IN BRIEF

BBC Gear's Stig finally unmasked

LONDON: The identity of "The Stig", the mystery test car driver on the popular BBC TV motoring show "Top Gear" was revealed yesterday after the broadcaster lost a legal battle to keep his name secret. Ben Collins, who began his racing career in 1994 and drove at Formula 3 level, was named as The Stig after London's High Court refused to grant a temporary injunction preventing the revelation of his identity in an upcoming book.

Dutch release Yemeni suspects

THE HAGUE: Two Yemenis arrested in Amsterdam on suspicion of terrorism have been released due to lack of evidence, the Dutch prosecuting authority said yesterday. "Two men from Yemen in custody since last Monday on suspicion of possible involvement in the planning of a terrorist act, were freed this evening," the prosecution service said in a statement.

Building crumbles in Russia, one injured

SAINT PETERSBURG: An eight-storey building under renovation crumbled yesterday in Russia's second city of Saint Petersburg, leaving a woman injured, officials said. One of three women working in shops on the ground floor of the former police headquarters was taken to hospital, prosecution investigators said, adding that the collapse could have been sparked by the removal of safes inside the building.

Travel ban on Irani director

VENICE: Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was released from jail earlier this year, said yesterday he was not allowed to leave his home country to attend the Venice film festival. In a written statement to the festival, where his short film "The Accordion" is screening, Panahi said that he had been officially banned from making films in the past five years.

French police raid on L'Oreal heiress

PARIS: Police yesterday searched the home of France's richest woman in the latest twist in an ongoing scandal rocking President Nicolas Sarkozy's government, a source close to the enquiry said. The search was ordered by a judge investigating whether a Parisian society photographer took advantage of 87-year-old Liliane Bettencourt, the heiress of the L'Oreal cosmetics empire, the source said. Bettencourt was reportedly abroad but said in a statement that she was "outraged and shocked" at how police carried out the search, in which "safes were forced open" at her house.

Agencies