AP | A global campaigning organization said Thursday that one person disappears in Syria every hour and that almost 3,000 people have gone missing since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad more than four months ago.

Infowars.com | Last week, Carmen Álvarez Excelsior wrote a report for Salem-News.com claiming the notorious drug gang Los Zetas will attempt to overthrow the Mexican government next year using weapons sent by the United States.

Prison Planet.com | Given the fact that the establishment media got it spectacularly wrong by instantly jumping to the conclusion that Friday’s deadly attack in Norway was the work of Al-Qaeda Muslims, placing complete trust in the details emerging about gunman Anders Behring Breivik would be foolish, especially since there are innumerable inconsistencies and contradictions.

NYT | A new autopsy has determined that President Salvador Allende of Chile killed himself with an assault rifle, Chilean officials said Tuesday, dispelling doubts that have persisted for 37 years about the exact circumstances of his death, including whether troops storming the presidential palace had murdered him.

Khaleejtimes.com | Iran and China on Saturday signed a series of agreements worth $4 billion (€2.8 billion) for infrastructure projects as part of a broader bid to boost trade volume between the two nations, Iranian state media reported.

CNN | The half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai was shot dead at his home in Kandahar on Tuesday, authorities said. Ahmed Wali Karzai, the Kandahar provincial council chief, was killed during a gathering, said provincial governor Tooryalai Wesa. He did not know a motive. While the governor initially said a friend killed Karzai, his spokesman later clarified that the death was at the hands of a guard.

Guardian | George W Bush, whose administration is accused by Human Rights Watch of authorizing use of torture. A US human rights group has called on foreign governments to prosecute George W Bush and some of his senior officials for war crimes if the Obama administration fails to investigate a growing body of evidence against the former president over the use of torture.

AP | Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh must "expeditiously" sign a deal that would have him transfer power to his vice president and step down, the White House counterterrorism chief told Saleh in a meeting at a hospital where the Yemeni leader is being treated for serious injuries.

Huffington Post | Dozens of families fled the Syrian city of Hama on Thursday, fearing a full-scale crackdown by security forces a week after a massive protest against the regime of President Bashar Assad, activists said. The central Syrian city has become a center of resistance in the four-month-old uprising and poses a potential dilemma for Assad's government. A major offensive could make the city a fresh rallying cry for the opposition, but Assad's regime also does not want a repeat of last Friday's stunning rally of an estimated 300,000 protesters.

Time | When Liu Li boarded a plane for the United States, she had a little bit of makeup on, was wearing a loose dress, and had her hair up. She tried to hold her handbag in front of her belly in a natural way, just as the middleman had taught her. She was trying to look as calm as any wealthy Chinese lady would look when travelling abroad. But Liu Li couldn't help feeling terribly nervous: she was six months pregnant when she left for the United States, where she wanted to give birth to an American citizen. (See: "On the Cutting Edge [EM] China's Extraordinary Buildings")

BBC | Demonstrators around Syntagma Square in Athens responded by throwing yoghurt and stones. Thousands are taking part in a general strike, the third in Greece this year. Prime Minister George Papandreou faces the risk of a revolt in his Pasok party over the austerity package. He is seeking support for a new austerity programme of 28bn euros (£24.6bn; $40.5bn) in cuts to take effect from 2012 to 2015.

Daily Mail | A Kuwaiti woman who once ran for parliament has called for sex slavery to be legalised - and suggested that non-Muslim prisoners from war-torn countries would make suitable concubines. Salwa al Mutairi argued buying a sex-slave would protect decent, devout and 'virile' Kuwaiti men from adultery because buying an imported sex partner would be tantamount to marriage.

Daily Mail | They are the gruesome images that are testament to the trouble that has hit one Mexican city which has become a flashpoint for the war on drugs. Two young men, cut down in the prime of their life, were left hanging from a pedestrian bridge as warring drugs cartels continue to fight in Monterrey

Forbes.com | As civil war roars on in Libya and Colonel Muammar Gadhafi vows to remain in power, reports surfaced that the Northern African country entrusted $1.3 billion through its sovereign wealth fund to Goldman Sachs in 2007, of which the investment bank lost approximately 98%, sparking the ire of Libyan officials.  The fascinating drama includes Goldman offering Libya preferred equity and debt which could’ve made it one of the investment bank’s largest shareholders during the onset of the crisis, as well as intimidation and violent threats by Libyan officials.

Daily Mail | The French prosecutor's office has today opened an investigation after a former government minister alleged that another ex-minister had participated in an orgy with young boys in Morocco. Former Education Minister Luc Ferry will likely be questioned after claimng  during a television show that the man was caught at an orgy in Marrakech, a judicial official said.