JERUSALEM — White House envoy George Mitchell ended two days of talks here with little visible progress between Israelis and Palestinians, but with apparent assent from both sides to pursue peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, including Syria.

In brief remarks after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the former senator from Maine said the United States wants to build on a 2002 Arab initiative seeking "a comprehensive peace" between Israel and all Arab nations, including a Palestinian state. The Obama administration already has made overtures to Syria, along with Lebanon the most antagonistic of Israel's neighbors, and Mitchell has been touring other Arab states. Jordan's King Abdullah is due in the United States next week.

One topic in this week's talks was Iranian influence in the region. Some Arab states share U.S. concerns about Iran — as does the new Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and the Israelis told Mitchell that the sense of common threat may be strong enough to produce steps toward peace.

RESTRICTIONS PUT ON ANTARCTIC TOURISM

WASHINGTON — Countries with interests in Antarctica have endorsed U.S.-proposed mandatory limits on Antarctic tourism that aim to protect the continent's fragile environment, officials said yesterday.

At the conclusion of a two-week meeting in Baltimore, the parties to the 50-year-old Antarctic Treaty agreed to impose binding restrictions on the size of cruise ships that land passengers there and the number of people they can bring ashore at any one time, the officials said. The restrictions will replace the current voluntary limits.

The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators says visits have risen from 6,700 in the 1992-93 season to 29,500 in the 2006-07 season and 45,213 in 2008-09.

APRIL SNOW SNARLS COLORADO, WYOMING

DENVER — More than a foot of wet, heavy snow closed highways and canceled flights in parts of Colorado and Wyoming yesterday, snarling traffic and prompting school closures and flight cancellations.

The American Red Cross opened a shelter in Idaho Springs to help stranded travelers. One person died in a two-vehicle accident on slick roads in Weld County.

Up to 3 feet of snow was expected by tonight in the mountains above 6,000 feet. Nearly 2 feet already had fallen in Rocky Mountain National Park, about 60 miles northwest of Denver.

VICTIM SUGGESTS LINK TO CRAIGSLIST KILLER

WARWICK, R.I. — An exotic dancer who was bound and held at gunpoint at a suburban Providence hotel by a man who answered her Craigslist ad suggested that her ordeal could be linked to a Boston hotel slaying, police said yesterday.

A 26-year-old Las Vegas woman who police believe was offering sex for money through the Craigslist posting was attacked at a Holiday Inn Express late Thursday night, Warwick Police Chief Stephen McCartney said. The assailant fled when the victim's husband returned to the room.

Earlier this week, a woman who advertised massage services on Craigslist was shot and killed at a luxury hotel in Boston.

LINCOLN STAMPS GO FOR NEARLY $2 MILLION

DALLAS — A Georgia man's collection of more than 10,000 Abraham Lincoln stamps has sold at auction in New York City for a total of nearly $2 million.

Dallas-based Spink Shreves Galleries yesterday auctioned off the Lincoln-focused collection that took 67-year-old William J. Ainsworth of Roswell more than 30 years to amass. Officials said bids came from around the world.

The pre-sale estimate for the collection was more than $2 million.

Among the collection's highlights was a proof of a block of eight mint-condition 90-cent stamps of Lincoln with his image accidentally printed upside-down. The block is one of only two known and sold for $149,600.

A 90-cent vertical block of six Lincoln stamps from 1869 sold for $86,250.