As tropical storm Florence continues its destructive crawl across North and South Carolina, travelers along the Interstate 95 corridor and on Interstate 40 are being asked to avoid driving.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said all roads in the state right now are at risk of floods as tropical storm Florence inches its way westward.
"When a storm is bad enough to shut down Interstate highways, you know other roads may be even in worse shape. All roads in the state right now are at risk of floods."
The state secretary of transportation, Jim Troutman, said Saturday that rising waters are making any kind of travel dangerous.
"... and it's tremendously impacting our ability to help move travel on our interstates and U.S. routes because of the rapidity and fluidness and dynamics of how fast these events are occurring and how dynamic they are."
Florence is making its way across South Carolina, with rain bands extending across three states.
So far, nine deaths are attributed to the storm.
Meanwhile, in the Pacific, Typhoon Mangkhut is in the South China Sea headed for Hong Kong and Guangdong province in China after battering Luzon in the Philippines.
At least 16 people were killed.
The storm is expected to make landfall Sunday evening, bringing high winds and heavy rains. It is expected to weaken as it moves inland.
China's National Meteorological Centre issued a red alert for the typhoon and provinces inland have begun making emergency preparations.
Mangkhut has been downgraded from a super typhoon to a typhoon but remains deadly. Many of the victims in the Philippines were killed by landslides or damages to the building where they were sheltering.
This is VOA news.
Pope Francis appealed to members of the Sicilian Mafia Saturday to give up on a life of crime.
As Sabina Castelfranco reports, the pontiff was paying a one-day visit to the Mediterranean island to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the killing of an anti-Mafia priest.
Celebrating Mass for tens of thousands of Sicilians gathered in Palermo's port area, Pope Francis said to members of the Mafia: "Change, brothers and sisters! Stop thinking about [yourself] yourselves and your money. Convert yourselves to the real God, Jesus Christ." The pope added, "Mafiosi, if you don't do this, your very life will be lost, and that will be your greatest defeat."
The pope was on the Mediterranean island for a day to pay tribute to a pried who kept unemployed youths in the rough Brancaccio neighborhood in the Sicilian capital, Palermo, from turning to local Mafia bosses for jobs. Father Pino Puglisi was 56 years old when he was murdered by mobsters 25 years ago.
Sabina Castelfranco, for VOA news, Rome.
One of Rwanda's most prominent opposition leaders walked free on Saturday after the government approved the early release of more than 2,100 prisoners with little explanation.
Victoire Ingabire's release surprised many in the capital, Kigali, because it is unusual for President Paul Kagame to pardon potential challengers.
She said that she hoped her release was a sign of more of an opening of the political space in Rwanda.
The U.N. refugee agency is warning it will run out of cash to provide life-saving assistance to millions of Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons living in dire and precarious conditions.
Lisa Schlein has details from Geneva.
The U.N. refugee agency says it urgently needs $270 million to make it through the end of the year. This, it says, will provide millions of vulnerable people living inside and outside war-torn Syria with the vital aid and protection they need to survive the rigors of the oncoming winter season.
UNHCR cares for more than 5.6 million Syrian refugees, nearly half of whom are children, in neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. Without financial support, the agency warns people will have to go without health care or education.
It says many will have to resort to so-called negative coping mechanisms involving sexual exploitation, child labor and forced early marriage.
Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva.
NASA launched its Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, known as [as...] ICESat-2, that is, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California Saturday.
The satellite will use an extremely precise laser to collect measurement data to track the Earth's shrinking polar ice caps.
For more on these stories, log on to our website voanews.com. I'm David Byrd, VOA news.
