From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting.

Iran's Foreign Ministry announced Monday that for now Russia will no longer be using one of its bases for airstrikes in Syria.

There was no immediate response from Russia.

According to a Kurdish news agency, fighting erupted Monday between Kurdish fighters and pro-government militias in the northern Syrian city of Hasake.

Media reports say Turkish forces have attacked a Syrian Kurdish militia as well as Islamic State group positions in Syria.

The Hürriyet newspaper says the attacks targeted positions north of the town of Manbij.

Media reports also say Turkish forces have struck targets in Jarablus. Earlier reports said forces were massing near the border inside Turkey near the city.

Meanwhile, the United Nations aid chief said Monday the situation in Syria represents "the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time."

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu vowed Monday his country would rid its border region of Islamic State militants. That remark follows Sunday's suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding that killed at least 54 people.

Turkish authorities are trying to identify Sunday's bombers. They are backing away from earlier claims that the bomber was a child.

U.S. Olympic swimming medalist Ryan Lochte has lost two major sponsors. He admitted that he exaggerated claims about being robbed in Brazil.

Hundreds of Nigerian protesters marched on Monday to the presidential villa in the capital, Abuja, demanding that the government do more to rescue the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped in 2014.

The protest comes a week after Islamist militants from the group Boko Haram released a new video showing as many as 50 of the kidnapped girls.

This is VOA news.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called for the deployment of a protection force to help stabilize South Sudan. Jill Craig has more.

South Sudan was at the top of the agenda Monday as Kerry met Monday with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and foreign ministers from Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Somalia and South Sudan in Nairobi at the start of a three-country tour.

The secretary of state announced the United States would be giving $138 million in new aid to South Sudan, which he said would be used for food, water and medicine for those in need.

"We are not just going to provide help incessantly if they are not willing to accept responsibility and do the things necessary to deliver to their people."

Kerry also said it is urgent to deploy the 4,000-troop regional protection force in South Sudan.

Jill Craig, Nairobi.

Doctors say the death toll from Sunday's suicide car bombing in central Somalia has risen to 27. Nearly 90 people were wounded.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bombing.

South Korea and the United States have begun annual joint military exercises. About 25,000 U.S. and 50,000 South Korean troops are involved in the two-week Operation Ulchi Freedom exercise.

The leaders of Afghanistan and India have vowed to continue their efforts [to be] to "overcome terrorism and extremism."

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated their resolve Monday during a video conference inaugurating the newly-restored Storay Palace, which is the office of the president of Afghanistan.

A Malian jihadist has pleaded guilty to ordering the destruction of nine mausoleums and a mosque in the city of Timbuktu.

Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi said during a hearing Monday at the International Criminal Court at The Hague that the prosecution's description of what led to attacks that destroyed or severely damaged the cultural sites was accurate. He expressed regret.

Legendary jazz harmonica player Toots Thielemans has died in Belgium. He was 94.

Belgian media reported that Thielemans died in his sleep Monday morning.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he still plans to deport 11 million illegal aliens living in the United States.

Trump's new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, had said in an earlier interview that the candidate's deportation plans were, in her words, "to be determined."

A new batch of emails released Monday indicates several donors to the Clinton Foundation were given access to Hillary Clinton during her time as secretary of state.

The documents provided by the group Judicial Watch are the latest evidence of an overlap between Clinton's work at the State Department and that of the Clinton Foundation.

In Washington, I'm David DeForest.

That's the latest world news from VOA.