SHRISTHI SHRESTHA ONE OF 10 TOP CONTENDERS FOR TITLE OF MISS WORLD 2012 Kathmandu, 18 Aug.: Nepal’s Shristhi Shrestha is one of the top 10 contestants in the Miss World 2012 at Ordos China. The 23-year-old contestant is Miss Nepal World 2012 and is a nursing student and model in United Kingdom. There are 116 contestants in Saturday evening’s final. nnnn. PM TO LEAD NEPALI TEAM TO IRAN NAM SUMMIT Kathmandu, 18 Aug.: At a time when the opposition parties, mainly the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML, are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, the PM has decided to visit Iran to attend the 18th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Anil Giri writes in The Kathmandu Post. A Cabinet meeting on Friday endorsed the size of the delegation and a budget for the visit. PM Bhattarai will lead a 14-member team including DPM Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Foreign Secretary Durga Bhattarai, Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office Jay Mukunda Khanal, Nepal’s Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the UN Gyan Chandra Acharya. Besides, Nepal’s Ambassador to Pakistan who also looks after Iran, Bharat Poudel, Chief of Protocol Niranjan Man Singh Basnyat, Joint Secretary Deepak Dhital, a reporter from the state-owned news agency, RSS, a protocol officer and two security officials will be part of the delegation. “The Cabinet took a call regarding the prime minister’s Iran visit in the capacity of the head of government. PM’s participation is important as Nepal is one of the founding members of the NAM,” said a senior government official. PM Bhattarai and DPM Shrestha will leave for Tehran on August 28. NAM currently has 120 members and 17 observers. Around 60 heads of states will attend the meeting slated for August 26 through September 3. PM Bhattarai and DPM Shrestha will also hold bilateral meetings with their counterparts on the sidelines of the summit. “Several requests were made through our diplomatic missions to arrange meetings with leaders attending the summit. On the sidelines of the summit, both the PM and the DPM will meet their counterparts,” added the officials. The PM will return from Tehran on September 1. Similarly, Bhattarai will head for New York to participate in the 67th General Session of the United Nations General Assembly due to begin on September 18. The PM-led delegation is likely to leave for New York on September 22 or 23 and return on the 28th. “Nepal’s ongoing peace and constitution drafting processes are still a matter of interest for the international community and the PM has to be present at the UNGA,” an official said. The PM will meet several heads of state and government in New York. nnnn