Briefly

UNITED STATES

House panel launches probe into lawmaker

The US House Ethics Committee announced on Thursday that it has established an investigative panel to look into issues surrounding Republican lawmaker George Santos. Santos, the US representative for New York's 3rd congressional district, admitted to fabricating several aspects of his work experience and education, following his election last year. The subcommittee will have jurisdiction to determine whether Santos may have issues including being "engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign", said the committee in a statement. Santos' office tweeted on Thursday that the congressman is "fully cooperating" with the Ethics Committee's investigation, saying that "there will be no further comment made at this time".

MALAYSIA

Ex-PM Najib acquitted in latest 1MDB trial

Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak was acquitted on Friday in the latest trial in response to the multibillion-dollar scandal involving the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund. Najib, who is serving a 12-year prison term after losing the final appeal in his first of several corruption trials linked to the 1MDB case, was found not guilty on the charge of tampering with an audit report to cover up wrongdoing. Defense lawyer Mohamad Shafee Abdullah said the High Court ruled that prosecutors did not have sufficient evidence to prove Najib guilty of abusing his position as prime minister and finance minister to order amendments to the 1MDB audit report in 2016.

Xinhua - Agencies