2 strong quakes hit northwestern Iran

2 strong quakes hit northwestern Iran

TEHRAN, Iran

Two strong earthquakes leveled villages and damaged homes in northwestern Iran on Saturday, killing at least 180 people and injuring more than 1,350 others, state TV reported. Thousands of people spent the night outdoors as aftershocks rattled the area.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported that Saturday’s first quake at 4:53 p.m. had a magnitude of 6.4 and struck 37 miles northeast of the city of Tabriz at a depth of 6.2 miles.

The second quake with a magnitude of 6.3 struck 11 minutes later, the U.S.G.S. reported. Its epicenter was 29 miles northeast of Tabriz at a depth of 6.1 miles.

Missing vacationer found 2 weeks later

RALEIGH, N.C.

Hugh Armstrong says he hitchhiked and walked 1,000 miles south from New Hampshire without knowing who he was. Then he heard his granddaughter’s name in a McDonald’s in Asheville and started to fill in a few blanks.

Armstrong, 72, had been missing for more than two weeks, when he disappeared after going for a walk while on vacation near a New Hampshire lake. The retired IBM employee stacked hay for a Pennsylvania farmer along the way, hitched a ride to Virginia and made his way to his home state of North Carolina.

A deputy sheriff found him walking on U.S. 70 at 1:30 a.m. Saturday and identified him as a missing person by the initials on his wedding band.

Army welcomes 1st openly gay general

LOS ANGELES

During a promotion ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, a proud wife placed a star insignia on her spouse’s uniformed shoulder — the official mark of a U.S. Army brigadier general.

With that simple gesture, Brig. Gen. Tammy Smith became the country’s first openly gay general.

The promotion of Smith, the highest-ranking gay or lesbian to acknowledge their sexual orientation while serving, comes less than a year after the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the policy that did not allow gay or lesbians to serve openly in the military.

Va. man wins AARP spelling bee again

CHEYENNE, Wyo.

A 67-year-old Virginia man out-spelled four of his cousins to capture first place at this year’s AARP National Spelling Bee.

Michael Petrina Jr., of Arlington, Va., spelled better than 48 others Saturday to become the bee’s first repeat winner. He won the bee in 2009, and placed second last year and in 2008.

Wyoming AARP spokeswoman Joanne Mai says the retired attorney won by correctly spelling the word “rhizoctonia,” a type of imperfect fungi.

Petrina’s prizes include $1,000 and a five-year AARP membership.

Report: Profiling alleged at airport

NEW YORK

A newspaper says Transportation Security Administration officers at Boston’s Logan International Airport are alleging that a program intended to help flag possible terrorists based on passengers’ mannerisms has led to racial profiling.

The New York Times reports that in interviews and internal complaints it has obtained, more than 30 officers involved in the “behavior detection” program at Logan say the operation not only targets Middle Easterners, but also passengers who fit certain profiles — such as Hispanics traveling to Miami, or blacks wearing baseball caps backward.

The TSA tells the newspaper that it’s investigating the allegations and says if the claims are true, it will take “immediate and decisive action.”

Combined dispatches