efforts were under way on Monday and the exhausted miners were using harnesses to keep them on the ladders for the 1km (0.6 mile) climb. Local station CTV reported that four miners had reached the surface by the early hours of Tuesday.

Shawn Rideout, chief mine rescue officer from Ontario Mine Rescue, earlier said that the workers had already been in the mineshaft for more than 35 hours before beginning their ascent. He said the ascent could take up to 10 hours for workers to complete but there were rest stops every 100m if they needed to take a break. “Everybody is safe, they’re all in good spirits, we have no reported injuries. Our plan is to get them to the surface in that same form,” he said.(BBC)…[+]

North Korea has fired a short-range missile towards the sea off its east coast early on Tuesday, said South Korea’s military. The test happened as North Korea’s ambassador said at the UN that no-one could deny Pyongyang’s right to self-defence and to test weapons. Earlier this month Pyongyang test-fired both ballistic and cruise missiles. But several days ago North Korea had also expressed willingness to engage in talks with the South. The US military said in a statement on Tuesday that it was aware of the missile launch but that it posed no immediate threat to US personnel or its allies. However, the US Indo-Pacific Command said that the launch “highlighted the destabilising impact of [North Korea’s] illicit weapons program”.(BBC)…[+]

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has been given extra security over fears that he may be the target of an attack or kidnapping by a criminal gang, local media reports say. Mr Rutte has been followed by so-called spotters linked to a drug gang, the De Telegraaf newspaper reported. Telegraaf journalist Mick van Wely told broadcaster NOS the matter was being taken “very seriously”. NOS confirmed the report but Dutch authorities declined to comment. The reported threat follows the murder of prominent Dutch journalist Peter R de Vries, who was known for investigating the criminal underworld in the Netherlands. The shooting in July stunned the country, where gun violence is rare but killings linked to organised crime have become increasingly common in recent years.(BBC)…[+]