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2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER 2017 News Donald Trump warns US may have to 'totally destroy' North Korea IN an inflammatory debut speech to the UN General As- sembly, US President Donald Trump has warned of the threat from "rogue nations", singling out North Korea and Iran. Trump warned that America would destroy North Korea if it was forced to defend itself or its allies. Pouring scorn on the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, Trump said: "Rocket man is on a suicide mission." The speech comes as North Korea has been testing nu- clear warheads and delivery systems with increasing fre- quency, in defiance of the UN. Iran also fell foul of the US president, who described it as a "corrupt dictatorship" intent on destabilising the Middle East. Calling his predecessor's deal over Iran's own nuclear programme an embarrassment, Trump called on the govern- ment in Tehran to put an end to its support of terrorism. In other parts of his speech he said the US could "no longer be taken advantage of or enter one-sided deals" and emphasised the importance of "strong sovereign nations" to the maintenance of interna- tional order. He also said that some na- tions were "going to Hell" but the UN could help them. America could not stand by and watch the unfolding crisis in Venezuela, which is led by a leftwing government that is hostile to the US, he said, as he denounced socialism, claim- ing that it had only brought "anguish and devastation and failure". German woman robbed, raped and left tied naked to a pole in Rome A 57-YEAR-OLD German has been robbed, raped and subse- quently left naked and tied to a pole in Rome. The woman was found by a taxi driver in the tourist spot of Villa Borghese, in the heart of the Italian capital, on Monday around 9pm local time. She was unable to scream as her as- sailant had put a handkerchief in her mouth before fleeing the scene. The victim, who has not been named, was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors con- firmed she had been sexually assaulted. Police are looking for the sus- pect, thought to be a man in his 20s, probably a non-Italian national, news agency Ansa re- ported. The woman has been living in Rome for six months. She told authorities her assailant took some €40 before raping her. The mayor of Rome, Vir- ginia Raggi, took to Twitter to condemn the latest episode of sexual violence to occur in the capital. "Once again, violence against women," she wrote. "The ump- teenth, monstrous, ignoble and unacceptable act that must not be left unpunished". Earlier this month, a 20-year- old Finnish national working in Rome as a baby sitter was al- legedly raped after spending a night out with friends in Rome. Police arrested a 22-year-old Bengali man who lived and worked in Italy. The suspect is believed to have attacked the woman after offering to escort her home. During the car journey, the man tried to have sex with the woman, who started shouting. The suspect then dragged her behind a bus parked near Ter- mini train station, where he al- legedly raped her. He then stole some money from her wallet and fled. The alleged rape took place days after an Ivorian man was arrested after he tried to rape an American tourist in a park in Rome. The whole peninsula has been witnessing a string of rape cases that shocked the na- tion in the past weeks. An Italian man raped a fe- male doctor after he pretended to be sick so he could gain ac- cess to a hospital in Sicily on Monday (18 September), local media reported. Two Italian policemen are currently being investigated after being accused of raping two US students after escort- ing them from a nightclub in Florence. Earlier this month, the gang- rape of a Polish tourist and a transgender woman rocked the tourist town of Rimini. Four people were arrested after being accused of raping the Polish woman while beat- ing and robbing her husband and forcing him to watch the sexual violence. The gang was also accused of raping a Peru- vian transgender woman on the same night. The recent cases of rape have reignited a debate on immi- gration in Italy, with far-right movements calling for a halt to immigration and chemical castration for the alleged rap- ists. Following the latest case in Rome, the leader of the far- right Lega Nord political par- ty, Matteo Salvini, wrote on Twitter:"Enough, this has be- come an epidemic!" Two men charged with separate rapes of two teenage girls The girls, both from Haz-Zabbar, were the victims of rape at the hands of two men who should have been taking care of them WORLD NEWS MATTHEW AGIUS THE police yesterday before Magistrate Aaron Bugeja ar- raigned two men who were sep- arately charged with raping two teenage girls. The cases are separate, but the similarities are remarkable: both minors are aged 14 and both are from Haz-Zabbar. Both men, also from Haz-Zabbar, should have been taking care of the girls. In the first case, a 57-year-old man was remanded in custody on charges of repeatedly raping his partner's daughter over the last 18 months. Police inspector John Spiteri explained that the man was ar- rested on Monday evening, after the Vice Squad received a report from Appogg's Child Protection Services. The girl, who was living with her mother and the accused, had been raped on at least three oc- casions between October 2015 and August this year. Spiteri added that police inves- tigations had revealed that these sexual acts were committed against the girl's wishes – she was unable to physically resist the assaults. "It was only thanks to an anon- ymous report that Apogg had found out about the abuse. The girl's mother had been aware of the crime, but for some reason had not informed the police," Spiteri told the court. The man is a maintenance worker at a government-owned science and education installa- tion. A ban on the publication of his name was ordered to protect the victim's identity. Defence lawyer Franco Debono entered a not guilty plea and re- quested bail, declaring that the man would be living in Senglea if bail was granted. When the police objected, Debono argued that bail could only be refused if there was an accusation against the security of the state or punishable by life imprisonment. These were the only criteria laid down by the law for which bail could be re- fused. The court denied the bail re- quest. In the second case, Magistrate Bugeja heard that a girl had been repeatedly raped by a 61-year old man who had taken her in after she was thrown out of her family home. The unemployed man was charged with the rape of the mi- nor, as well as attempted violent indecent assault, illegal arrest and participating in sexual ac- tivities with a minor. Prosecuting police Inspector Joseph Busuttil explained that Appogg had informed the police that a minor had reached out to them, to report that she had been sexually abused and raped in December 2014. The girl had been evicted from her mother's house and, in the absence of anywhere else to live, had moved in with the man, who was a neighbour. The victim had told social workers that, after midnight mass in 2014 she had been offered some drinks by the man before being forced to have sex with him at his house. The girl had nowhere else to go and the rapes continued. Other homeless friends of hers would occasionally be invited in to help around the house, added the inspector. During police questioning, the man admitted to having had sex with the minor on a number of occasions but had denied raping her. He also denied having sex with the other girls, said the in- spector, adding that a previous, separate investigation into this had led police to the man, but had been abandoned due to lack of evidence. The court was told that the man was suffering from mental health problems. The accused, who sat in the dock with his arms violently shaking throughout the sit- ting, entered a plea of not guilty. Bail was not requested, defence lawyer Leontine Calleja instead asking the court to evaluate the man's mental state. She pointed out that he was being treated for a psychiatric condition. The court appointed a psychia- trist to examine the accused "in order to evaluate whether the accused was insane at the time of commission of the offence or during proceedings relating to the compilation of evidence." Donald Trump said the UN could help some countries that were 'going to hell'