Islamabad - Pakistan will ask the Friends of Pakistan (FoP) forum to provide 30 billion dollars of assistance over a period of 10 years when the group meets in Tokyo on April 17, a senior Pakistani government official said on Monday.

Sardar Aseef Ahmed Ali, the deputy chairman of Pakistan's Planning Commission, told reporters his country would seek 22 billion dollars in financial assistance and another 8 billion dollars in foreign direct investment during the upcoming ministerial level meeting of the FoP.

Jerusalem - Completing a period of intense coalition negotiations, Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu was set to present his government Tuesday afternoon, seven weeks after Israel's elections.

Netanyahu formally requested the Knesset, Israel's parliament, to hold a special session and swear in the new government.

The session was scheduled to start at 5 pm (1400 GMT).

Kigali - In the western Rwandan town of Gisenye, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, a small platform sits on the scenic Lake Kivu, barely visible from the shores of the burgeoning resort town.

A long tube runs out of the bottom of the platform, extracting the methane gas that saturates the water of the lake.

The gas is pumped to shore and converted to electricity in a newly constructed facility, which is then shipped to a country that only has six per cent of its inhabitants on its national grid.

Sana'a, Yemen - Yemen's Interior Ministry on Monday issued a list of 154 most wanted al-Qaeda suspects as police forces launched a nationwide manhunt campaign for the fugitive suspects.

The ministry said in a statement that the list, which includes 85 Saudis, was circulated to police stations, checkpoints, airports as well as sea and land outposts.

Security sources said police forces, backed by helicopters, began a fierce manhunt for al-Qaeda fugitives, mainly in eastern and southern desert provinces of the Arab country.

Mexico City  - Mexico plans to begin construction this yea

Islamabad - Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari Monday lifted a more than one-month-long federal rule in eastern province Punjab in a bid to further ease political tensions that threatened the stability of the nuclear-armed country early this month.

The official notification for the undoing of the federal rule, known locally as governor rule, was issued by the government with the approval of President Asif Ali Zardari.