Volunteers: Peace Corps insensitive to rapes

It was an extraordinarily dramatic scene, even for Congress: three Peace Corps volunteers raped while serving overseas, along with the mother of a fourth who was murdered in Benin, complaining to lawmakers about one of the government's most revered agencies.

Their theme was similar: The Peace Corps, which happens to be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, did little to train its workers about how to avoid or deal with violent attacks. And it reacted insensitively and unhelpfully in the aftermath of the crimes, they said.

Israel's Memorial Day highlights stark divisions

They were two Israeli brothers with radically different views toward the Palestinians: One, an activist for Palestinian rights, the other, a resident of one of Israel's most radical settlements.

Nothing, perhaps, reflected these stark differences more than the place Moti Fogel chose on Israel's Memorial Day to pay tribute to his brother - believed slain by Palestinian militants just two months ago: a ceremony mourning victims on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Raised as children of the settlement movement, Moti and Udi Fogel were taught that Jewish control of the West Bank - lands promised to the Jewish people in the Bible - was a supreme imperative that eclipsed the Palestinians' demand to control their own destiny in an independent state.

Bahrain's king orders end to emergency law

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Bahrain's king set a fast-track timetable to end martial law-style rule Sunday in a bid to display confidence that authorities have smothered a pro-reform uprising even as rights groups denounced the hard-line measures.

The announcement to lift emergency rule two-weeks early on June 1 came just hours after the start of a closed-door trial accusing activists of plotting to overthrow the Gulf state's rulers.

The decision appears part of Bahrain's aggressive international campaign to reassure financial markets and win back high-profile events. They include the coveted Formula One grand prix that was canceled in March amid deadly clashes and protests by the country's majority Shiites, who are seeking greater rights and freedoms.

Death toll from Mexican mine blast rises to 11

SAN JUAN DE SABINAS, Mexico (AP) -- Rescue crews have recovered five more bodies from a coal mine in northern Mexico hit by a gas explosion earlier this week, raising the confirmed death toll to 11.

The search continued Saturday in the town of San Juan Sabinas, in northern Coahuila state, for three other miners trapped and apparently killed by the blast Tuesday.

Officials have said there is little or no hope anyone survived the explosion at the primitive, vertical-shaft mine. The blast was so powerful it seriously injured a teenager who was working outside the mine. The boy lost an arm.

Fourteen miners were originally trapped in the shaft. Rescuers recovered six bodies before Friday.

Norway feels sting of China's Nobel anger

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- Norway used to be China's top fresh salmon supplier, sending steadily growing volumes to exclusive restaurants in Beijing and Shanghai.

But since the Norwegian Nobel Committee gave the Nobel Peace Prize to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, Norwegian salmon exporters say their fish is being held up for days or even weeks by Chinese food safety inspectors - devastating its freshness.

"We cannot get fish in there at all," said Henning Beltestad, the CEO of Norway's Leroey Seafood Group.

Beijing warned relations with the oil-rich Scandinavian nation of 5 million people would suffer when Liu was declared winner of the peace prize for his calls for political change in China. Six months later, the Norwegians are stunned by how stubbornly China is sticking to its word.