Two people were killed and one seriously injured in a knife attack at an Ikea store in the city of Vasteras, Sweden, about an hour west of the capital, Stockholm, police said yesterday.

Ikea has stopped plans by thousands of people to play hide and seek in its maze-like stores in the Netherlands.

Luxembourg’s government was taken by “complete surprise” by the amount of files revealed last week in a report detailing hundreds of secret corporate deals that allegedly helped multinationals dodge taxes during Jean-Claude Juncker’s tenure as prime minister.

Ikea is the latest company to be caught up in the horsemeat scandal after it was forced to withdraw a batch of its meatballs due to the presence of horse DNA.

Carlos Slim, the telecommunications tycoon who controls Mexico’s America Movil, is the richest person on Earth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a brand-new daily ranking of the world’s 20 wealthiest individuals.

Ikea today said it had become the UK’s leading home furnishings retailer after seeing its sales edge ahead during a difficult year for the sector.

IKEA UK & Ireland has today reported that total sales for the year to August 31, 2009 rose by 1.1% to £1.2bn (€1.3bn).