Furthering diplomatic ties: Japanese wrestler Inoki arrives in Pakistan

Antonio Inoki, a former Japanese professional wrestler, arrived in Pakistan on late on Friday to participate in an international wrestling competition, Express News reported.

Talking to reporters at the Benazir International airport in Islamabad upon his arrival, Inoki said that he was visiting Pakistan as part of the 60-year celebrations of diplomatic ties between Pakistan and Japan.

Expess News added that during the brief press talk, the Japanese wrestler revealed that he had accepted Islam and that his Muslim name was “Muhamamd Hussain”.

Inoki, who has previously visited Pakistan to take on late wrestler Akram, reminisced that the Japanese wrestler had managed to break the Pakistani challenger’s arm. Inoki said that he would visit the graves of late wrestlers Gama and Akram and pay his respects. (Complete news)

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Pakistanis more optimistic than US, India about hard work: Survey

No matter what the prophets of doom say in nightly news shows on TV day in day out, an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis still believes that hard work is duly rewarded in the country and leads to material success, according to a recent poll by Pew Research Center — a nonpartisan “fact tank” in Washington DC.

In fact, of all the 21 countries where the survey was conducted, Pakistan came on top with 81% of respondents saying people succeed if they work hard as opposed to 15% who believe hard work is no guarantee of success.

The United States followed Pakistan with 77% of respondents saying hard work assured success. India, China and Japan were more sceptical with only 67%, 45% and 40% of the respondents recognising a close link between hard work and success, respectively.

“Fundamentally, the survey reveals that Pakistanis haven’t lost faith in the country. The Pakistani youth believes that current problems are short-term and can be resolved,” said Asad Umar, who joined politics in April after resigning from Engro Corporation, Pakistan’s largest conglomerate, as its CEO. “That’s why Pakistanis believe in hard work — and its direct relationship with material success – more than the people of the United States, Germany or Japan.”

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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton participates in a meeting with Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, left, and Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, right, on the sidelines of the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan in Tokyo, Japan, on July 8, 2012. [State Department photo by William Ng/ Public Domain, via statedept]

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Pakistan loses Iran’s mango market

KARACHI: Pakistani fruit exporters have lost a lucrative market in neighbouring Iran, where at least 30,000 tons of mango were exported previously, as a result of the trade embargo imposed by the United Nations on Tehran.

With the loss of this market, the exporters could not export around $10 million worth of mango during the current season, said Waheed Ahmed, Co-chairman of Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association in a statement on Monday. (complete article)

Another way how US handling of world affairs is hurting Pakistani economy.

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Islamabad—A renowned Japanese professor and archaeologist, Prof. Koji Nishikawa has spend more than two decades to come up with an excellent publication on Pakistan’s brilliant chapters of cultural history, titled ‘Ranigat, a Buddhist Site in Gandhara, Pakistan, surveyed 1983-1992’.

The comprehensive report, based on two volumes, is a fine photographic record of the excavations at Ranigat, one of the largest Buddhist sites in Gandhara, illustrating some 2000 rare photographs of excavated objects including sculptures, stone objects, stucco, terracotta, stone reliquary, and stone lamps.

Along with rare photographs and scientific research, the Report, illustrate the journey of 10 Japanese experts headed by Prof. Nishikawa as the director of the Kyoto University, Scientific Expedition to Gandhara, who undertook pilot excavation on the site of Ranigat during 1982 and 1992, discovering many Buddhist stupas, shrines and monasteries. Read more. (via archaeologicalnews)

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Milestone: Scientists map genome of first Pakistani man

Scientists at the University of Karachi have mapped the genome of the first Pakistani man with the help of the Beijing Genomics Institute.

“Our nation is a mix of a lot of races,” said Prof. Dr M Iqbal Choudhary, who heads the project. “Pakistanis are like a “melting pot” ie a mix of Mughals, Turks, Pashtuns, Afghans, Arabs, etcetera.”

The achievement places Pakistan in the ranks of the few countries – US, UK, China, Japan and India – which have successfully sequenced the human genome as well. The work was done by Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine & Drug Research at the University of Karachi. This also makes Pakistan the first country in the Muslim world to map the genome of the first Muslim man.

“According to the researchers, the newly sequenced Pakistani genome has uncovered a multitude of Pakistan-specific sites which can now be used in the design of large-scale studies that are better suited for the Pakistani population,” said Dr Choudhary, who is the director of the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences at Karachi University.

The first Pakistani genome has been mapped using a recently developed technology, 10 years after the first human genome was discovered. It took 10 months to accomplish the task and the individual who has been genetically mapped is a resident of Karachi. (news source: Tribune)

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Who thought Pakistani, Indian, Bangali, Iranian and Israeli Japanese Anime depiction will be on a same page?

(by fir3h34rt, via hetaliaislove)

A Pakistani hotel employee has won acclaim after handing in over $50,000 (£33,000) in cash that had been left behind by a guest.

Essa Khan, 51, discovered the money in $100 notes left in the room of a Japanese worker at the Serena Hotel in Gilgit.

Click on link to read more.