From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting. Pro-government forces in Libya say they have taken control of the Islamic State's headquarters in the city of Sirte.

The statement was issued by forces loyal to Libya's Government of National Accord.

The U.S. has been carrying out airstrikes aimed at pushing IS out of Sirte.

Russia's Defense Ministry says it will stop firing around the Syrian city of Aleppo for three hours each day so humanitarian aid can be delivered to the city.

Russia made the announcement Wednesday, saying the "humanitarian windows" would run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time starting the following day. The cease-fire is to include aviation and artillery strikes.

The top commander for the coalition fighting the Islamic State group says the terrorist group's foreign fighter stronghold in Syria likely will be in complete control of the Syrian Democratic Forces in "a week to weeks."

U.S. Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland told reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference from Baghdad enemy resistance shrinks daily in Manbij. He looked ahead of the future.

"To paraphrase Winston Churchill, the liberation of Ramadi was the end of the beginning of the campaign against Daesh. The beginning of the end will be the liberation of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. Once it is recaptured, the enemy in Iraq will be reduced to scattered pockets of resistance." :Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accuses Ukraine of choosing terrorism over peace. Those comments came Wednesday following reports of foiled attacks in Crimea that Mr. Putin says were orchestrated by Ukraine.

President Petro Poroshenko rejected Mr. Putin's claims, calling them "equally cynical and insane."

This is VOA news.

Wednesday marks the fifth day of the 2016 Rio Olympics. With medal rounds in several high-profile sports, it could prove to be an eventful one.

Team USA poised to lead in swimming events Wednesday and Brazil needs a win or will face elimination when its men's football team takes on Denmark Wednesday night.

Here is the latest on the U.S. presidential campaign.

Democrat Hillary Clinton campaigned Wednesday in Iowa, where she stressed her commitment to helping small businesses.

Her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, spoke to coal industry officials and other business leaders in Virginia.

Trump's recent controversial remarks continued to trouble Republican voters.

A new Ipsos/Reuters public opinion poll indicates as many as one fifth of Republican voters want Trump to drop out of the race. Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign is launching a new effort called Together for America to try to get Republicans to cross party lines and vote for the Democratic candidate.

A new batch of U.S. State Department emails from Hillary Clinton's earliest days as secretary of state in 2009 shows close connections between the country's top diplomatic agency and the Clinton Foundation, an organization she founded with her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Clinton has long denied that donors to the foundation, which funds humanitarian programs around the world, had special access and influence at the State Department during her tenure there.

But previously undisclosed emails released Tuesday by Judicial Watch show[s] exchanges of emails between her aides and officials at the foundation.

The United States is painting a bleak portrait of religious freedom around the world, particularly condemning some Islamic societies that have adopted laws harshly penalizing blasphemy and apostasy.

The State Department's Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein said the very nature of all those laws "punish(es) people for expressing their core beliefs.

"There are many countries that have these words for 'don't do anything about them. Pakistan is very vigorous about arresting people and holding them in jail for a long period of time and punishing them for blasphemy." :David Saperstein.

Leaked reports published Wednesday are detailing more than 2,000 allegations of sexual assault, child abuse and attempted self-harm at Australian detention centers on the island of Nauru.

More than half of the incident reports published by the Guardian Australia newspaper involve alleged assaults against children, who make up about 18 percent of the detainees.

Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said authorities would examine the material "to see if there are any complaints there or issues there that were not properly addressed."

From the VOA news center in Washington, I'm David DeForest.

That's the latest world news from VOA.