SAVANNAH, Ga. — Court records say a passenger on a small regional flight to Miami attacked a flight attendant, kicked and punched the seat of the person in front of him and swallowed rosary beads as pilots returned to the airport in Savannah, Georgia.

The passenger was traveling with his sister, who said her brother told her before the violent outburst to “close her eyes and pray because Satan’s disciple(s) had followed them onto the plane,” according to an FBI agent’s affidavit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

No one was seriously hurt on the Monday night flight operated by Envoy Air, a regional carrier for American Airlines. The 31-year-old passenger was jailed on charges including misdemeanor battery, misdemeanor obstruction of police and a felony count of criminal property damage.

FBI Agent Savannah Solomon described the violent episode in her affidavit, saying there was probable cause to charge the man with a federal crime of interfering with a flight crew.

Solomon wrote that eight passengers were on the plane and flight attendants became concerned immediately after takeoff when they noticed one of them appearing to have a “fit of epilepsy” that included “stomping, incoherent yelling, and shaking.”

When a flight attendant approached the man, he turned in his seat and kicked the attendant in the chest, sending the worker flying into a window across the aisle, the agent wrote. The passenger then started kicking and punching the seat of the person in front of him, who moved before the back of the seat collapsed.

The pilots returned to the Savannah airport. After the plane landed, the man who had kicked the flight attendant charged toward the exit and threw punches at another flight attendant before being subdued by other passengers, the affidavit says.

He was apprehended by airport police and taken to a local hospital for “ingestion of rosary beads,” the affidavit says. Then the passenger was booked into the Chatham County jail.

Federal court records and online jail records did not list an attorney for the arrested passenger.

His sister told the FBI agent that they were traveling to Haiti “to flee religious attacks of a spiritual nature.” According to the affidavit, the woman said her brother had “swallowed the rosary beads because they are a weapon of strength in the spiritual warfare.”

The woman told the agent her brother was not suffering from mental health problems or medical issues.

Gail Slater, President Donald Trump’s pick to oversee the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday (March 10, 2025).

The department’s antitrust division enforces laws against illegal monopolies and anticompetitive business behavior, alongside the Federal Trade Commission.

Ms. Slater, a veteran antitrust attorney and former economic adviser to Vice-President J.D. Vance, has said that her top priority as assistant attorney general will be to protect consumers by scrutinising industries such as healthcare, tech and agriculture.

Former antitrust enforcers from both Republican and Democratic administrations have praised Ms. Slater’s qualifications, as have antitrust hawks in Washington.

“President Trump is making crystal clear he’s continuing this term what he started in his last term: The bipartisan antitrust law-enforcement effort to hold accountable the trillion-dollar Big Tech monopolists,” said Mike Davis, former counsel to Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

The Justice Department and state attorneys general are going to trial in April seeking an order that would require Alphabet’s Google to sell its Chrome browser to promote competition in online search. The department is also pursuing antitrust cases against Apple, LiveNation and Visa.

Ms. Slater said in written replies to the Senate that while she expects the Trump administration to settle more merger cases, she sees common ground with her predecessors on protecting workers and scrutinising dominant players buying small rivals.

Policy groups including Heritage Action, the political arm of the conservative Heritage Foundation, and the Tech Oversight Project, a group aligned with the progressive left of the Democratic party, have supported Ms. Slater’s confirmation.

“The diverse voices and interests that have lined up in support of her nomination reflect that people want to see corporate accountability — not at the expense of economic growth, but as a means to achieving it,” said Amanda Lewis, an antitrust attorney at Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca who previously worked alongside Ms. Slater at the FTC.

Democrats pressed Ms. Slater at her hearing in February on whether she would take illegal or unethical action at Trump’s behest.

“If confirmed, I will always follow the law, as well as uphold my oath to support and defend the Constitution,” she said after the hearing, while adding she did not anticipate any such request.

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A college in Tennessee is set to become the first historically Black institution to ice an NCAA Division 1 hockey team.

Tennessee State University, which counts among its alum TV icon Oprah Winfrey and Olympian Wilma Rudolph, has more than a dozen players committed to the program, including a number of Canadians.

National Post contributor Allen Abel joins host Dave Breakenridge to discuss the challenges TSU faces in getting the program off the ground, what’s significant about this push to grow hockey at the collegiate level, and the former Maple Leafs coaching staffer leading the charge.

Background reading: One man’s audacious dream to import Canada’s game to Black America

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The Palestinian Islamic Jihad said it commends the Houthi’s announcement to restart their attacks on vessels with links to Israel passing through the Red Sea.

“The decision represents a bold step aimed at pressuring the entity [Israel] and its sponsors to reopen the crossings and allow aid into the besieged Gaza Strip,” the statement reads.

Last week, the Houthis gave Israel a deadline of four days to lift their blockade of Gaza and allow aid in or it will resume its attacks.

WASHINGTON – Hopes for the release of detained Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai are higher following US President Donald Trump’s return to office, Lai’s son said on March 11 in Washington, where he and advocates plan to meet Trump administration officials.

Lai, the founder of the Apple Daily newspaper that was forced to close after a police raid and asset freeze in June 2021, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, and a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material.

China-imposed national security legislation in Hong Kong has been used to jail pro-democracy activists after violent street protests there in 2019. The United States and other foreign governments have criticized the law as a tool for authorities to clamp down on dissent.

Lai’s case is a source of friction between Washington and Beijing, with Mr Trump having said in 2024 during his campaign for the presidency that he would “100 per cent” get Lai out of China.

Mr Sebastien Lai told reporters that even as his father’s health declines in harsh, solitary confinement in Hong Kong, the pro-democracy advocate is still fighting for his beliefs at 77.

“President Trump was the first president of the United States that mentioned my father by name,” the younger Mr Lai told reporters in Washington, adding that his father’s cause had always received bipartisan support in the US.

“The short of it is, yes, we’re a lot more hopeful,” he said, when asked if his confidence had grown with Trump in the White House.

He said Lai’s advocates had already met this week with State Department officials, and would meet with officials at the White House National Security Council.

The White House and State Department did not respond immediately to Reuters questions about the meetings.

China has described the claims about Lai’s health as slanderous. China’s embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment. REUTERS

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Ukraine has said it is ready to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire with Russia proposed by the US, after a day of US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would present the offer to Russia and that “the ball is in their court”.

Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelensky said it was now up to the US to convince Russia to agree to the “positive” proposal.

Tuesday’s talks in Jeddah were the first official meeting between the two countries since the extraordinary clash between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

In a joint statement, the US also said it would immediately restart intelligence sharing and security assistance to Ukraine, which Washington had suspended after the unprecedented meeting.

“Both delegations agreed to name their negotiating teams and immediately begin negotiations toward an enduring peace that provides for Ukraine’s long-term security,” the US-Ukraine statement said.

Rubio told a press conference in Jeddah late on Tuesday that he hoped Russia would accept the proposal.

Ukraine was “ready to stop shooting and start talking,” he said, and if Russia rejected the offer “then we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here”.

“Today we made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire and into immediate negotiations,” he said.

“We’ll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope they’ll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court,” he added.

The offer of a 30-day ceasefire goes beyond Zelensky’s proposal for a partial truce in the sea and sky.

The Ukrainian president thanked Trump for “the constructiveness” of the talks in Jeddah.

In a video message, Zelensky said Russia had to “show its willingness to stop the war or continue the war”.

“It is time for the full truth,” he added.

Moscow has not yet responded. The Kremlin said earlier on Tuesday it would issue a statement after being briefed by Washington on the outcome of the talks.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.

At the White House, Trump told reporters he would speak with President Putin, who would “hopefully” agree to the proposal.

“It takes to two tango, as they say,” Trump said, adding he hoped the deal would be agreed in the next few days.

“We have a big meeting with Russia tomorrow, and some great conversations hopefully will ensue.”

He added that he was open to inviting Zelensky back to Washington.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia had not ruled out talks with US representatives in the next few days, according to Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass.

Asked by a reporter if Trump and Zelensky’s relationship was “back on track,” Rubio said he hoped it was “peace” that was back on track.

“This is not Mean Girls, this is not some episode of some television show” he said.

“Today people will die in this war, they died yesterday and – sadly – unless there’s a ceasefire, they will die tomorrow.”

The US and Ukrainian teams met after overnight drone attacks killed at least three people in Moscow – which Russia said showed Ukraine had rejected using diplomacy to end the war.

Trump and Zelensky have also agreed to finalise “as soon as possible” a critical minerals deal, the joint statement said.

Ukraine has offered to grant the US access to its rare earth mineral reserves in exchange for US security guarantees – but this was derailed by the White House row.

Rubio said the deal had not been the subject of Tuesday’s talks, but had been negotiated with Ukrainian and US treasuries.

The US delegation in Jeddah also included US national security advisor Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

Witkoff is due to travel to Russia in the coming days, a source familiar with the planning told the BBC, although this could change quickly.

The joint US-Ukraine statement said Kyiv had “reiterated” that Europe should be involved in any peace process.

The shift in America’s approach to the war – which has included locking Europe out of talks – has prompted several emergency meetings between European leaders in recent weeks.

The EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc welcomed Tuesday’s “positive development”.

Achieving a swift end to the war in Ukraine has been a key pledge for the US president.

He has placed increasing pressure on Zelensky to accept a ceasefire, without offering the immediate security guarantees insisted upon by the Ukrainian president.

On Friday, Trump issued a rare threat of further sanctions against Moscow in a push for a deal. Russia is already heavily sanctioned by the US over the war.

Trump said he was contemplating the move because “Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now”.

Meanwhile, the war continued on the ground on Tuesday.

Three men were killed in the Moscow region in what was described as the largest drone attack on the Russian capital since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine.

A further 18 people, including three children, were injured, health officials told Russian media.

The Russian defence ministry said 337 drones were intercepted over Russia and 91 of them were shot down over the Moscow region.

Ukrainian officials reported Russian drone attacks on the capital Kyiv and several other regions.

Ukraine’s air force said it had shot down 79 of 126 drones launched by Russia, as well as an Iskander-M ballistic missile.

It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties.

Canada’s incoming prime minister, Mark Carney, says he will confront the challenge his country is facing from the United States.

US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on an array of goods coming from Canada.

Carney has promised to push back with trade taxes of his own, and is seeking to unite Canadians against this challenge from the United States.

With elections on the horizon in Canada, how will this play out politically?

And can Canada’s close relationship with the US survive this turmoil?

Presenter:

James Bays

Guests:

Jen Hassum – Executive director of the Broadbent Institute, a progressive think tank

Amy Koch – Republican strategist who served as majority leader of the Minnesota Senate

John Kirton – Professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto