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

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump ended five years of uncertainty over his views by declaring Friday that U.S. President Barack Obama "was born in the United States."

In a campaign appearance here in Washington, Trump again blamed Hillary Clinton for starting the controversy during the 2008 election when she was running against Obama.

"President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period. Now we all want to get back to making America strong and great again."

Numerous media outlets have investigated Trump's allegation and found there is no evidence to support it.

Clinton, also in Washington Friday, dismissed Trump's efforts to raise questions about the president's birthplace.

"His campaign was founded on this outrageous lie. There is no erasing it in history. Just yesterday, Trump again refused to say with his own words that the president was born in the United States."

On the campaign trial in Virginia, First Lady Michelle Obama said her husband's birth had never been a question.

"Well, during his time in office, I think Barack has answered those questions with the example he set by going high when they go low."

Mr. Obama produced his birth certificate five years ago. It showed that he was born in the state of Hawaii on August 4, 1961.

The latest polls show Hillary Clinton with a narrow lead ahead of Donald Trump with less than two months to Election Day.

This is VOA news.

The Obama administration is warning Russia that their military cooperation in Syria will not go forward unless humanitarian aid begins to reach Aleppo and other besieged areas.

Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Friday and said that the United States has "concerns about the repeated and unacceptable delays of humanitarian aid."

A State Department statement said Kerry "emphasized the United States expects Russia to use its influence on the Assad regime" to allow the deliveries to move forward.

Meanwhile, U.N. trucks packed with supplies for civilians trapped in the besieged city of Aleppo were still stuck at the Syrian border Friday.

Jens Laerke is with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: "For ourselves humanitarians, this is obviously highly frustrating. We are as ready to go as we can possibly be. The modalities for ensuring safe passage have not yet been cleared."

Over all, a cease-fire has broadly held since coming into effect on Monday evening.

The United States and Russia did say they wanted to extend the cease-fire in Syria although the agreement looked increasingly shaky.

Both rebels and the regime have accused each other of violating the truce.

At least 23 people were killed and 29 others wounded when a suicide blast ripped through a crowded mosque in northwestern Pakistan Friday.

A spokesman for the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction, a splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban, took responsibility for the bombing. He said the bomber had targeted the mosque because members of a pro-government tribal militia, named the Peace Committee, were among the worshippers.

The Pentagon says coalition forces killed one of the so-called Islamic State's senior leaders in a precision strike earlier this month.

Wa'il Adil Salman al-Fayad, Islamic State's so-called minister of information, was targeted and killed by an airstrike on September 7.

Fayad was a prominent member of the Islamic State's Senior Shura Council, which hands down orders and ensures that they are followed. He also oversaw production of the group's violent propaganda videos featuring executions and torture.

Al-Shabaab militants have captured a key Somali town near the border with Kenya. Witnesses say El Wak was attacked by heavily armed Shabaab fighters from two directions late Friday.

El Wak is a strategic town and a main supply route for Kenyan troops operating in southwestern Somalia. Al-Shabaab had lost the town in 2011.

I'm David Byrd in Washington.

That's the latest world news from VOA.