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• NEW DELHI (AP) -- A Danish tourist was gang-raped near a popular shopping area in New Delhi after she stopped to ask for directions, police said Wednesday, the latest case to focus attention on the scourge of violence against women in India.
• The 51-year-old woman also was robbed and beaten in the attack, which happened Tuesday afternoon or early evening near Connaught Place, police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said. The woman had lost her way and was trying to get back to her hotel, he said.
• She approached a group of men for directions, but they lured her to a secluded area where they raped her at knife-point, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
• The woman managed to reach her hotel Tuesday evening and the owner called police. Police are questioning several suspects but no arrests have been made.
• "When she came, it was miserable," said Amit Bahl, owner of the Amax Hotel in the Paharganj area, which is popular with backpackers. The woman was crying and "not in good shape," he said.
• ___

• MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Behind the facade of pristine ski slopes, craft beer, quaint village greens and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, Vermont is grappling with painkiller and heroin abuse, a challenge leaders say is fueling crime and wrecking lives and families disproportionately in this tiny state.
• Nearly every day, police across Vermont are responding to burglaries or armed robberies investigators believe are prompted by the unslakable hunger for money to feed heroin or pill habits. In many cases, law enforcement officials say, what began as the abuse of prescription drugs has turned into heroin use because it's less expensive and, more recently, easier to get.
• Federal statistics rank Vermont among the top 10 states for the abuse of painkillers and illicit drug use other than marijuana -- including heroin -- for people ages 18 to 25.
• Last week, Gov. Peter Shumlin took the unusual step of highlighting the chal

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