Austria: Governor Orders Hospitals to Halt Circumcisions.

Vorarlberg Province has told state-run hospitals to stop circumcising boys, wading into a religiously charged debate after a regional court in Germany banned the procedure as physical abuse. The provincial governor, Markus Wallner, said he had halted circumcisions until Austria formulated a uniform approach to the practice, a religious duty for Muslims and Jews. ''This is a subject that has to be regulated countrywide,'' his spokesman said. Last week, Germany's lower house of Parliament passed a resolution protecting religious circumcision of infant boys after a Cologne court had banned the practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]