Nepal Earthquake

Nepal has received substantial pledges from India and China for earthquake reconstruction at an international donors' conference in Kathmandu.

Pledges include $1bn (£640m) from India, $500m from China, and $600m from the Asian Development Bank.

Nepal says it needs $7bn after April and May's devastating quakes, in which nearly 9,000 people were killed.

Opening the conference, Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala promised that the relief funds would be used wisely.

Donor countries and international agencies have voiced concerns that red tape and poor planning could result in the donations being squandered.

But Mr Koirala urged delegates to "work with us, the government of Nepal" and vowed "zero tolerance toward corruption".

"I assure you that we will [leave] no stone unturned in ensuring that the support reaches the intended beneficiaries," he told the conference.

Announcing India's pledge, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said the two neighbours were "joined in both their joys and sorrows" and must "help each other in the wake of such calamities".

Additional pledges of $260m from Japan, $130m from the US, and $100m from the European Union - as well as an earlier announcement of up to $500m from the World Bank - take the total assistance offered to around $3bn.

Nepal, which was hit by an earthquake on 25 April then a strong aftershock on 12 May, was one of the world's poorest countries even before the disaster.

Nearly 500,000 houses were destroyed, and thousands of people were left in need of food, clean water and shelter.

Nepal Earthquake

The number of people killed in Nepal by two major earthquakes has surpassed 8,500, making the disaster the deadliest to hit the Himalayan country on record, as rescuers on Sunday searched for dozens of people still missing in remote villages.

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on April 25, killing thousands and demolishing more than half a million homes, most of them in rural areas cut off from emergency medical care.

A second major quake struck on Tuesday 76 kilometers (47 miles) east of the capital Kathmandu, just as Nepalis were beginning to recover from the previous earthquake.

The death toll from the two quakes now stands at 8,583, the home ministry said on Sunday.

The previous deadliest earthquake to strike the country - in 1934 - killed at least 8,519 in Nepal, as well as thousands more in neighboring India.

In Dolakha district east of Kathmandu, which was hit hardest by the second quake, dozens of landslides have blocked access to remote villages.

In Singati village, devastated by a landslide, dozens are still missing and rescue workers are yet to remove debris from all of the village to recover bodies, district officials said.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told reporters on Sunday 58 foreigners had died in the two earthquakes. Koirala said 112 foreigners were still unaccounted for, although many of those could be backpackers who choose not to register with authorities when they leave the country.