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

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said Tuesday that the situation in Syria has improved dramatically. He said aid shipments to the eastern part of the city of Aleppo would soon be possible.

De Mistura hailed what he called a significant drop in violence over the first 24 hours of a cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia.

We get more from U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner: "But so we have seen, as I said, some reports of sporadic violence, but thus far the arrangement as a whole seems to be holding and the violence, God bless you, is lower in comparison to previous days and weeks." :Mark Toner speaking in Washington.

Syria and Israel issued conflicting claims Tuesday about the fate of Israeli military aircraft that conducted airstrikes on the Syrian side of the border in the Golan Heights area.

Syria's state-run news agency says an Israeli plane and a drone were shot down but Israel denies that.

Former Israeli President and Prime Minister Shimon Peres is in serious but stable condition after suffering a stroke. Doctors say his condition was likely caused by hypertension.

The 93-year-old Peres had previously been hospitalized with heart problems.

New U.S. census data show American family incomes rose more than 5 percent in 2015. Analysts are hailing the news as a turning point in the recovery from the global recession that began in 2007.

The data released Tuesday show that the 5.2 percent gain reaches all geographical regions of the country, all age groups, ending eight years of stagnant incomes. It shows that national poverty levels fell 1.2 percent.

This is VOA news.

U.S. President Barack Obama campaigned Tuesday for Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia as she takes a few days off from the presidential race to recover from pneumonia.

"In the middle of a crisis, she'll listen to people and she'll keep her cool, and she treats everybody with respect. And no matter how daunting the odds, no matter how many times people knock her down and mess with her, she does not quit. She doesn't quit." :President Obama.

Clinton told CNN late Monday that she is expecting to resume her campaign later this week.

Politico magazine reports that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has opened an investigation into the Donald J. Trump Foundation.

According to the report, he will try to find out [if a charity] if the charity is operating properly under the law.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump campaigned Tuesday in Iowa, charging that Hillary Clinton is offering no ideas or solutions to the country's problems. Trump is expected Tuesday night to propose the government allow families to deduct the cost of child care from their taxes.

The latest U.S. political surveys are showing Trump edging closer to Clinton, with RealClearPolitics average of polls giving Clinton a 2.4 percentage advantage.

Three technology experts who helped manage the private email accounts of Hillary Clinton asserted their right against self-incrimination Tuesday and refused to answer questions from a congressional investigating panel.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee attempted to undercut the conclusion reached by U.S. investigators that no criminal charges were warranted against Clinton.

The United States and Israel have agreed on a 10-year military aid package. The State Department says the pact will be signed on Wednesday.

The memorandum of understanding calls for a record $38 billion in U.S. military funds for Israel.

Media reports say Turkey has made its first formal request for the United States to arrest a cleric blamed for leading the failed July coup.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly accused Fethullah Gulen of being behind the coup attempt. He denies that.

German authorities have arrested three men suspected of membership in the Islamic State group. The three were allegedly sent into the country last year.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere says the men were arrested in the northern part of the country.

He said it appears that they used the same smugglers and received the same kind of phony Syrian passports. Some of those involved in the Paris attacks.

More than 200 police commandos took part in the pre-dawn raids that led to the detentions.

On Wall Street, U.S. stock indexes were down at the close of trade today.

In Washington, I'm David DeForest.

That's the latest world news from VOA.