Sunday,  September 16, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 061 • 31 of 38 •  Other Editions

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companies since 2009, including Talbots, DirecTV and Dish Network. The cases have yielded $5.6 million in penalties.
• The agency said this month that it was mailing refund checks to more than 4,000 consumers nationwide who were caught up in a scam where the telemarketer used robocalls from names like "Heather from card services" to pitch worthless credit card rate reduction programs for an up-front fee. Checks to consumers range from $31 to $1,300 depending on how much was lost.
• To file a complaint with the FTC, people can go online to www.ftc.gov or call 888-382-1222 to report their experience for possible enforcement.
•

AP News in Brief
NATO forces in Afghanistan: 4 US troops killed in attack by Afghan police

• KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- At least one Afghan police officer turned his gun on NATO troops at a remote checkpoint in southern Afghanistan before dawn Sunday, killing four American service members before escaping, according to Afghan and international officials.
• It was the third attack by Afghan forces or insurgents disguised in military uniforms against international forces in as many days, killing eight troops in all.
• Recent months have seen a string of such insider attacks by Afghan forces

against their international counterparts. The killings have imperiled the military partnership between Kabul and NATO, a working relationship that is key to the handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces as international troops draw down.
• The most recent attacks also come amid an international uproar about an Internet video mocking the Prophet Muhammad that many fear could further aggravate Afghan-U.S. relations. The video has sparked protests throughout the Muslim world and the Afghan government blocked the YouTube site that hosts the video and its parent company, Google Inc., over the weekend in a move to prevent violent protests.
• So far, protests in Afghanistan have remained peaceful.
• ___

Pope decries Syria 'horror' at open-air Mass in Beirut

• BEIRUT (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI made a sweeping appeal Sunday for peace in Syria and the Middle East, decrying the violence "which generates so much suf

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