At least two people, including a child, have died in the US state of Oklahoma after their vehicle was stranded in floodwaters, police said, as severe weather and flooding hit parts of the United States’ South and Midwest during the Easter holiday weekend.
Flood warnings, which suggest that a flood is occurring or is imminent, were in place across Oklahoma.
The National Weather Service said on Sunday that severe thunderstorms were expected from east Texas into far southeast Iowa and Illinois, while the potential for strong tornadoes and damaging winds would exist from central Arkansas into central Missouri.
“This was a historical weather event that impacted roads and caused dozens of high-water incidents,” police in Moore, Oklahoma, about 18km (11 miles) south of Oklahoma City, said in a statement on Sunday.
“One of [the vehicles] left the roadway and was swept under the bridge. At the time of the incident, all but two occupants were rescued. It is with great sadness that we report that two individuals, an adult female and a 12-year-old male, were later located deceased,” the police said.
Authorities in Moore urged people to stay at home and said late on Saturday that they responded to more than a dozen calls from residents whose vehicles were trapped in high water.
A tornado watch was issued for parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma, the National Weather Service added.
Liverpool have moved one win away from sealing England’s Premier League title as substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold secured a 1-0 victory at Leicester City, which condemned their hosts to relegation.
Leicester, needing to beat the leaders to stave off relegation for a few more days, were holding their own on Sunday. But Alexander-Arnold fired home in the 76th minute after the ball came to him following a goalmouth scramble.
Liverpool could be crowned champions on Wednesday should Arsenal lose at home to Crystal Palace.
If the Gunners avoid defeat, Arne Slot’s men have the chance to seal the deal when Tottenham visit Anfield next Sunday.
Leicester have not scored a single goal at home since December as nine consecutive defeats at the King Power have taken Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men down.
A Liverpool cruise seemed in store when Mohamed Salah hit both posts with a glorious chance inside the first two minutes.
But after storming clear of the chasing pack in Slot’s early months in charge to build a near-unassailable lead, Liverpool have slowed in recent weeks as the finish line approaches.
Wilfred Ndidi came close to ending Leicester’s barren run with a low strike that came back off the post.
Liverpool struggled to create from open play in what remained of the first half.
Ibrahima Konate came closest to breaking the deadlock when Ndidi hooked clear his goal-bound header from a corner.
The visitors upped the tempo at the start of the second period. Kostas Tsimikas should have done better when he fired straight at Mads Hermansen.
At the other end, Leicester did finally have the ball in the net, but Patson Daka had fouled Alisson Becker before Conor Coady headed into an unguarded net.
Leicester’s Conor Coady reacts after his goal was disallowed [Phil Noble/Reuters]
Slot introduced Alexander-Arnold for the final 20 minutes on his return from a five-week absence due to an ankle injury.
The right-back took just five minutes to score his 23rd and potentially last goal for his boyhood club.
Salah and Diogo Jota somehow contrived to hit the woodwork rather than the net from point-blank range as Leicester struggled to clear a corner.
The loose ball broke to Alexander-Arnold, whose shot went straight through the grasp of Hermansen.
Alexander-Arnold ripped off his shirt in a wild celebration in front of the Liverpool fans.
Unlike Salah and captain Virgil van Dijk, who have signed new contracts to remain at Liverpool for the next two years, the England international still seems set to depart after reportedly agreeing to the terms of a free transfer move to Real Madrid.
Alexander-Arnold refused to talk about his Liverpool future when speaking to Sky Sports after the game.
“These days are always special, scoring goals, winning games, being close to winning titles – they are special moments that will live with me forever,” he said. “And I’m glad to be part of it. ”
Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose contract runs out in the summer, may have scored his last goal for Liverpool [Andrew Boyers/Action Images via Reuters]
Leicester, meanwhile, have had a season to forget. Champions of England just nine years ago, the Foxes have found life back in the top flight far too much of a step up in class after romping to the Championship title last season.
Defender Coady told Sky Sports that the players were “devastated” by the relegation.
“If we look at today, I thought we played and we nullified Liverpool quite well, they’re a world-class side,” he said.
“But if we look back at the season, it hasn’t been anywhere near good enough from a club point of view. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror. ”
Leicester join Southampton, whose relegation was confirmed with a record seven games to go, in an immediate return to the second tier.
Ipswich, who are 15 points adrift with five games to go, are set to follow as for the second consecutive season all three promoted sides will fail to avoid the drop.
Earlier on Sunday, Arsenal cantered to a 4-0 victory over Ipswich Town, with Leandro Trossard scoring twice and the hosts’ Leif Davis sent off for a dangerous tackle on Bukayo Saka.
Meanwhile, Manchester United slumped to a 15th Premier League loss of the season as Wolverhampton Wanderers snatched a 1-0 win at Old Trafford thanks to Pablo Sarabia’s late free kick on Sunday.
Wolves secured their place in the Premier League with their fifth consecutive Premier League under Vitor Pereira lifting them up to 15th and level on points with United, who stay 14th on goal difference.
Palestinian Christians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem have marked a second sombre Easter under punishing conditions and Israel’s war on Gaza.
In the Gaza Strip, where no food or aid has been allowed in by the Israeli military for nearly 50 days, people observed Easter on Sunday at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City amid death and destruction.
Easter celebrations were limited to religious rituals as families cancelled other gatherings fearing more bombs would be dropped by Israeli warplanes, which killed dozens of people in the besieged enclave on Sunday.
Israeli forces bombed the Saint Porphyrius compound in October 2023, just days after the war began in the aftermath of Hamas-led attacks on Israel. Israel said it was targeting “terrorists”.
That attack killed at least 18 displaced Palestinians who had sought refuge in the church. More than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army since the start of the war.
During a brief appearance before thousands of Catholic pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square for the Vatican’s open-air Easter Mass, Pope Francis renewed his call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
He also called on the Palestinian armed group Hamas and other groups to release the remaining captives held in Gaza.
Heavy restrictions in occupied West Bank
Israeli authorities prevented many Christians, including Palestinians, from accessing holy sites for Easter in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli police clashed with Christian worshippers and even a priest as they tried to access the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied East Jerusalem.
The Old City of Jerusalem was in effect turned by Israeli authorities into a military outpost, said Fathi Nimer, Palestine policy fellow at the Al-Shabaka think tank.
“Some would say that there are now more soldiers, security and police officers than worshippers around the Holy Sepulchre,” he told Al Jazeera from Ramallah in the West Bank on Sunday.
“There are dozens of checkpoints within the city, and these limitations have not only impacted Palestinian Christians from the West Bank but also from Jerusalem itself and within the 1948 territories. ”
Nimer said people were beaten, and Israeli officers and onlookers directed insults and slurs towards Christians.
Only about 6,000 Palestinians from the West Bank received permits to attend Easter services this year, and even the representative of the Vatican in Palestine was denied entry into the church.
Nimer said a tightening Israeli chokehold over holy places in the past few years has led to a dwindling number of worshippers of Palestinian origin.
“This is all part of the wider war on Palestinian culture and identity. Israel is basically saying they have an exclusive claim to Jerusalem and all of Palestine,” he said.
‘I don’t have a permit to go as a pastor’
Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian pastor and theologian and founder and president of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, concurred that current Israeli restrictions are among the toughest.
“I myself as a pastor don’t have a permit to go for the Holy Week, which is the most important week for Christians throughout the year because Jesus was crucified and risen in Jerusalem,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The Palestinian-Christian community that has been there for 2,000 years cannot go there to celebrate and mark this where it all happened. ”
Raheb said incitement against Palestinian Christians, especially clergy members, has also been on the rise with dozens of incidents of Israeli settler attacks reported this year.
“One of the first things you read about in church about Jesus is that he was like a lamb led to the slaughter. But when you hear this today as Palestinian Christians, you think it’s our whole people being led to slaughter, considering what is happening in Gaza. ”
Clergy celebrate Easter at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]
Israeli settlers and politicians, backed by armed police and soldiers, have also been increasingly storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to perform Talmudic rituals and challenge its status quo.
Non-Muslims are not allowed to worship at the compound of Islam’s third holiest site, which is located in East Jerusalem, as part of the status quo agreement that the Israeli government claims it remains committed to.
Pope Tawadros II, head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, strongly condemned the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.
A ship carrying wheat has arrived in Syria’s Latakia port, the first such delivery since former President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December, the government said, as it pushes to boost an economy ravaged by nearly 14 years of ruinous civil war.
Traders say Syria has this year been largely relying on overland imports from neighbours.
Officials of the new government led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa say that while imports of wheat and other basics are not subject to sanctions from the United States or United Nations, challenges in securing financing for trade deals have deterred global suppliers from selling to Syria.
The Syrian General Authority for Land and Sea Borders said in a statement that the ship carried 6,600 tonnes of wheat. It did not identify the nationality or destination of the boat, but one regional commodity trader told the Reuters news agency it was from Russia.
Russia and Iran were Syria’s primary military and economic backers under al-Assad. They previously provided most of Syria’s wheat and oil products, but stopped after opposition fighters swept through the country in triumph and al-Assad fled to Moscow.
Syria’s border authority called the shipment “a clear indication of the start of a new phase of economic recovery in the country”, adding that it should pave the way for more arrivals of vital supplies.
Al-Sharaa’s government is sharply focused on economic recovery after 14 years of conflict and has also been making efforts to open travel routes to the country.
Most international airlines suspended operations to and from Damascus in 2012 amid the Syrian government’s violent crackdown on protests that began in 2011 and the subsequent civil war that drew in multiple outside actors.
However, in January 2024, several airlines resumed service at Damascus International Airport following an announcement by the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority that international flights would be accepted.
On Saturday, a Syrian passenger flight departed on Sunday for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), marking the resumption of air travel between the two countries.
A UN official said on Saturday that Syria’s authorities should also begin the process of economic recovery, without waiting for Western sanctions imposed under al-Assad’s rule to be lifted.
“Waiting for sanctions to be lifted leads nowhere,” Abdallah Al Dardari, the regional chief for Arab states at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told the AFP news agency in an interview in Damascus.
Al Dardari said this process should include “projects… directly affecting citizens”, the provision of services by civil society, particularly in education, and “the rapid improvement of public services”.
“People need to feel the improvement quickly … especially in such a difficult period,” he said. “With a clear vision and well-defined priorities, once the sanctions are lifted, funding will flow into Syria. ”
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of breaching an “Easter truce” announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin that Ukraine said was being violated from the moment it started.
In a surprise announcement on Saturday, Putin ordered his forces to “stop all military activity” along the front line in the war against Ukraine, citing humanitarian reasons. The 30-hour cessation of hostilities would have been the most significant pause in the fighting throughout the three-year conflict.
But just hours after the order was meant to have come into effect, air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv and several other Ukrainian regions, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accusing Russia of having maintained its attacks and engaging in a PR stunt.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence also alleged on Sunday that Ukraine had broken the truce more than 1,000 times.
“Across various frontline directions, there have already been 59 cases of Russian shelling and five assaults by Russian units,” Zelenskyy said on social media, citing a report as of 6am (03:00 GMT) from Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii.
He said in the six hours up to midnight (21:00 GMT on Saturday), there were “387 instances of shelling and 19 assaults by Russian forces”, with drones “used by Russians 290 times”.
“Overall, as of Easter morning, we can state that the Russian army is attempting to create the general impression of a ceasefire, while in some areas still continuing isolated attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.
“In practice, either Putin does not have full control over his army, or the situation proves that in Russia, they have no intention of making a genuine move toward ending the war, and are only interested in favourable PR coverage,” he added.
According to the Kremlin, fighting stopped at 6pm Moscow time (15:00 GMT) on Saturday until Sunday midnight (21:00 GMT) owing to Easter.
But as church bells rang out for Easter services on Sunday, residents in Kyiv expressed doubts whether Russia would observe the brief truce.
Natalia Malaieva noted that an air raid alert was heard in Kyiv moments after the truce began.
“Missiles and drones flew over. There were explosions caused by missiles,” she said. “What kind of a ceasefire is that? ”
Olha Malashuk added: “He [Putin] probably wants to rearm the troops … That is why no one believes him any more. ”
Orthodox worshippers attend the Easter service in Saint Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv [Sergei Supinsky/AFP]
Accusations and counteraccusations
In a statement on social media on Sunday, the Russian Defence Ministry said Ukrainian forces had shot at Russian positions 444 times and it had counted more than 900 Ukrainian drone attacks.
It added that the border regions of Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod had come under attack. “As a result, there were deaths and injuries among the civilian population as well as damage to civilian objects,” the ministry said.
Quoting a source in “operative services”, the Russian state news agency TASS said at least three blasts were heard in the Budennovsky district of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, which has been under Russia’s control since 2014.
The report blamed Ukrainian forces for what it said was an attack carried out during the truce. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
A Ukrainian military spokesperson confirmed that activities on the front lines with Russia had decreased, but the fighting had not stopped.
“It is decreasing, but it hasn’t disappeared,” Viktor Trehubov told national television.
“To be honest, we didn’t hold out much hope that this would actually happen,” the military spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern front said.
Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said both sides were accusing each other, but according to analysts, it is almost impossible to stop all the hostilities immediately. But generally, the situation on the battlefield is much calmer, and the number of attacks has decreased.
“The Russian reaction to this ceasefire is very positive,” she added.
“People hope that it will last, and analysts also say that Russia and Putin are likely in a favourable position right now for a longer truce and peace negotiations, taking into account Russia’s gains on the battlefield and the efforts by the US side as well,” Shapovalova said.
‘A pure political step’
Andrei Fedorov, a former Russian deputy foreign minister, called Putin’s announcement “a pure political step” and said it was taken for both domestic and international reasons.
“Easter is one of the main holidays for Russia and Putin wants to show that he’s following Russian Orthodox Church tradition,” he told Al Jazeera.
“At the same time, it’s a very important test for him if Ukraine will do the same, because now when there will be a new stage of talks on Ukraine, [and] it’s very important for Putin to have real arguments that say, ‘look, Ukraine is not following the agreements. Ukraine is breaking down the ceasefire. ’”
Putin’s announcement came a day after United States President Donald Trump said Washington will “take a pass” on trying to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war if either Moscow or Kyiv makes it too difficult to end it.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Rosalind Jordan said neither side can currently really afford to anger the Trump administration.
“Especially now that they are saying very publicly here in Washington that they are ready to walk away, even though President Trump has said repeatedly that he is tired of what he calls the ‘carnage’ in the war between Ukraine and Russia,” she said.
But there has been no reaction from the Trump administration this weekend to developments in the Ukraine war.
Vladimir Sotnikov, an associate professor of international relations at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, said he fears Trump has “jumped into” a peace plan that “won’t work in the near future”.
“Both sides – Ukraine and Russia – are still very far from sitting down at the table and trying to talk to each other,” Sotnikov told Al Jazeera.
