Prime Minister Cameron Criticizes ‘Multiculturalism’ in Britain

NYTimes

Faced with growing alarm about Islamic militants who have made Britain one of Europe's most active bases for terrorist plots, Prime Minister David Cameron has mounted an attack on the country's decades-old policy of "multiculturalism," saying it has encouraged "segregated communities" where Islamic extremism can thrive.

Speaking at a security conference in Munich on Saturday, Mr. Cameron condemned what he called the "hands-off tolerance" in Britain and other European nations that had encouraged Muslims and other immigrant groups "to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream."

He said that the policy had allowed Islamic militants leeway to radicalize young Muslims, some of whom went on to "the next level" by becoming terrorists, and that Europe could not defeat terrorism "simply by the actions we take outside our borders," with military actions like the war in Afghanistan.

"Europe needs to wake up to what is happening in our own countries," he said. "We have to get to the root of the problem."

Elimination Diet May Improve ADHD Symptoms

Medscape

In a group of young children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), nearly two-thirds who followed a restricted elimination diet experienced a significant reduction in ADHD symptoms and oppositional defiant behavior. Going off the diet led to relapse.

The findings, from the Impact of Nutrition on Children with ADHD (INCA) study, are published in the February 5 issue of The Lancet.

"We think that dietary intervention should be considered in all children with ADHD, provided parents are willing to follow a diagnostic restricted elimination diet for a 5-week period and provided expert supervision is available," Lidy M. Pelsser, PhD, of the ADHD Research Centre in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and colleagues write.

"Children who react favorably to this diet should be diagnosed with food-induced ADHD and should enter a challenge procedure to define which foods each child reacts to and to increase the feasibility and to minimize the burden of the diet," they advise.

But in comments to Medscape Medical News, Jaswinder Ghuman, MD, of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at University of Arizona, Tuscon, author of a linked commentary, said further investigation is needed "to make recommendations for children who are more likely to benefit."[...]

Russian Uproar Over Adopted Boy's Punishment in U.S.

Fox News

Russian officials are closely watching a case involving an Anchorage mother of six who was charged with child abuse after a video that aired on "Dr. Phil" showed her punishing her adopted Russian son by squirting hot sauce into his mouth and forcing him into a cold shower.

The case has sparked a public uproar in Russia at a time that nation is nearing completion of a bilateral treaty with the U.S. on adoptions. Russia called for the agreement following the deaths of Russian children who were abused or neglected by their adoptive American parents in recent years. [...]

Why Israel fears a free Egypt

Washington Post

Having dealt with the Israelis for the better part of 40 years, I have learned never to dismiss or trivialize their foundational fears. As both former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and current premier Binyamin Netanyahu reminded me on different occasions, Israelis don't live in some leafy Washington suburb, but in a much tougher neighborhood.

And today, it is impossible to overstate the angst, even hysteria, that Israelis are feeling about their neighborhood as they watch what is unfolding in the streets of Cairo.

Israel prides itself on being the Middle East's only true democracy, so most Israelis may be loath to admit their fear of self-government spreading to Egypt, their most important Arab ally. But by their calculation, freedom in Egypt is bound to morph into venomous anti-Israeli attitudes and actions.

Among Israel's most dire fears: Would a new Egyptian government be taken over by radical Islamists? Would it break the peace treaty between the two nations? Would it seek to go to war again? All Israeli prime ministers since the treaty was signed in 1979 have carried such fears in the back of their minds, yet they gambled that in giving up the Sinai Peninsula, the country had exchanged territory for time, perhaps in the hope that a different relationship with Egypt and their other Arab neighbors would emerge.[...]

Divorce recalcitrant to pay NIS 700,000

YNET

Man asks for court's intervention after being fined for refusing to divorce his wife for 14 years; judges rule against him, order him to compensate woman

The Tel Aviv District Court accepted recently a Family Court ruling, ordering a man who refused to give his wife a divorce to pay her NIS 700,000 (about $188,000) in damages.

This was the first time a superior court discussed this matter. In its ruling, the court essentially backed the precedent recognizing a refusal to grant a divorce as an injustice requiring compensation. [...]

Rav Sternbuch - Beshalach

Kidney transplants: Monster or Savior? Turkish dDoctor Draws New Scrutiny

NYTimes

For a surgeon wanted by Interpol and suspected of harvesting human organs for an international black-market trafficking ring, Yusef Sonmez, was remarkably relaxed as he sipped Turkish red wine in a bustling kebab restaurant facing the wind-whipped Sea of Marmara.

Dr. Sonmez, refreshed from a ski trip to Austria, spoke last month while on a break from business trips to Israel and operations on cancer patients here.

He boasts about the satisfaction of his kidney transplant surgeries, more then 2,400 by his count. He keeps friends (and, incidentally, investigators) up to date on his life via a blog and his Web site listing contact details. And in his seaside villa on the Asian side of Istanbul, he treasures a framed copy of a signed letter in 2003 from the Ministry of Health in Israel commending him for his life-saving aid to “hundreds of Israeli patients who are suffering from kidney diseases and awaiting transplants.”