The UN Sectary General Ban Ki-Moon has urged Israel and the Palestinians to halt what he called a dangerous escalation.

Thousands of people have lined the streets of Croatian capital Zagreb to welcome home two former Generals acquitted of war crimes by an appeal court in The Hague. Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac were freed after the International Court ruled that there have been no evidence of unlawful attacks when they held senior positions in the mid-1990s. Croatians described the men's release is a huge relief, Serbians said the court lost all credibility.

The Swedish furniture chain, Ikea, has apologized after an independent report found that some of its suppliers in communist East Germany used forced labour to make its products during the Cold War. Steve Evans reports from Berlin.

The investigators concluded that political prisoners were used to make Ikea furniture. Ikea said after the findings that the company had been aware of the possibility, and had tried to put in measures to ensure that prisoners weren’t used, but that, as its statement put it, it’s now clear that the measures were not effective enough. For the prisoners who worked on Ikea furniture, the recognition was what they wanted, but it may also open the way for legal claims.

World News from the BBC

President Obama has met congressional leaders to try to avert a budget crisis that could tip the United States back into recession unless he can reach a deal with his Republican opponents by the end of the year. Tax rises and deep cuts in government’s spending will automatically take effect in January. The Republican speaker of the House Representative John Boehner described the initial discussions as constructive.