Ninja Watch

UK -- While police in West Kent say they were unaware of recent ninja activities and were advising residents they couldn't take the law into their own hands, the local ninja himself is busy patrolling the streets and performing heroic acts like helping old ladies cross the road and returning lost cats, according to dailymail.co.uk.

Determined to "bring justice to the streets", the 25-year-old masked crusader claims he is in fact a ninja, and that his self-initiated one man operation of "Ninja Watch" is spent patrolling Turnbridge Wells.

While I'm sure his secret ninja ability to warn illegally parked drivers how they risk a parking fine is received favorably by the drivers; others have described his actions, such as helping ladies crossing the road, as odd. I do wonder why...

More Ninja Shenanigans

Pennsylvania -- A man was reportedly dressed like a ninja (of course, what else...) and carrying a sword when he broke into a number of cars in Uniontown on Sunday morning.

The man finally pulled a sword and tried to stab a witness who confronted the black clad and masked "ninja", according to wtae.com.

Remember to check out more crazy gone-fu-ka-hapkill-duh-krotty antics from certified Martial Arts Maniacs!

Oh Bloody... Nose!

UK -- Well-known British MMA fighter Alex Reid - Katie Price's former hubby - was forced to use some quick self-defense moves when he was assaulted without any form of warning recently. Mr Reid reportedly ended up with a seriously bloodied nose, though.

The fighter and Celebrity Big Brothers winner was reportedly walking past a church and minding his own business in south-west London on Friday afternoon, when out of the blue a thug punched him straight in the face.

Witnesses said the victim's extensive training for cage fighting soon kicked in and that it wasn't long before he got the better of his attacker, according to unrealitytv.co.uk.

You have to give the guy credit for not beating the living daylight out of the cowardly thug. It is said he just give him a few punches to the chest along with a thorough (and apparently more than well deserved) verbal bashing.

A "Martial Arts Move"

UK -- During a night out in the London West End on April 2, a 59-year-old well known British socialite was thrown to the ground before being seriously assaulted and left with serious injuries, according to bbc.co.uk.

Police said it was a "martial arts move" that was used to take the man down. Friends described the brutal assault - which left the victim with a fractured skull - as an apparent homophobic attack.

Taekwondo Coach "Air-Devil"?

Vietnam -- The head coach of the national TKD team claim he was assaulted and injured by Danang airport security staff in Danag Tuesday, according to english.vietnamnet.vn.

Authorities denied any attack and states that the man was escorted off a plane for violating aircraft safety procedures, disturbing the peace, and refusing to comply with directions given by aircraft personnel.

The trouble initiated when a flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City was diverted to Danang because of bad weather in Ho Chi Minh City.

The taekwondo coach and his father allegedly asked permissions to leave the aircraft and were denied this on grounds it would further delay takeoff.

When the plane prepared to take off, the coach allegedly began to shout and refused to return to his seat in economy class, before occupying a woman's seat in business-class - refusing to give it up.

The captain then decided to return to the terminal. Four security officers boarded the plane and asked the disruptive coach to leave the aircraft. When he refused, they forcibly took him off.

Missing Woman Found?

Michigan -- Following a tip, the body of what may be a Hartford woman who went missing in July 2007 may have been found on a property in Hartford Township, according to heraldpalladium.com.

The owner of the property is reported to have had an affair with the 43-year-old woman around the time she was reported missing by her family.

The owner of the property is also reported to have participated in MMA fights in Hartford. In 2010, he allegedly fought at the same event as a Bangor man who is awaiting trial on charges of murdering two women and burying them in his yard: mma fighter in custody.

Judo Benefit Cheat

UK -- A visually impaired, female judo champion was hoping to represent her country in the 2012 Olympics as a member of the Paralympics squad. The woman has now been exposed as a benefit cheat, according to thevisitor.co.uk.

The 37-year-old woman allegedly told authorities that she could barely crawl across the floor or make a meal on one of her bad days.

However, video footage have revealed the judoka throwing her opponent to the floor during a bout of judo.

She has also been seen shopping, walking and running for a bus without any difficulty - all filmed in secret by benefit fraud investigators.

Jiu-Jitsu Instructor Saves Officer

Stories like this make me all warm and fuzzy - great going Mr Arrigoni, great going in deed!

California -- When a seemingly crazed fare evader began pummeling a San Francisco police officer, it was probably more than just a bit fortunate the attack happened outside a martial arts academy.

A 24-year-old jiu-jitsu instructor named Pedro Arrigoni came to the officer's rescue, controlling the attacker with a choke hold and forcing him into submission, according to sfexaminer.com.

Police said the 23-year-old suspect assaulted the officer while trying to avoid a fare evasion citation.

Here's a video of the situation - low quality unfortunately - and beware of some rather strong choice of words...

Hong Kong Fu Airline

China -- (Hong Kong) In order to deal with unruly - and most often drunk - passengers, Hong Kong Airlines is set to have all its cabin crew take kung fu classes, according to google.com.

The airlines has said that all staff have been invited to participate in wing chun training, but that this training had been made compulsory only for their cabin crews.

The company's deputy general manager of corporate communication said they had on the average of three incidents involving disruptive passengers every week on board their aircrafts.

On a recent flight from Beijing to Hong Kong, a crew member reportedly had to put her martial arts training into practice.

Confuse-Us Speaks #22

The belt! It's the belt! ...or how quality martial arts belt can help you "defense yourself better" - a reasoning I always suspected could be somewhat flawed, but hey ... what do I know?

One thing I do suspect should be considerer a fact, is that before you send out a press release in any language, it might be a sound business principle to have it proof read by someone who speaks the language at least somewhat fluently... I really can't see this being the case here.

I'm kind of "con-fused" by expressions such as "martial art is an ultimate self defense technique"; "high quality martial art product will support you to set the combat in your side"; "to perform well , you will need highest quality custom handmade and hand-embroidered martial arts, karate belt"; "every step taken by the martial artist is meant to accomplish a target during the martial art combat"; or "martial arts can be subdivided on the basis of skill and technique you want to learn."

Oh well, I can't take any chances.. I need a quality belt, just to be on the safe side. I do wonder if I can have "Confuse-Us was here" embroidered on it? :-)

Tased, Arrested - MMA Fighter

California -- A 27-year-old professional MMA fighter was reportedly arrested in Ventura recently, according to keyt.com. The man was suspected of stealing a woman's car, according to police.

When approached by police officers, the MMA fighter attempted to evade arrest and fight the officers. He was reportedly tased and taken into custody.

Suspected Sexual Assault

Canada -- Vancouverite.com says a Nevada, USA based MMA fighter, 28, was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in London.

The MMA fighter was training at a training center in London when police reportedly walked in and asked to see him, according to lfpress.com.

Chokie-Dokie

New Zealand -- A 40-year-old man - trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, recently claimed he had to choke his girl friend in self-defense and that his only other option was to hit her. Yea, right...

The "crappler" said the reason he choked his 26-year-old girlfriend three times until she passed out on March 20, 2010, was simply to stop her attacking him, according to stuff.co.nz.

Fight for Kisses

Ha, ha, a brilliant commercial here - totally worth seeing. A diaper-dan fighter for sure :-)

An Amazing Recovery

Arizona -- When Darla Loy, 28 at the time, was diagnosed with 'Mixed Connective Tissue Disease' (MCTD), an autoimmune disorders akin to Lupus, her doctor told her that she needed to take pain medication, anti-inflammatories and steroids - probably for the rest of her life.

The reply from the woman was simply that it was not going to happen, according to sandspringsleader.com.

Rather, the determined woman started her own research and began fighting back - eventually taking up karate at the same place her young son was a student.

Her determination, changes in diet and karate workouts soon helped her begin to lose weight and she found her confidence was restored. She was indeed able to do without the medications to the amazement of her doctor.

After getting a passion for karate, she advanced to aerobic style kick-boxing, before finally going into the ring as a full-fledged kick-boxer.

I urge you to read this truly inspirational story about  a woman with a remarkable fighting spirit.

A Great KarateKid

UK -- Reading about 7-year-old karate student David Agba here from St Mary's Island, really is the kind of stuff that helps me maintain a continued belief in the human race.

The big-hearted lad was reportedly so moved when he learned about the tsunami and earthquake in Japan and all the troubles the Japanese people were facing that he decided to sell some of his birthday presents in order to raise money and help out.

In order to further boost his fundraising efforts, the school-boy showed off some of his karate skills to friends and neighbors on the island ... for a small fee.

What a sweet gesture! Son, you are truly a shining example for the rest of us to follow :-)

Spoof Commercials

Here's a great and very funny site with some excellent takes on martial arts commercials from "Grand Master Pete". "Source Yung Kwang Gojo Soo Fu Do" ... you gotta love it! These guys have the business side of things down to a T :-)

Confuse-Us Speaks #21

UK -- It appears that judo might not be a martial art after all? Kind of surprising, at least to yours truly. I could have sworn it was when we last had a count...

The well informed (that was a joke) reporters at kidderminstershuttle.co.uk seems to indicate the above, by stating: "Black belts in judo are much more rare than in martial arts, (...)"

So now you know boys and girls. If you do judo, you're into a great sport obviously, but not martial arts ... at least according to a British media representative. Reporters... Yay!

Cookie-Fu

The Geekdads over at wired.com reports about a dice-based game which appears to be what the good kung-fu doctor ordered: Cookie Fu!

The game was apparently released in 2002 and is reported to have quite a number of fans. The producers, Blue Kabuto, have reworked and tweaked the game, and it was re-released in 2010.

Lewd Acts, Instructor Arrested

California -- A 31-year-old man has been arrested in Auburn on charges of committing lewd acts with a 14-year-old student, according to fox40.com.

The man reportedly teaches martial arts in Auburn. He is allegedly both competing in martial arts (MMA) as a professional athlete, as well as being an ordained minister.

Kung Fu Assault

Dubai -- A heath inspector was left with permanent disabilities after three Chinese staff members at a bodybuilding and kung fu club assaulted the man November 23, 2010.

The three attackers have now been sentenced to jail for the assault and will be deported after serving the sentence.

The inspector went to a gym in Muraqqabat and issued a physician working on the premises with a written notice for bad health and safety related matters, like cans of expired foods, bad odors, smoking indoors and unsatisfactory sanitary conditions. On a previous visit, the business had been given a verbal warning.

You can read more here about similar antics of "certified" Martial Arts Maniacs.

Gunned Down, MMA Fighter

California -- An American, 25-year-old MMA fighter and his 28-year-old friend were both gunned down in what was describes as an execution-style killing on the Mexican border, according to nbcsandiego.com.

Authorities in Mexico said the men were waiting in their company truck while waiting to cross into the U.S. before dawn at the San Ysidro border crossing Monday morning.

The two victims were carpooling from from their Tijuana homes into work in San Diego when they were shot and killed.

A gunman reportedly walked up to the company truck truck with U.S. (California) license plates and opened fire, killing both men as they sat in traffic.

Their employer in San Diego described the victims as diligent workers who had moved to the Mexican border city so they could afford to live on the beach, according to daytondailynews.coml.

"These were good guys," the employer said. "Obviously no one deserves to die like this, but these were good guys."

Judoka, Positive Drug Test

Hungary -- It has now been confirmed that the drug test 'B' sample done on a 22-year-old Hungarian judoka is positive, according to the Hungarian Judo Association and usatoday.com.

As previously reported, the drug test was taken after the fighter won gold in his weight division at the World Cup held in Budapest in February. Furthermore, the man also tested positive in January after a competition in Baku, Azerbaijan. He tested positive for stanozolol, a steroid.

Kung-Flu Fighting

Everybody was kung flu fighting...

Texas -- Through a campaign called "Flu Fighters Tour", the Department of State Health Services in Texas is reportedly teaching kids how to stay germ-free, using music and kung fu style movies.

Across the state, 40 schools is provided a the chance to learn protection against flu, like staying home while you're sick and washing the hands properly, according to cbs19.tv.

Lack of Karate Discipline?

UK -- A karate-trained, 17-year-old youth, reportedly used his martial arts skills against a 70-year-old man, according to thisissouthdevon.co.uk.

A courtroom in Exeter heard the teenager claimed his actions were purely self-defense while he explained how he protected himself against an attack by a the senior citizen in Torquay.

The young defendant admitted he had punched the older man and that he had used a martial arts move to stop him getting up off the ground on July 30, 2010.

The teenager told the court that he had done boxing and karate training and boxing in the past and all of them teach discipline and self-defense.

My thought is that it is one thing to be taught discipline - another thing all together is showing it. Beating down a 70-year-old man i "self-defense"... Right...

Finnish Fines

Finland -- A District Court in the Finnish capitol Helsinki has handed down sentences to one young man and three young women in connection with the mass brawl which occurred at an amusement park in June 2010.

The man - said to be a martial arts expert who has competed at national level - received a 50-day suspended prison term after he was found guilty on three charges of assault, according to hs.fi.

The brawl escalated into a mass fight, and it apparently began with some queue-jumping on one of the rides at the amusement park.

Fighter Facing Murder Charges

Minnesota -- A 28-year-old co-founder and trainer of a Watertown MMA team is facing murder charges after an alcohol-fueled assault in a bar parking lot two weeks ago, according to police.

The altercation reportedly took place about 3 a.m. in a Watertown parking lot on March 13, according to argusleader.com.