The investigative of committee set by the Bangladeshi government has concluded that the fire at the Tazreen fashions factory late last month was started deliberately. But the chief of the committee, Main Uddin Khandaker told the BBC that they couldn't yet say who did it. More than 110 people were killed when the fire spread through the nine-story building on the outskirts of Dahka. Mr Khandaker said they had recommended action against the factory owner. He said that investigation also found that nine mid-level officials of the Tazreen factory prevented workers from leaving the burning building.
The finance minister of Nigeria has blamed the kidnapping of her mother on people angered by recent events involving an oil subsidy scam. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala's mother was released on Friday after being held for five days. The minister said the kidnappers demanded her resignation after she suspended payments to fuel marketers following reports that billions of dollars were being lost in a scam. The BBC correspondent in Lagos says the case is unusual as kidnapping is normally for financial rather than political motives.
Israel has given the go-ahead for the construction of 1500 Jewish settlement homes in east Jerusalem. The controversial plan for settlement expansion was speeded up as part of Israel's response to the United Nations' decision to give the Palestinian authority nonmember observer status.
World News from the BBC
The largest supporters' club the Russian football champion, Zenit St Petersburg, have demanded that the team only signs up white, heterosexual players. It denied being racist but said the absence of black players was as they put it an important tradition of Zenit. It had none until the season. The team coach, Luciano Spaletti said the authors didn't represent the majority of Zenit fans and the team would support work against racism. But the BBC correspondent says the fan's statement has generated the kind of negative publicity that the Russia as the organizer of the 2016 World Cup could do without.