Shortest Distance Questions

Ram starts from his home and walks $8\text{ km}$ North. He then turns left and walks $6\text{ km}$. After that, he turns left again and walks $8\text{ km}$, and finally turns right and walks $4\text{ km}$. What is the shortest distance between Ram and his home, and in which direction is he now relative to his home?

Ram and Shyam start together from the same point 'A'. Ram walks $5\text{ metres}$ towards the East direction and Shyam walks $12\text{ metres}$ towards the North direction. What is the shortest distance between them?

Kavya is standing outside her house watching the sunset. She then performs the following movements :
(a) Turns left and walks 1 km
(b) Turns right and walks 0.5 km
(c) Turns right again and walks 1 km
In which direction is she facing now and what is the shortest distance from her starting point ?