World in brief: Plane carrying 152 crashes in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A domestic passenger jet carrying 152 people crashed into the hills surrounding Pakistan’s capital this morning, officials said. Rescuers were trying to reach the scene amid rain and difficult roads.

The exact cause of the Airblue crash was not immediately clear, said Pervez George, a civil aviation official. He said the plane was flying from Karachi to Islamabad.

Pakistani news channels showed what appeared to be wreckage of the plane as a helicopter hovered above the heavily forested hills to assess the situation. Fire was visible and smoke was blowing up from the scene. Forestry guards had seen at least five bodies so far.

Firms apologize for cosmetics names

MEXICO CITY – The New York-based MAC cosmetics company and the Rodarte design firm of Los Angeles apologized Tuesday for any offense caused by a joint collection inspired by U.S. and Mexican border towns that features some pallid, ghostly hues.

MAC said it will donate $100,000 to help the women of Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican border city plagued by violence and murders of women.

The collection of lipstick, blushes and other cosmetics raised hackles on Mexican social networking sites because it used names like “Juarez,” “Bordertown,” “Ghost Town” and “Factory.”

More than 100 women were abused and murdered before their bodies dumped in Ciudad Juarez between 1993 and 2003.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Two foreigners detained in Nicaragua have been identified as the American couple wanted in Panama in the death of a U.S. woman, authorities said Tuesday.

The pair matched photographs provided by Panamanian authorities of William Adolfo Cortez of Texas and his wife Jane, who are being sought in the death of Lynn Hughes, Nicaraguan army spokesman Juan Ramon Morales said.

Panamanian police found Hughes’s body last week buried in the back patio of a hotel owned by Cortez in western Bocas del Toro province.

Panamanian authorities said they also found the remains of a man who also might be a U.S. citizen.

Panamanian police suspect Cortez killed the two in a bid to grab their property. Police said Hughes once owned the hotel where her body was found. They said records show the other victim also once owned property now under Cortez’s name.

BEIJING – They sent army doctors, the police and veterinarians to rescue her, but after three hours at the hospital, nothing could save Quan Quan, the beloved giant panda of the Jinan Zoo in Shandong province.

On Tuesday, six days after Quan Quan’s death, officials announced that poisonous gas had killed the 21-year-old panda, dubbed a “heroic mother” by state media for having birthed seven cubs over the years.

An autopsy revealed that Quan Quan died after inhaling carbon monoxide and chlorine coming from a former air raid shelter that was being disinfected.