Briefly

SOUTH KOREA

Yoon fails to appear before watchdog

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol failed to appear before the country's corruption watchdog on Wednesday, it said, after he was summoned for questioning over his martial law bid. Yoon was stripped of his duties by parliament over the weekend following his short-lived Dec 3 martial law declaration. Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office had summoned him to their facility in suburban Seoul for questioning over charges of insurrection and abuse of power. "President Yoon did not appear for his summons today," a CIO official told AFP.

RUSSIA

Suspect detained over general's killing

Russia said on Wednesday it had detained a citizen of Uzbekistan who had confessed to planting and detonating a bomb that killed a top general, Igor Kirillov, in Moscow on the instructions of Ukraine's security service. Kirillov, head of the army's chemical weapons division, was killed along with his aide when an explosive device attached to a scooter went off on Tuesday outside his apartment. Ukraine's SBU intelligence service took responsibility for the killing. Russia's Investigative Committee said the unnamed suspect had told them he had come to Moscow to carry out an assignment for Ukraine's intelligence services.

FRANCE

Sarkozy loses final graft case appeal

France's highest appeals court on Wednesday confirmed a verdict against former president Nicolas Sarkozy for corruption and influence peddling, ordering him to wear an electronic tag for a year, a first for a former head of state. Sarkozy will "evidently" respect the terms of the conviction after the Court of Cassation's verdict, but will now take the case to the European Court of Human Rights for appeal, his lawyer told AFP.

UNITED STATES

Elon Musk, SpaceX face federal reviews

Elon Musk and SpaceX face at least three federal reviews over whether they have complied with federal reporting rules aimed at protecting national security, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. The reviews were initiated by the Air Force, the Defense Department's Inspector General and the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, the Times said, citing eight people with knowledge of the rocket company and internal documents.

Agencies Via Xinhua