WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - Washington Post included the following items on its front page on May 15. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards gave his long-sought endorsement to Sen. Barack Obama, calling on Democrats to unite behind him and turn their attention to the fall campaign.

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House Republicans turned on themselves Wednesday after a third straight loss of a GOP-held House seat in special elections this year left both parties contemplating widespread Democratic gains in November.

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FUXIN, China - The Chinese government accelerated its massive rescue-and-recovery operation, dispatching hundreds of busloads of civilian rescue teams, paramilitary police and youthful volunteers to earthquake-ravaged regions in a vivid demonstration of the Communist Party's power to mobilize.

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Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne listed polar bears as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, saying the loss of Arctic sea ice in a warming climate could drive them to the brink of extinction in less than four decades.

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CARACAS, Venezuela - High-ranking officials in Venezuela offered to help Colombian guerrillas obtain surface-to-air missiles meant to change the balance of power in their war with the Colombian government, according to internal rebel documents.

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The United Way of America, alarmed at the nation's fraying safety net, will announce Thursday that it will direct its giving toward ambitious goals that would cut the high school dropout rate and the number of families suffering financially.

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