China stands still to mourn quake victims, begins 3 days of national mourning

China stood still and sirens wailed Monday to mourn tens of thousands of earthquake victims in the country's deadliest disaster in a generation.

While 1.3 billion citizens came to a halt for three minutes at 2:28 p.m. (0628 GMT) _ exactly one week after the magnitude 7.9 quake hit central China _ air-raid sirens and the horns of cars and buses sounded in memory of the estimated 50,000 dead. Rescuers also briefly paused their work in the disaster zone.

The hunt for survivors in the rubble turned glum despite remarkable survival tales among thousands buried. Two women were rescued Monday after being trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building at a coal mine …