INTERNACIONAL
UK bans ninja swords in move to crack down on violent knife crime
Brits have until Aug. 1 to get rid of all their ninja swords as the U.K.’s Labour government looks to crack down on knife crime.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Thursday that «ninja swords» specifically will be banned this summer after the 2022 murder of 16-year-old Ronan Kanda, who was stabbed to death by a ninja sword just outside his home.
«Confirmed: Ninja swords will be banned by this summer,» Starmer said in a post on X. «When we promise action we take it.»
UK STABBING SUSPECT IN DEATHS OF 3 GIRLS FOUND WITH RICIN, AL QAEDA MATERIAL AND CHARGED UNDER TERRORISM ACT
An activist wearing a T-shirt with the slogan «Put Knives Down!» stands in front of pictures of victims of knife crime during a demonstration outside New Scotland Yard. (Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The new ban, «Ronan’s Law,» will now make it illegal to possess, sell, make or import ninja swords.
«Since losing our beautiful boy Ronan, we have relentlessly campaigned for a ban on ninja swords, the lethal weapon which took his life,» Pooja Kanda, the mother to the 16-year-old boy, said, according to a government readout. «We believe ninja swords have no place in our society other than to seriously harm and kill.
«Each step towards tackling knife crime is a step towards getting justice for our boy Ronan.»
UK STABBING SPREE LEAVES 2 KIDS DEAD, 9 OTHERS INJURED AT TAYLOR SWIFT-THEMED EVENT: ‘DEEPLY SHOCKING’
The British government has set up a surrender process for any owner of a ninja sword, defined as a blade between 14 inches and 24 inches «with one straight cutting edge with a tanto-style point.»
«From 1 August, anyone caught in possession of a ninja sword in private could face 6 months in prison, and this will later increase to 2 years under new measures in the Crime and Policing Bill,» the government said in a statement. «There is already a penalty of up to 4 years in prison for carrying any weapon in public.»
Knife crime has long plagued the U.K. and though offenses involving a «sharp instrument» committed last year across England and Wales were down from a 15-year peak in 2019, they were still substantially higher than crimes reported in 2010, when 33,800 crimes were reported, versus the 50,500 cases in 2024.
A person views knives available to purchase via an online website. (Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)
A sharp instrument, according to the U.K., could include knives, but it could also include the use of a broken bottle to commit an offense.
The U.K. saw a significant drop from the 52,000 cases involving a «sharp instrument» reported in 2019 by the following year with 41,700 cases reported.
But these incidents have continued to increase each year since.
Nearly two dozen different types of knives are already banned in the UK, including swords that are not a part of a national uniform, switch blades, zombie knives, belt buckle knives or butterfly knives, to name a few.
Knives that are permitted are those used for cooking or while working and have a cutting edge of no more than three inches.
Though the government states that «it’s illegal to use any knife or weapon in a threatening way.»
Under Ronan’s Law, jail sentences were also increased for selling knives to minors and the illegal sale of banned knives.
An officer outside All Saints Catholic High School on Granville Road in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, after a 15-year-old boy died in a stabbing at the school Feb. 3, 2025. (Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
«Knife crime is destroying young lives as too many teenagers are being drawn into violence, and it is far too easy for them to get hold of dangerous weapons,» Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement. «Ronan Kanda was just 16 when he was ruthlessly killed by two boys only a year older than him.
«We are acting with urgency to bring forward measures to prevent deadly weapons from getting into the wrong hands and will continue to do whatever is needed to prevent young people being killed on our streets as part of our mission to halve knife crime over the next decade.»
INTERNACIONAL
Ofensiva en EE.UU. para evitar las vacunas contra el sarampión, polio y otras enfermedades
Resistencia en los estados demócratas
Alarma entre los pediatras
«Enfermedad sin control»
INTERNACIONAL
Cal State prof warns scrapping SAT in name of ‘inclusivity’ is leaving students unprepared
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A California economics professor is sounding the alarm on the «deficits in learning» she is seeing in the classroom, arguing that the decision to scrap standardized testing in the name of «inclusivity» is actually a disservice to the students it claims to help.
Cal State Long Beach professor Andrea Mays told Fox News Digital that the current cohort of college students, many of whom spent their formative middle school years in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, are arriving on campus unprepared for basic coursework.
Mays spoke to Fox News Digital about the state’s university system’s decision to scrap the SAT as a requirement for college admission as playing a large role in that and that it has led to students coming to college unprepared and dropping out at higher rates.
Mays says the drop rate is up «phenomenally» and that chairs of other departments tell her it’s widespread, with 25% of students dropping classes, with math being a key area where students are coming in underprepared.
GOT A SCOOP ON CAMPUS? SEND US A TIP HERE
A teacher at Cal State Long Beach is warning of the ramifications of the state system removing the SAT requirement. (Canart7/iStock)
«I teach a class that is offered for non-economics majors,» Mays explained. «I could put on an index card exactly what math is required for my class, it’s not calculus, and they are struggling with it, they’re embarrassed, they’re demoralized, they come into my classroom, and they say, or into my office hours, and they say, I never learned this stuff, I don’t know how to calculate a percentage change.»
«I can show them, but those are the students who are actually coming to me and asking me for help. There are lots of other students who are just too embarrassed even to do that, and who just end up dropping the class.»
Mays, who recently penned an opinion piece in the Orange County Register with the headline «Bring back the SAT at CSU — or admit we are failing our own students,» says that the explanation she has gotten for the CSU system dropping the SAT is that «we want to be inclusive.»
«I am definitely for inclusivity on our campus,» Mays said. «We have a very diverse campus here. But I think it’s fraud to tell people that what we’re doing is so that we can be inclusive when really what we’re doing is we’re allowing people to enter that we know are really going to have a difficult time of it. They have no idea.»
‘NATION’S REPORT CARD’ SHOWS ALARMING DECLINE IN SCIENCE, MATH AND READING SCORES
Graduates take part in the commencement ceremony for the College of Natural Sciences & Mathematics, California State University of Long Beach at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Monday, May 15, 2023. (Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images)
In recent years, several activist groups have railed against the SAT and standardized testing in general, including the nation’s largest teachers union, and Fox News Digital asked Mays if that narrative is behind the CSU decision not to require the SAT.
«That might be a little bit of the implication there without saying so, I’m not an expert in the recent changes in the SAT, others have done that work looking at whether you can change questions so that groups that don’t do well on certain questions, can do better on other types of questions,» Mays said.
«There’s definitely room for discussion about what kind of a standard, is it the ACT? Is it the SAT or something? The problem is that high schools are heterogeneous,» Mays said.
«Not all high schools are excellent even if they say they are. And so you’ll get students who get As in algebra two, and then they come into my class and they can’t calculate a percentage change. They can’t find the intersection between two straight lines, both of which are seventh and eighth grade math requirements. So that students are getting passed on from high school into a four-year university is a disservice to them. They get here thinking they’re wonderful and finding out that they are at the bottom of the ability distribution for math and English.»
Acting Chancellor Steve Relyea stated in 2022 that when the decision to remove the SAT and ACT was made, the goal was to «level the playing field» and provide «greater access.» The decision followed a year-long study by the Admission Advisory Council, which found that the tests provided «negligible additional value» in predicting student success compared to high school GPA.
SCATHING REPORT REVEALS ANTIFA-LINKED ORG PASSING OUT MATERIAL TO K-12 STUDENTS: ‘POLITICAL REVOLUTION’
The system officially moved to «multi-factored admission criteria,» focusing on GPA in specific high school courses, extracurriculars, and socio-economic factors.
«Access without readiness is not opportunity,» Mays wrote in her article. «It is a disservice. If CSU is serious about student success, affordability, and equity, it must be willing to measure preparedness — and act on what it finds.»
Mays added, «Pretending preparation gaps do not exist is not equity.»
Mays told Fox News Digital that California’s robust and effective community college system is a tool ready to be utilized as an «alternative» for students who are coming out of high school, many who lost years of learning during COVID, and not prepared for college.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
«Go into the community system and take the lowest level English class you can so that you can write a sentence, you can write a paragraph, you could make an argument,» Mays said. «Take a basic math class that will transfer onto a four-year university and learn how to do the basic math that perhaps you didn’t learn when you were in middle school online.»
The California State University System did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
«There’s no reason not to use an SAT as a filter to let students know whether they’re prepared for college-level work or not,» Mays told Fox News Digital.
campus radicals,california,education
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Saturday that it had carried out ten strikes against over 30 ISIS targets in Syria, in recent days as part of a joint military effort to «sustain relentless military pressure on remnants from the terrorist network.»
CENTCOM said, from Feb. 3 – 12, its forces «struck ISIS infrastructure and weapons storage targets with precision munitions delivered by fixed-wing, rotary-wing, and unmanned aircraft.»
US MILITARY IN SYRIA CARRIES OUT 5 STRIKES AGAINST ‘MULTIPLE ISIS TARGETS’
Recently, CENTCOM forces conducted five strikes against an ISIS communication site, critical logistics node, and weapons storage facilities in Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2.
Operation Hawkeye Strike targets over 30 ISIS sites following a December ambush that killed US troops. (CENTCOM)
«Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,» Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement at the time.
«Operating in coordination with coalition and partner forces to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS makes America, the region and the world safer,» he added.
AFTER TRUMP DECLARED ISIS DEFEATED, US FACES NEW TEST AS DETAINEES MOVE AMID SYRIA POWER SHIFT
On Jan. 27, President Trump told reporters he had a «great conversation with the highly respected» President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck. (CENTCOM)
«All of the things having to do with Syria in that area are working out very, very well,» said President Trump. «So we are very happy about it.»
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS «ambush» attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead on Dec. 13, 2025, in Palmyra, Syria.
AFTER TRUMP DECLARED ISIS DEFEATED, US FACES NEW TEST AS DETAINEES MOVE AMID SYRIA POWER SHIFT
«More than 50 ISIS terrorists have been killed or captured and over 100 ISIS infrastructure targets have been struck with hundreds of precision munitions during two months of targeted operations,» states CENTCOM.
The Operation Hawkeye Strike mission was launched in response to an ISIS «ambush» attack that left two U.S. service members and an American interpreter dead. (CENTCOM)
On Thursday, CENTCOM announced it has completed its withdrawal of American forces from al-Tanf Garrison in Syria pointing to a broader shift in U.S. posture in the region.
CHAOS IN SYRIA SPARKS FEARS OF ISIS PRISON BREAKS AS US RUSHES DETAINEES TO IRAQ
«Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,» said Adm. Brad Cooper. (CENTCOM)
Operation Inherent Resolve was launched in 2014 to combat ISIS with American troops maintaining a limited presence to support partner forces and prevent ISIS from returning after it was territorially defeated in 2019.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital’s Ashley Carnahan and Greg Norman-Diamond contributed to this report.
world,isis,syria,military,pentagon
Los bloques de Pro y la UCR objetan el polémico artículo de la reforma laboral que introduce cambios en el régimen de licencias
Reforma laboral: Milei quiere aprobarla sin cambios en Diputados, pero la oposición busca corregirla
El insólito regreso de Joaquín Levinton a los escenarios tras recuperarse de un infarto: llegó en ambulancia y entró en camilla
Un testigo de identidad reservada, el lavado y sospechas de más negocios ilegales: las nuevas líneas del caso Andis
Usar papel manteca en los rieles de la ventana: qué beneficios tiene y cómo aprovecharlo
Crece el endeudamiento de las familias: ya destinan un tercio de sus ingresos al pago de compromisos con entidades no bancarias
A quién afecta la Reforma laboral: estos son los puntos clave del proyecto de Milei
El emotivo homenaje a Luis Brandoni que hizo romper en llanto al espectáculo argentino
Jornada financiera: el dólar cayó a un mínimo en casi tres meses y subieron las acciones argentinas en Wall Street
Reforma laboral: la modificación sobre accidentes o enfermedades ajenas al trabajo
POLITICA2 días agoA quién afecta la Reforma laboral: estos son los puntos clave del proyecto de Milei
- POLITICA2 días ago
Reforma laboral: la modificación sobre accidentes o enfermedades ajenas al trabajo
- ECONOMIA3 días ago
Cayeron 20% las ventas de automóviles en China y el régimen impone medidas para regular el mercado
