Health secretary Andrew Lansley is defending the decision to veto a Freedom of Information order to publish the risk assessment of the NHS overhaul.

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Lansley defending NHS risks veto

“THE FREEDOM TO MARRY has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.” So wrote Chief Justice Earl Warren in the 1967 ruling in Loving v. Virginia , the landmark case declaring unconstitutional the anti-miscegenation laws on the books in 16 states. Among those whose parents’ interracial marriage would have been illegal in Virginia at the time he was born is President Obama. On Wednesday, Mr. Obama for the first time declared his view that gay and lesbian Americans should be able to marry as well. Read full article > >

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Editorial Board: President Obama’s welcome support of gay marriage

Mr. Yauch, whose nom de rap was MCA, helped make the first hip-hop album to top the Billboard chart, and later became involved in championing freedom in Tibet.

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Adam Yauch, 1964-2012: Adam Yauch, a Founder of the Beastie Boys, Dies at 47

Eskinder Nega has been imprisoned since September and his wife, Serkalem Fasil, accepted a press freedom award from PEN America on his behalf.

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Eskinder Nega, Ethiopian Journalist, Honored by PEN

An imprisoned journalist, who could face the death penalty for criticising Ethiopia’s human rights record, is given a prestigious freedom of expression award.

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Jailed Ethiopian writer honoured

TUNIS — Upstairs, Ibrahim Amara and his friends gather around the computer to watch YouTube preachers offering a vision of Islam that rejects democracy and elections. “Democracy’s freedom is absolute,” Ibrahim says, “and we don’t accept that. In our religion, freedom is limited to the freedom God gives you.” Read full article > >

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In Tunisia after Arab Spring, Islamists’ new freedoms create new Muslim divide

A freedom of information request suggests public sector bodies are more likely to attract data breach fines than private firms.

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UK’s data breach fines dissected

If you have lived a happy, normal, American life, you have probably never heard of something so tedious and alien as a Miscellaneous Tariff Bill. I envy you. But strange as it sounds, the obscure MTB is at the heart of a very small — but very significant — fight for American freedom.

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DeMint: Take politics out of tariff rules

BEIRUT — As Syria’s revolution drags into its second year amid few signs that a U.N.-mandated cease-fire plan will end the violence, evidence is mounting that Islamist extremists are seeking to commandeer what began as a non-ideological uprising aimed at securing greater political freedom. Read full article > >

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Fears of extremism taking hold in Syria as violence continues

Charles W. Colson — who spent seven months in prison for Watergate-era offenses and became one of the most influential social reformers of the 20th century — was the most thoroughly converted person I’ve ever known. Read full article > >

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Charles Colson found freedom in prison

In many American Muslim families, however, the only lecture given is “Don’t do it!”. Although “it” is never defined, everyone generally understands “it” as a catch-all-provision for any first-to-fourth base activity with the opposite gender before marriage. One would assume the freedom of college would automatically cure all these societal repressions and allow parents to be more open. However, the story of comedian and journalist Aman Ali is sadly familiar to many American Muslims:

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Sex and Islam do Mix, But not in America

Ending a three-day visit to Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI called for “the exercise of authentic freedom” in what is consistently ranked as one of the most repressive nations on earth.

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Pope Calls for ‘Authentic Freedom’ in Cuba

HAVANA — Standing at an altar in the Plaza of the Revolution, at an open-air Mass attended by several hundred thousand of the faithful, or the merely curious, Pope Benedict XVI appealed to Cuban authorities for greater freedom for the Catholic Church here and asked specifically that the government allow religion to be taught in schools and universities. Read full article > >

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In Cuba, Pope Benedict XVI calls for more freedom

Says law is ‘attack on economic freedom’ for Americans.

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Romney Goes After Obamacare

CAMP BONIFAS, S. Korea — President Obama made his first visit to Korea’s demilitarized zone Sunday, telling U.S. troops that the contrast between South and North Korea “could not be starker.” Addressing 50 U.S. soldiers in the mess hall at this U.N. command post, Obama thanked them for their service at “freedom’s frontier” on the divided peninsula. Read full article > >

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Obama visits Korea’s demilitarized zone