US House Lawmakers Urge Department of Justice to Investigate Amazon

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers has written a letter asking the Department of Justice to determine whether online retailer Amazon engaged in obstruction of Congress during an investigation of the company’s competitive practices.  The letter said the company had “engaged in a pattern and practice of misleading conduct” that suggested it had sought to influence or obstruct an investigation into how it operates.  The House Judiciary Committee conducted a 16-month probe into how Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook operated.  During the investigation, lawmakers focused on Amazon’s use of private-label products and collection of third-party data.  Amazon allegedly copied popular productsmore

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US Lawmakers Reach Agreement on Billions in Ukraine Aid

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U.S. lawmakers reached an agreement Tuesday to send as much as $14 billion in humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine. The bipartisan effort to confront Russia’s unprovoked invasion of the independent Eastern European nation follows congressional support for U.S. President Joe Biden’s announcement he will ban Russian energy imports into the U.S. VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill. …

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Venezuela Frees at Least 2 Americans After Talks With US, Sources Say

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Venezuela released at least two jailed U.S. citizens on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said, in an apparent goodwill gesture toward the Biden administration following a visit to Caracas by a high-level U.S. delegation.  One of the freed prisoners was identified as Gustavo Cardenas, one of six Citgo oil executives arrested in 2017 and convicted on charges the U.S. government says were fabricated, the sources said. The other was a Cuban American detained on unrelated charges, they said.  The weekend meetings focused not only on the fate of Americans held in Venezuela but on possibly easing U.S. oil sanctionsmore

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Biden Won’t Subsidize ‘Putin’s War,’ Bans Russian Energy Imports

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U.S. President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil and other energy imports on Tuesday in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. Poland said it would send its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to a U.S. base in Germany, presumably for Ukrainian pilots to use. In exchange, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked that the U.S. send Poland aircraft with similar operational capabilities. Biden, noting that the ban on Russian oil would not come without cost to U.S. residents, said, “We will not be part of subsidizing (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war,” In a tweet Tuesday, Ukraine President Volodymyrmore

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US Banning Russian Energy Imports

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Global oil prices soared Tuesday as President Joe Biden announced that the United States will ban imports of Russian energy — a move that could have a dramatic impact in punishing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime for its invasion of Ukraine. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report. …

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US Senate Approves $50 billion Postal Service Relief Bill

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The U.S. Senate voted 79-19 on Tuesday for a bill that would provide the Postal Service (USPS) with about $50 billion in financial relief over a decade and require its future retirees to enroll in a government health insurance plan.  The action, after the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the measure in early February, sends the bill to President Joe Biden for his signature. USPS has reported net losses of more than $90 billion since 2007, and on Tuesday reported a net loss of $1.5 billion for the quarter ending Dec. 31.  USPS has been struggling with diminishing mailmore

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