China

On a visit to Beijing, the leader of the Maoist party in Nepal Prachanda promises Xi Jinping to repress any anti-Chinese protests. "The national stability and integrity of both countries will not be compromised in the name of religious freedom and human rights."

The wife of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo leaves her house for the first time in two and a half years of illegal house arrest to attend her brother's fraud trial. She tells reporters who want to know whether her husband will be free that neither is free.

Over 200 people dead or missing. More than 11 thousand wounded, 900 critically. Landslides block rescue teams with 20km traffic jams. Human rights activists and Tibetan monks stopped by the authorities. Blogosphere slams control of information on internet and moralizing of the Red Cross, hit by scandals. Fears for hydroelectric dams that could flood the earthquake zone.

Commenting on the parable of the Good Shepherd at Mass this morning, Francis recalls that "the gate is Jesus." "I am not a fundamentalist," this is the Gospel of the Beatitudes that tells us to be humble, poor, meek, just.

The death toll is still partial. Two strong aftershocks of magnitude 6.6 and 7.0 struck this morning around at 8.00 am local time. The epicenter is about 51 km west of the city of Linqionq. The earthquake caused landslides, mudslides and leveled entire buildings. Panic in the megalopolis of Chongqing located several hundred kilometers to the south-east of the epicenter. Xi Jinping orders the authorities to make every effort to assist the affected population.

The Communist regime arrested a ten-year-old girl and banished her from school, "guilty" of having a dissident father. His case shocked the Chinese web world, which began a campaign of unprecedented solidarity. This is a clear sign that people's conscience has not died. Here is the analysis of the great Chinese dissident.

Lawyers and activists take to the streets with banners and launch online petitions asking that all the members of the Central Committee release a list of their wealth, something that Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping had already requested. Police detain activists for "disrupting the public order." But the problem of corruption in the Party remains.

After graduating in Beijing, she had arrived in Boston last September. Together with two other friends, she had gone to see the marathon. Lu died, one of her friends was badly injured, and the third was unharmed.

In a letter to the bishops of Argentina currently meeting at their plenary assembly, Francis calls on them to "come out of yourself to go into the outskirts of existence and grow in parrhesia," adding that "recent commitments" have prevented the former archbishop of Buenos Aires from attending.

Family’s permission to disclose the victim’s identity still needed. The other two victims were an 8 year old boy and a young woman of 29. The authorities think that the bombs were pressure cookers full of shards of metal and nails, left in two bags on the ground. Several injuries have resulted in amputations. Pope Francis appeals to the city of Boston to stay united and "fight evil with good." The message of Card. O'Malley: In the darkness of the attack, one sees the light of Christ in those who immediately turned to help those in need.

The young woman, Jugtso, leaves a husband and a three-year-old child. The extreme form of protest took place near Jonang Monastery, scene of similar incidents in the past. NGO calls on Beijing to listen.

The new H7N9 strain continues to kill, moving in two weeks from east to north, prompting fears of a pandemic. World Health Organisation is sending a team of experts, but warns there is no evidence yet of the virus mutating. Meanwhile, poultry sector takes huge losses.