FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.

Cruise worker admits raping, trying to toss victim in ocean

A cruise worker confessed to raping a passenger and trying to throw her overboard from her stateroom balcony, claiming the Valentine’s Day assault was revenge for an alleged slight, federal authorities said Tuesday.

The victim, 31, told FBI agents that her attacker appeared with no warning inside her darkened stateroom in the middle of the night, raped, beat, punched and strangled her and then tried to throw her from the balcony into the ocean in international waters somewhere off the coast of Roatan, Honduras.

The vicious attack happened on a cruise ship that departed from Port Everglades, Fla., according to court records.

The worker, Ketut Pujayasa, 28, was quickly detained on the MS Nieuw Amsterdam and arrested by the FBI when the ship returned to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday.

Pujayasa, an Indonesian citizen who worked as a room service attendant, claimed he was punishing the woman because he believed she had insulted him and his family, the FBI agents wrote in their report.

TOPEKA, Kan.

Bill would permit spanking hard enough to leave marks

A Kansas lawmaker is proposing a bill that would allow teachers, caregivers and parents to spank children hard enough to leave marks.

Current Kansas law allows spanking that doesn’t leave marks. State Rep. Gail Finney, a Democrat from Wichita, says she wants to allow up to 10 strikes of the hand and that could leave redness and bruising. The bill also would allow parents to give permission to others to spank their children.

It would continue to ban hitting a child with fists, in the head or body, or with a belt or switch.

Finney said she wants to restore parental rights and improve discipline.

SALT LAKE CITY

Mother spends $567 to buy all of store’s ‘indecent’ shirts

A mother upset about “indecent” T-shirts on display at a Utah mall found a quick if not especially convenient way to remove them: She bought every last one.

The Daily Herald of Provo reported that Judy Cox was shopping with her teenage son Saturday at the University Mall in Orem, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City, when she saw the offending shirts in the window of PacSun.

The shirts featured pictures of scantily dressed models in provocative poses.

Cox told the Daily Herald she raised the issue with the store manager and was told the T-shirts couldn’t be taken down without approval from the corporate office.

In response, Cox bought every offending T-shirt in the store, for a total of $567.

She said she plans to return them later.

BROWNSVILLE, Texas

Navy aircraft carrier takes its final sail – to scrapyard

The Navy’s first post-World War II supercarrier has arrived at its last port of call.

The massive aircraft carrier USS Forrestal completed its final sail Tuesday when it arrived at a South Texas scrapyard from Philadelphia.

All Star Metals President Nikhil Shah said the vessel arrived at the Brownsville yard Tuesday afternoon.

The carrier left Philadelphia under tow Feb. 4. The 60-year-old ship was sold to All Star Metals for 1 cent.

The USS Forrestal was decommissioned in September 1993, after more than 38 years of service. Its flight deck was the site of a 1967 fire that killed 132 crewmen and injured 62 others.

The Navy made the USS Forrestal available for donation as a museum or memorial but says it received no feasible applications for reuse.

– From news service reports

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