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

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has continued his outreach to African-Americans, saying that Democratic administrations have failed minorities.

Speaking to a predominantly white audience in Iowa Saturday, Trump repeated his accusation that his opponent Hillary Clinton has contributed to what he called a failed system.

"To those suffering, I say, 'Vote for Donald Trump.' I will fix it. African Americans, Hispanics -- vote for Donald Trump! I will fix it! It will get fixed."

Trump also spoke of the shooting in Chicago of NBA star Dwyane Wade's cousin on Friday. He says the young woman's death while going to register her children for school "breaks our hearts. They shouldn't happen in America."

Trump told the crowd the delay of the release of Hillary Clinton's daily schedules from her time as secretary of state showed she was protected by what he called a corrupt, "rigged system."

Trump's comments come as he works to boost his image with minority voters amid a slip in the national polls.

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, received a national security briefing -- her first since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.

The overview of major domestic and global threats facing the United States was conducted near her home.

Republican nominee Donald Trump received a similar briefing earlier this month.

Major presidential nominees and their close advisers are legally required to be briefed with classified information on security matters by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence so they will be prepared should they assume office.

For more on these stories, log on to our website voanews.com. This is VOA news.

Turkish-backed fighters skirmished Saturday with Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

Turkey's [Andolu] Anadolu, that is, news agency says one Turkish soldier was killed and three others wounded in a rocket attack by a Kurdish militia that the Ankara government identifies as terrorists.

Democratic Forces, which is predominantly Kurdish, said its fighters were hit by Turkish jets south of the border town of Jarablus.

Earlier this week, Turkish forces stormed the town but it is now reported to be in the control of the SDF. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

At least 15 civilians were killed in barrel bomb attacks by suspected government helicopters on a rebel-held district of Aleppo, Syria, Saturday.

The Brattain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government aircraft had dropped two explosive-packed barrel bombs just minutes apart on the Maadi district of eastern Aleppo.

According to the monitoring group, the strikes hit near a tent where people were mourning those killed in a similar attack on Thursday.

The Syrian government and its ally, Russia, are the only ones operating helicopters over Aleppo.

The government has denied using barrel bombs.

There was a state funeral for at least some of the victims of a massive earthquake that hit central Italy this week.

In Ascoli Piceno, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and the president of Italy also attended the mass.

Crowds gathered to pay their final respects and a prose rang out as the first small, white coffin exited the sports center. It was out of a nine-year-old girl, Giulia Rinaldo, who died protecting her younger sister when their home collapsed. Her sister was later pulled alive from the rubble.

A magnitude 6.2 quake struck early Wednesday and was felt to cross a broad swath of central Italy.

Police in Bangladesh have shot and killed a man believed responsible for an attack on a café that left 20 hostages and two policemen dead last month.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina praised police and intelligence agencies for the operation which killed Tamim Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-Canadian believed to have planned the attack.

Two other militants were also killed in Saturday's raid.

The Islamic State group had originally claimed responsibility for the July 1 café attack. However, Bangladesh government and police officials rejected that, saying that a new home-grown terrorist group led by Chowdhury was behind the violence.

For more on these stories, visit our website voanews.com. I'm David Byrd in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.