Merkel vow on circumcision

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman promised the Jewish and Muslim communities yesterday that they would be free to circumcise young boys despite a court ban which has provoked concerns about religious freedom.

In a country sensitive to allegations of intolerance because of the Holocaust, the government said it would find a way around the ban.

"It is absolutely clear that we want to have Jewish and Muslim religious life in Germany," said Ms Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert. "Cir-cumcision carried out in a responsible manner must be possible without punishment."

Reuters