Furniture store giant Ikea has been criticised for deleting images of women from the Saudi version of its catalogue.

Comparing the Swedish and Saudi versions of the Ikea catalogue, Swedish newspaper Metro showed that women had been airbrushed out of otherwise identical pictures showcasing the company’s home furnishings.

The report raised questions in Sweden about Ikea’s commitment to gender equality. Ikea’s Saudi catalogue, which is also available online, looks the same as other editions of the publication, except for the absence of women. (AP)

Clarkson in talk trouble

Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson breached BBC guidelines by comparing a Japanese car to people with growths on their faces.

A report by the BBC Trust’s editorial standards committee found he “strayed into an offensive stereotypical assumption” with the remarks during the motoring show when Clarkson had likened the shape of a Prius campervan to someone with “a growth on their face” and referred to it as the “elephant car”.

He also described it as “not a car that you could talk to at a party unless you were looking at something else”.

The founder of disfigurement charity Changing Faces, which encouraged its supporters to complain, welcomed the decision. (PA)

Kidnap victim shot dead

A British man of Pakistani origin was shot dead after arriving in Pakistan to testify against those suspected of kidnapping him last year.

Malik Muhammad Iqbal, 55, was killed on Friday by masked men in Rawalpindi near Islamabad. Authorities are investigating a potential link to Mr Iqbal’s 20-day kidnapping ordeal, which ended in him paying a ransom.

Mr Iqbal’s nephew said his uncle travelled from Bradford to testify, despite being threatened. (AP)

Tapestry on crystal bowl

The intricate detail of the Bayeux Tapestry has been painstakingly recreated in glass to form the centrepiece of an autumn exhibition.

The tapestry has been engraved onto a crystal bowl with English description of each major event. The original tapestry is nearly 70 metres long and depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror against his opponent Harold, Earl of Wessex, and culminates in the Battle of Hastings.

The Bayeux Tapestry dish will form part of the Reflections On Glass display at Glastonbury Abbey’s autumn exhibition from October 5. (AP)

Chef cooked murdered wife

A chef was found guilty of murdering his wife after he told police he cooked her body for four days in boiling water to get rid of evidence.

David Viens, 49, pleaded not guilty to murdering his 39-year-old wife Dawn in late 2009. Her body has never been found. In a recorded interrogation presented by prosecutors during the trial in Los Angeles, US, Viens could be heard saying he cooked her body for four days.

The chef spoke to authorities from a hospital bed in March last year after leaping off an 80-foot cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Authorities say he jumped after learning he was a suspect in her disappearance. (AP)