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iht.com — Senator Barack Obama was nominated by his party today to be the 44th president of the United States. The unanimous vote made Obama the first African-American to become a major party nominee for president. It brought to an end an often-bitter, two-year political struggle for the nomination with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who, standing on a packed convention floor electric with anticipation, moved to halt the roll call in progress so that the convention could nominate Obama by acclamation. That it did with a succession of loud roars, followed by a swirl of dancing, embracing, high-fiving and chants of "Yes, we can."

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mcclatchydc.com — As they meet for their national convention, Democrats are poised to shift their party's course — and the country's. They're turning to the left — deeply against the war in Iraq, ready to use tax policy to take from the rich and give to the poor and middle class, and growing hungry, after years of centrist politics, for big-government solutions, such as a health-care overhaul, to steer the nation through a time of sweeping economic change. The shift of the party also reflects a change in much of the population — evidenced in the policy positions advocated by rank-and-file voters as well as the party's presumptive presidential nominee.

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nytimes.com — A lawsuit filed in federal court a year ago by a Dominican detainee makes complaints about health care at a detention center in Rhode Island that are similar to accounts of how the center treated a Chinese New Yorker who died Aug. 6 in immigration custody. That inmate was suffering from a fractured spine and extensive cancer that had gone undiagnosed until five days before his death. Lawyers and relatives of Hiu Lui Ng said that when he was racked with pain and too weak to walk, detention officials refused him a wheelchair, failed to take him to scheduled appointments for an M.R.I. exam or a CT scan, and instead took him in shackles to Hartford — where he was pressured to withdraw his appeals and accept deportation.

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nytimes.com — In a case that has outraged immigration activists, county police outside Nashville, Tenn., arrested a pregnant undocumented worker and, when she was about to give birth, chained her to a hospital bed. Once she had given birth, the baby was taken away from her for two days and the father was denied contact. County officials were acting under a cooperation agreement signed in April 2007 with federal immigration authorities that gave immigration enforcement powers to county officers. These agreements are proliferating, empowering local law enforcement to use harsh tactics to crack down on illegal immigrants.

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ft.com — U.S. business leaders are ­stepping up a campaign against proposed labor law reforms, backed by the Democrats, that could significantly enhance the ability of unions to organize workers. The proposals would waive an employer’s right to insist on a secret workplace ballot on union representation. Instead, a union would only have to secure the signatures of a majority of workers in the proposed bargaining unit.

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iht.com — In order to ease a backlog of visa applications, immigration authorities have eased requirements for background checks by the FBI of immigrants seeking to become permanent United States residents.

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washingtonpost.com — At their annual retreat, Democrats are thinking smaller, much smaller than in 2007. They hope to leave Friday with the beginnings of a scaled-down plan to pass a handful of bills in the House — even if they cannot get through the Senate — and build a case for November that Democrats have been productive enough to warrant at least another two years in the majority.

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truthout.org — For the first time in 25 years, unions increased their share of membership among America's workers, adding about 310,000 new members to their numbers.

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