Morning Update: Qiaobi apologises for racist ad; LG’s vacuum spider-woman; Top Gear UK premieres; the fall of Salon

 A Chinese firm has apologised over an advert for detergent which has provoked a storm of allegations of racism. The manufacturer of Qiaobi said it strongly opposed and condemned racial discrimination, and was sorry the advert had caused controversy.

In it, a black man is stuffed head-first into a washing machine before emerging as a light-skinned Asian. In its initial response several days ago, the firm had suggested that its critics overseas were too sensitive.