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Barack Obama publicly states support for anti-ICE demonstrators in Minneapolis

Speaking with progressive YouTuber, former US president stressed ‘unprecedented nature’ of agency’s actions

Barack Obama publicly gave his support to demonstrators in Minneapolis for standing up to the “unprecedented nature” of the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Minnesota.

Speaking in an interview with progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen on Saturday, the former president discussed the power that US citizens hold when standing up for the values they believe in and his hopes for the next generation of American leaders.

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© Photograph: Erin Hooley/AP

© Photograph: Erin Hooley/AP

© Photograph: Erin Hooley/AP

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Democratic senators launch inquiry into EPA’s repeal of key air pollution enforcement measure

Senators said repeal was ‘particularly troubling’ and was counter to EPA’s mandate to protect human health

More than three dozen Democratic senators have begun an independent inquiry into the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following a huge change in how the agency measures the health benefits of reducing air pollution that is widely seen as a major setback to US efforts to combat the climate crisis.

In a regulatory impact analysis, the EPA said it would stop assigning a monetary value to the health benefits associated with regulations on fine particulate matter and ozone. The agency argued that the estimates contain too much uncertainty.

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© Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

© Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

© Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

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ICE to spend $38bn turning warehouses into detention centers, documents show

US homeland security eyeing 24 buildings, some as ‘primary locations’ for deportations, in escalation of Trump agenda

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) expects to spend an estimated $38.3bn on a plan to acquire warehouses across the country and retrofit them into new immigration detention centers with capacity for tens of thousands of detainees, according to documents the agency sent to the governor of New Hampshire.

The documents, published on the state’s website on Thursday, disclose that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates it will spend $158m retrofitting a new detention facility in Merrimack, New Hampshire, and an additional estimated $146m to operate the facility in the first three years.

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© Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

© Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

© Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

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‘Another way to gamble money’: booming prediction markets prompt confusion and concern

Polymarket and Kalshi are less regulated than betting sites, but users can win or lose large sums on the platforms

Yadin Eldar, 21, has been betting on prediction markets since 2019. His friends think he’s “crazy”, he said. But the craze surrounding these platforms is rapidly gathering steam.

Users can bet on virtually anything, from the outcome of Sunday’s Super Bowl to whether the US will invade Greenland, every second of every day.

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© Photograph: Charpaud Christopher/ABACA/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Charpaud Christopher/ABACA/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Charpaud Christopher/ABACA/Shutterstock

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