Demonstrators armed with spears and axes killed eight police officers in western Nepal on Monday during escalating protests against a proposed new constitution, officials said.

The government announced a curfew and plans to send in the army to Kailali district in the country's remote far west, where authorities said there were reports that three demonstrators may have also died.

Nepal's agriculture minister resigned Thursday following a storm of criticism after videos and photographs of him attempting to hug women during recent festival celebrations were posted online, officials said.

Images of Hari Prasad Parajuli, minister for agriculture development, trying to grab and hug women during Tuesday's celebrations marking the beginning of the annual rice planting season went viral on social media late Wednesday, sparking accusations of sexual harassment.

Thousands of children, many still traumatized from losing homes and loved ones, returned to class Sunday as Nepal's schools formally reopened following a devastating earthquake that claimed more than 8,600 lives.

Many children attended lessons in temporary classrooms made of bamboo or in tents on playing fields after their schools were destroyed or badly damaged in the quake that struck on April 25.

As he braces for the monsoon rains that threaten to inflict further misery after Nepal's devastating earthquake, Nawaraj Bista has more faith he will be safe inside his $100 quick-build corrugated iron home than under bricks and mortar.

Bista, a car salesman, saw his old home in Kathmandu reduced to rubble when a 7.8-magnitude quake ripped through the Himalayan nation on April 25.

The Red Cross Saturday ramped up its appeal for aid to disaster-hit Nepal, requesting $93 million in assistance after two earthquakes in less than three weeks killed nearly 8,500 and left thousands homeless.

Relief teams have been working for weeks to provide water, food, shelter and medical assistance after the first, 7.8-magnitude quake hit on April 25, flattening whole villages and leaving thousands without shelter with just weeks to go until the monsoon rains.

Krishna Prajapati's house in the historic Nepali town of Bhaktapur only just withstood last month's massive earthquake, but a second one this week proved too much for the weakened structure to take.

Just a day after his home collapsed on Tuesday, the 62-year-old was out salvaging bricks from piles of rubble the army had cleared from the streets of the devastated town to begin the grim task of rebuilding.

Rescuers battled Wednesday to reach survivors of a deadly new earthquake in Nepal that triggered landslides and brought down buildings, as the search resumed for a U.S. military helicopter that went missing while delivering aid.

Thousands of traumatized survivors spent the night outdoors, afraid to return to their houses after the 7.3-magnitude quake, which killed dozens of people and hit less than three weeks after the country was devastated by its deadliest quake in more than 80 years.

A new earthquake and powerful aftershocks killed dozens of people and brought fresh terror to a traumatized Nepal on Tuesday as buildings already damaged in a monster quake last month came tumbling down.

Weeks after the country's deadliest quake in more than 80 years, terrified residents once again fled onto the streets as houses collapsed and landslides blocked roads, hampering the relief effort.

The United Nations said Friday it had received just $22 million of the $415 million it had appealed for in Nepal following the recent earthquake, and called for aid contributions to be "dramatically ramped up".

Jamie McGoldrick, U.N. resident coordinator for Nepal, warned of a race against time to deliver relief supplies to remote areas -- some of which are accessible only on foot -- before heavy monsoon rains arrive, expected in June.

Dressed all in white and with their heads shaved, survivors of a Nepalese earthquake that killed more than 7,800 people ended 13 days of mourning Thursday as the broken capital began picking up the pieces.

As authorities released figures showing nearly 300,000 homes were destroyed by the quake nationwide, mourners gathered around a Hindu temple in Kathmandu for a series of ceremonies that would conclude at dusk.