On Yom Kippur, there is one story from Israel and Palestine: the killing of 18-year-old Hadeel Hashlamoun at a Hebron checkpoint after she was confronted by soldiers pointing guns.

Below is the shocking video of Hashlamoun's form being roughly dragged on the ground after her shooting. News accounts state that she was then still alive; she did not die for several hours, at a hospital. Israeli settlers observe her with detachment and even smiles. One of these settlers wears a blue t-shirt with the words in Hebrew on it (visible at 1:41):

MEDICINE Rescue/Medical Aid (the Hebrew word is Hatzala) Judea and Samaria.

If he is a medical professional, he takes no interest in the Palestinian woman's situation except to gawk. That organization provides emergency medical services to the settlers. Presumably only to Jews. Another settler grins at the scene at 1:38.

Toward the end of the video you can see the Palestinian community of Hebron, caged inside the checkpoint.

The news that the United States asked both Greece and Bulgaria to block Russian flights over their air space headed for Syria is a logical extension of the criminality of the aggression against Syria being conducted by the NATO powers and their allies in the region. The NATO alliance has been conducting a war of aggression against Syria since 2011 when it succeeded in destroying Libya and it was responsible for the waves of humanity who fled the NATO bombing and who now flee the Takfiri militants NATO used as their auxiliaries.

These actions are clearly war crimes of the highest order, contemptuous violations of the UN Charter, international law and of all morality. The resulting misery of the peoples of the countries under attack, who are forced to flee and become refugees in the heart of the very alliance that is attacking them, is beyond words. The images bombard us daily. But the images are not placed in the western media to create a call for peace in the region. Instead, as we see from the recent statements of the British, French and American leaders, they are used to manipulate the emotions of the citizens of the NATO countries to justify a call for more military aggression against Syria which will create more misery, more death and more refugees.

The United States is blocking Russia's proposal to include the Islamic State on the UN Security Council's sanctions list as an independent organization, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for New Challenges and Threats Ilya Rogachev said Thursday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry's official said that ISIL is outlined in the UN Security Council's sanctions list as one of the names of al-Qaeda in Iraq, while it is no secret that the Islamic State is an independent structure acting as a rival of al-Qaeda.

"It is no secret that the Islamic State is an independent structure, acting, to a certain extent, as a rival of al-Qaeda. Meanwhile, it is outlined in the UN Security Council's sanctions list as one of the names of al-Qaeda in Iraq. We have proposed to include the Islamic State as an independent organization, but our proposals are being blocked by Western members of the Security Council, especially the United States, under various pretexts," Rogachev told RIA Novosti.

The US National Security Agency eavesdropped on the entire Iranian delegation at the 2007 UN General Assembly, and it will likely spy on Tehran as well as other foreign leaders at this year's meeting as well, according to a new report by NBC News.

Citing a top secret government report and former intelligence officials, NBC stated that the NSA conducted surveillance on Iran's then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and all 143 members of his UN delegation. This expansive effort reportedly included tapping phones and bugging the hotel rooms of each individual, as well as intercepting Skype discussions and video conferences.

Additionally, intelligence officials created detailed, constantly-updated spreadsheets on all members of the Iranian delegation, including their names, titles, and passport numbers, according to the document, titled "Tips for a Successful Quick Reaction Capability." This purportedly helped US officials delve into the connections of various Iranian officials.

When Iran's UN delegation arrived in New York for the UN assembly, three teams composed of five or six people worked nearly 20 hours a day in order to record and transcribe the conversations they were snooping in on. Some 2,000 conversations were analyzed each day, according to NBC.

The effort was initiated after the NSA went to then-President George W. Bush and asked for what NBC described as "blanket surveillance" of Ahmadinejad's visit. This request was ultimately approved by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which grants surveillance permissions.

Segodnia.ru:

Russian marines engaged in a fight with militants of the Islamic State near the Syrian city of Latakia.

According to news agency "Fresh Wind", on Saturday night to Sunday morning members of ISIS tried to mount an attack on the airbase, however, they were ambushed.

During the battle, the Russian military claims to have killed some militants, and some captured.

The agency also notes that the ambushed militants had a detailed plan of the air base and clear satellite images marked with key military installations.

It is no longer tenable for the United States and its regional allies in and near the Middle East to claim they are backing "moderate rebels" in the proxy war raging in Syria, Iraq, and parts of Lebanon. There is the Syrian government on one side, and terrorists including Al Qaeda and its various franchises such as the Al Nusra Front and the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS/ISIL) on the other.

If one is not supporting the Syrian government, it is very clear they are supporting Al Qaeda. So obvious is this fact, that the Western press and the corporate-financier think tanks that produce for them their talking points, have begun a campaign to re-brand Al Qaeda as a lesser evil vis-a-vis ISIS. In reality, there is virtually no difference, with the US and its regional allies clearly arming, funding, and supporting both.

The most recent and obscene manifestation of this re-branding was US Army General and former CIA Director David Petraeus' open calls to use Al Qaeda to "fight" ISIS. In the Daily Beast's article, "Petraeus: Use Al Qaeda Fighters to Beat ISIS," it was reported that:

Members of al Qaeda's branch in Syria have a surprising advocate in the corridors of American power: retired Army general and former CIA Director David Petraeus.

The former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has been quietly urging U.S. officials to consider using so-called moderate members of al Qaeda's Nusra Front to fight ISIS in Syria, four sources familiar with the conversations, including one person who spoke to Petraeus directly, told The Daily Beast.

Within this rhetorical shift we find an admission that there is indeed no "moderate rebel" force to speak of. All that exists, admittedly, are extremists operating under the various banners of Al Qaeda and ISIS.

Go ahead, elect, appoint, anoint—whatever it is you do with Prezzidents. It won't matter. Because it didn't matter who was President, and will matter even less who plays "The Prezz" on reality TV for the next four years.

As far as actual Presidents, we had Bush, who told lies about Iraq and Afghanistan (to name a few), who was owned by a bunch of Wall Street insiders and whose foreign policy team was stocked with murderous Neocons. And then we had Obama, who told lies about Libya, Syria and the Ukraine (to name a few), who was owned by a bunch of Wall Street insiders and whose foreign policy team was stocked with murderous Neocons. The only difference is that Obama promised a bunch of things—you know, "Change!"—and they didn't happen. Bush played dumb, Obama pretended to be smart, but both are just sleazy. To find a President who wasn't a sleazy slimeball, you have to go all the way back to Jimmy Carter. But it didn't matter that he was President either; everything he did was undone by the next sleazebag in line.

But Trump is different. He is actually a good fit, as an ornamental figurehead, for what the United States has become in its senescence and decrepitude. Here is a short list of things that make him an ideal pick for the role of "the Prezz" on reality TV.

1. Trump is just a brand—a picture of his likeness with the word "Trump" over it, and a salesman's cant: I am a smart guy, I know how to strike deals, blah blah blah. And, it turns out, by this point in time the United States is also just a brand—a stripey flag and some verbiage that rings increasingly hollow: indispensable nation, freedom and democracy, world policeman, blah blah blah. Now, the United States did at some point stand for something: the rule of law, the right to mind your own business, the ability to get things done. But now it stands for lawlessness. How many Wall Street types got jailed for their transgressions in recent years? None. They don't even get juvenile detention; they just get off by paying a fine. How many unarmed people got shot by police lately? Lots. Do the cops get any jail-time for what amounts to murder? No. It also stands for a surveillance state that would make Stalin blush: your right to privacy has been eliminated. And the ability to get things done has moved overseas; all that's left in the US is a bunch of corporate scams—in medicine, in education, in housing, in energy, plus a hyped-up "tech bubble" based on short-lived imported widgets and bits of software cludged together by overcaffeinated hipsters. Do any of these things make you want to jump up and down and yell "Rah-rah?" or "USA #1?" Well, no, so all you have left is the stripey flag; go and wave it about then!

Moscow and Tokyo resumed talks aimed at easing customs procedures, as the two countries look for greater economic cooperation, Russia's Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Stanislav Voskresensky has said.

"We returned to the topic suggested some time ago by the Federal Customs Service - the creation of a special 'green corridor', that is a simplification of Russian and Japanese customs procedures, relating to goods," Voskresensky said earlier this week, after the 11th meeting of the Russian-Japanese intergovernmental commission on trade and economic issues.

Both sides agreed to explore the idea, with Japan's government planning to facilitate growth of business contacts with Russia, the official added. They also discussed existing and planned projects in agriculture and the medical industry.

The 'green corridor' initiative is primarily in Japan's interests, experts say, as it will simplify the export of goods from the country to Russia. The agreement could also improve Japan's businesses presence in Russia by creating investment projects and increasing access to Russia's agricultural goods on Japanese and Asian markets.

Imports of Japanese cars and industrial machinery have been significantly reduced as a result of Western sanctions against Russia, according to the Russian Trade Mission in Japan. Japanese banks have problems with providing export credit for equipment sold to Russia, while sanctions make it difficult to conduct business using US dollar transactions, the mission said in May. The cost of the anti-Russia sanctions to Japanese businesses could already be $10 billion, it added.

Earlier this month, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) said the country was leaning towards direct ruble-yen currency swaps. The bank claimed it was elaborating opportunities with Russian banks such as Gazprombank, VTB and VEB.

Japan imported $22.2 billion worth of goods from Russia last year while exports to Russia were $8.2 billion. In 2013 Russian-Japanese trade amounted to $34.8 billion.

An operation launched Tuesday by the Nigerian military in the villages of Jangurori and Bulatori rescued 241 women and children from two camps controlled by the Boko Haram terrorist group.

In the raids in the country's restive northeast, Nigerian troops destroyed both camps located near the border with Cameroon. Forty three Islamist militants were arrested, including local leader Bulama Modu, who was acting as the "emir" of the village of Bulakuri, Nigerian newspaper Punch reported.

Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman said that the military rescued 241 women and children, but it is not yet clear how many of them had been kidnapped by the group.

The Dalai Lama, a self-described feminist, shocked his supporters all over the world on Monday when he said that if his successor were to be a woman, she must have a "very, very attractive face," otherwise she is "not much use."

The controversial comments were made during an interview with the BBC's Clive Myrie. The seven minute interview took place at the beginning of the Dalai Lama's nine day trip in London, where he is promoting human compassion and consideration as the route to happiness.

Much of the interview was dedicated to discussing the refugee crisis, and the unfolding violence in the Middle East. Towards the end, Myrie asked the Buddhist spiritual leader if his successor could be a woman, to which the Dalai Lama replied in the affirmative.

"One occasion in Paris, one reporter came to see me," the Dalai Lama recalled during the interview. "She asked me, any possibility for female Dalai Lama? I mentioned, why not? The female, biologically, has more potential to show affection and compassion. In today's troubled world, female should take more importance."

The Dalai Lama then leaned forward to Myrie, and added:

"If it is a female, the face should be very, very attractive."