Hello on this Thursday, the 15 day of May 2008. I'm Kristin Volk with a UPI news brief. Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is backing Senator Barack Obama for president. Edwards endorsed the Illinois senator at a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan yesterday, saying Obama knows how to create change. Both Obama and his rival Senator Hillary Clinton have sought Edwards' endorsement since he dropped out of the race in January. On the Republican side, Senator John McCain predicts the Iraq war will be won and troops will be home by the year 2013. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee also said he expects that Osama bin Laden will be killed or captured by about that same time. McCain made the comments in a speech where he envisioned the state of affairs at the end of his first term if elected president. The death toll from this week's massive earthquake in China could reach 50 thousand. That's according to China's State TV. The official death toll stands at more than 19 thousand now. The 7.9 magnitude quake shook millions buildings and homes so much that they collapsed, burying thousands of victims underneath rubble. Aftershocks have forced rescuers to stop searching at times for those who are trapped. The California Supreme Court is expected to decide today whether the state ban on gay marriage is legal. If passed, California would be the second state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage. Massachusetts was the first state in 2003 ...