A $1.5bn plan to ease a housing shortage in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has been unveiled by the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF).

The PIF, which manages the territories' money, says 30,000 new homes will be built next year.

The houses will be sold to low-income families who will be able to apply for mortgages offered by a new bank being set up to support the scheme.

Buyers will be offered mortgages on better terms than on the open market.

There is a need for houses to accommodate the natural expansion of the population

Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has demanded the Iraqi government reinstate 1,300 soldiers and police who were dismissed for desertion during recent fighting.

His office said those who had handed their weapons to militiamen during the clashes in Basra and Kut were following orders from their religious leaders.

Those sacked are believed to be loyal to the radical cleric, whose Mehdi Army militia was the target of the raids.

Meanwhile, a car bombing has killed 12 members of the Kurdish Peshmerga force.

The troops, who are now part of the Iraqi army, died when there convoy was attacked near the Syrian border about 120km (75 miles) north-west of the city of Mosul, local police said.

US-led forces also discovered a mass grave containing 20 to 30 badly decompose

The Olympic torch has reached Oman, its only stop in the Middle East, on its way to the Games' host city, Beijing.

The torch arrived in the capital, Muscat, early on Monday morning from Tanzania, where the relay run passed off without incident.

The parade in Oman is not expected to feature the human rights protests that have caused chaos at previous legs in London, Paris and San Francisco.

Oman has strong economic ties with China, a major importer of its oil.

Map of planned world torch relay route

Oman's Sports Minister Ali bin Massoud bin Ali al-Sunaidi and Chinese diplomats received the torch when it arrived at 0530 (0130GMT).

The parade is to take place in the evening to avoid high temperatures duri

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi has described receiving an increasing number of death threats.

They included notes pinned to the door of her office building in Tehran, warning her to "watch your tongue".

Ms Ebadi, an outspoken critic of Iran's leadership, said she had forwarded the threats to the chief of Iranian police.

She said last month: "When you believe in the correctness of your work, there is no reason to be afraid of anything."

In an interview, she told Reuters news agency that Iran's human rights record had regressed in the past two years, saying more dissidents were being jailed and more people were being executed.

Ms Ebadi, 60, won the Nobel prize in 2003 for her work in defending human rig

The Olympic torch has reached Oman, its only stop in the Middle East, on its way to the Games' host city, Beijing.

The torch arrived in the capital, Muscat, early on Monday morning from Tanzania, where the relay run passed off without incident.

The parade in Oman is not expected to feature the human rights protests that have caused chaos at previous legs in London, Paris and San Francisco.

Oman has strong economic ties with China, a major importer of its oil.

Map of planned world torch relay route

Oman's Sports Minister Ali bin Massoud bin Ali al-Sunaidi and Chinese diplomats received the torch when it arrived at 0530 (0130GMT).

The parade is to take place in the evening to avoid high temperatures duri