Hindu worshippers have begun slaughtering thousands of buffalo as part of a religious ritual held every five years in southern Nepal, despite efforts to end the practice considered the world's biggest sacrifice of animals at any one site.

The Gadhimai Festival - a two-day festival in honour of the Hindu goddess of power - kicked off in the early hours of Tuesday amid tight security, with the ceremonial slaughter of a goat, rat, chicken, pig and pigeon. A local shaman then offered blood from five points of his body.

A magnitude-7.3 earthquake convulsed the traumatized nation of Nepal on Tuesday, killing at least 39 people in the region.

A magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck Nepal on Tuesday, just over two weeks after a massive magnitude-7.8 quake killed more than 8,000 people.

A powerful earthquake shook Nepal on Tuesday, less than three weeks after a devastating temblor there killed more than 8,000 people. Dozens of deaths and more than a thousand injuries were reported.

At least 42 people were killed Tuesday and 1,117 have been injured after a major earthquake struck Nepal, triggering landslides and toppling buildings less than three weeks after the Himalayan nation was ravaged by its worst quake in decades.

Nepali citizens frustrated and angered by their government's chaotic and bureaucratic response to aiding earthquake victims are doing it themselves. They've hired their own trucks and stuffed vehicles with plastic sheets for shelter and bags of rice and lentils for food.

Yet as each day passes since the magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit April 25, this self-help effort is becoming more complicated. Youth belonging to various political parties are putting up im

Authorities in Nepal now say the number of dead from a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit the South Asian country a week ago has risen to 6,841, as rescue workers recover more bodies from the wreckage. More than 14,000 are reported injured.

NPR's Russell Lewis, reporting from Kathmandu, says thousands are still missing and some 130,000 homes and buildings have been destroyed and another 10,000 buildings have been demolished, according to the government.

"Still, acros

A Utah man who made it out of Nepal after Saturday's earthquake says the basic needs among the Nepalis are overwhelming — and he hopes the world won't forget about them too quickly.

Farmington resident Ryan Erickson said Thursday he feels a bond with the people and solidarity with their plight.

"My heart is just broken for the Nepali people," Erickson said. "They just need help. They need a lot of help right now."

Erickson had a lifelong goal of going to Mount Everest and hiking up to base camp. He made it with four friends four days before the earthquake struck.

As hours stretched into days trapped beneath concrete slabs in a collapsed Katmandu flophouse, Rishi Khanal said the stench of rotting corpses nearby made it hard for him to breathe. Dehydrated, he urinated on a handkerchief and squeezed the liquid into his mouth.

For five days a teenager in Kathmandu was covered in the rubble of a seven-story building that was hit by Saturdays powerful tremor. On Thursday rescue crews pulled him to safety.