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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, stung by a third election defeat in as many months, scrambled on Wednesday to regain the confidence of voters as well as some of their own members.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann, who led investigations into companies blamed for the state's subprime mortgage mess, resigned under a cloud on Wednesday after admitting to an affair with a female staff member.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Clement, who defended President George W. Bush's policies restricting the legal rights of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners, is resigning as the administration's top lawyer before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Justice Department said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain's wife, Cindy, has sold more than $2 million in mutual funds with investments in companies that do business in Sudan, McCain's campaign said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A House of Representatives committee voted on Wednesday to withhold over half of about $720 million sought by the Bush administration to start building missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - The United Nations is investigating allegations that its peacekeepers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo committed sexual abuses, which aid workers said involved paying children for sex.

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - The government on Wednesday declared the evacuated Chilean town of Chaiten off-limits for three months until it is no longer threatened by a cloud of hot ash from an erupting volcano.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - At least one missile suspected to have been fired by a U.S. drone hit a house in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border on Wednesday, a Pakistani security official said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States protested to Zimbabwe's government on Wednesday over the "harassment" of the U.S. ambassador and other diplomats there and criticized Harare's lengthy buildup to a runoff presidential election.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission should probe Countrywide Financial Corp's practices involving how it handled borrowers entering bankruptcy, Sen. Charles Schumer said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Colombia's decision to extradite 14 former paramilitary leaders to the United States to face drug-trafficking and other charges was praised on Wednesday by a leading Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, who said it could improve the outlook for a free-trade deal.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 54-year-old German went on trial on Wednesday charged with sexually abusing eight of his own children, a court in the city of Trier said.

ABYEI, Sudan (Reuters) - South Sudanese former rebels fought northern government forces on Wednesday in the disputed oil-rich Abyei region, killing up to four people and sending hundreds fleeing, south Sudanese and U.N. officials said.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush accused Iran on Wednesday of using the Hezbollah movement to destabilise Lebanon.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan has begun shifting troops from parts of the South Waziristan region and swapped prisoners with the militants in an effort to make peace with an al Qaeda-linked commander, officials said on Wednesday.

WARREN, Mich (Reuters) - Three former chairmen of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday, bolstering the Illinois senator's economic credentials and bipartisan appeal as he closes in on his party's nomination.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday six world powers had no plans to offer Iran security guarantees to encourage it to suspend nuclear activity, hours after Russia floated the idea.

MILAN (Reuters) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi can be called to testify in a trial of U.S. and Italian spies who are accused of kidnapping a terrorism suspect in Milan and flying him to Egypt, a Milan judge ruled on Wednesday.

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Charles Taylor's deputy testified in the war crimes trial of the former Liberian president on Wednesday, describing how a Sierra Leonean rebel leader answered to his boss.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday said security guarantees for Iran were not being considered at the moment in nuclear talks.