International Top Stories from Associated Press (AP)

JERUSALEM (AP) , Two days before her comrades embarked on an uprising that came to symbolize Jewish resistance against the Nazis in World War II, 14-year-old Aliza Mendel got her orders: Escape from the Warsaw Ghetto. The end was near. Nazi troops had encircled the ghetto, and the remaining Jewish rebels inside were prepared to die fighting.

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) , Central African Republic's self-appointed leader on Saturday announced the creation of a new council that will choose an interim president, a move aimed at placating the international community after he seized power by force two weeks ago.

BEIRUT (AP) , Syria's vital oil industry is breaking down as rebels capture many of the country's oil fields, with wells aflame and looters scooping up crude, depriving the government of much needed cash and fuel for its war machine against the uprising.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) , Egypt's president began a two-day visit to Sudan on Thursday aimed at boosting cooperation after deteriorating relations between the two nations under ousted leader Hosni Mubarak. It was Mohammed Morsi's first trip to Egypt's southern neighbor since he took office nine months ago and the longest by an Egyptian president in decades.

CHICAGO , Roger Ebert, the most famous and popular film reviewer of his time who became the first journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for movie criticism and, on his long-running TV program, wielded the nation's most influential thumb, died Thursday. He was 70.

Famed film critic Roger Ebert died Thursday afternoon, a day after announcing he was taking a "leave of presence" after learning his cancer had returned, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. He was 70. "It is with a heavy heart we report that legendary film critic Roger Ebert (@ebertchicago) has passed away," the Sun-Times tweeted. "There is a hole that can't be filled.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) , With the economy shrinking and unemployment rising, the head of the European Central Bank said it was looking at new measures to stimulate growth if the hoped-for recovery doesn't start soon.

In a stunning indicator of how the job market is faring, a McDonald's franchise in Winchedon, Mass., has just posted a job opening for a full-time cashier , but insists only college graduates need apply. Also, only those with one to two years of experience working with a register are encouraged to apply.

A British police force on Thursday began recording attacks on goths as "hate crimes," similar to those committed against a person solely because of sexual orientation, race or religion.

The White House budget office Thursday told agencies to try to use as much flexibility as they can to blunt the effects of the budget sequesters that took effect last month. Danny Werfel, the budget office...

GENEVA (AP) , It is one of the cosmos' most mysterious unsolved cases: dark matter. It is supposedly what holds the universe together. We can't see it, but scientists are pretty sure it's out there. Led by a dogged, Nobel Prize-winning gumshoe who has spent 18 years on the case, scientists put a $2 billion detector aboard the International Space Station to try to track down the stuff.

BEIJING (AP) , In a worrisome sign, a bird flu in China appears to have mutated so that it can spread to other animals, raising the potential for a bigger threat to people, scientists said Wednesday. So far the flu has sickened nine people in China and killed three. It's not clear how they became infected, but there's no evidence that the virus is spreading easily among people.

WASHINGTON (AP) , Evoking the U.S. shuttle diplomacy of decades past, Secretary of State John Kerry is making his third trip to the Middle East in a span of just two weeks in a fresh bid to restart long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

LONDON (AP) , If you punch a punk in Manchester, it could be a hate crime. Police in the English city announced Wednesday that they will begin recording offenses against members of alternative subcultures in the same way they do attacks based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity.

WASHINGTON (AP) , Yikes! It seems "The Daily Show" and diplomacy don't mix. That's the lesson the U.S. Embassy in Cairo is learning the hard way after being rebuked by both the Egyptian government and the State Department for causing an international incident.