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  • Originally published April 24, 2008 at 5:53 p.m., updated April 24, 2008 at 5:53 p.m.

BEIRUT, Lebanon – A Cabinet minister said Wednesday that Israel has passed a message to Syria saying it is prepared to return the Golan Heights in exchange for a peace treaty.

Israeli officials declined to comment on the report, but the message could be a sign of progress in back-channel contacts that the two nations have reported in recent days.

Syrian Emigrant Affairs Minister Buthaina Shaaban told satellite television al-Jazeera that the message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was relayed to Syrian President Bashar Assad by Turkey’s leader.

The message said Olmert “is ready for peace with Syria based on international conditions and the full return of the Golan Heights,” Shaaban said.

BRASILIA, Brazil – The death toll from a dengue outbreak in Rio de Janeiro state has reached 92, topping what was previously the state’s deadliest bout with the disease, Brazil’s government news agency said Wednesday.

The earlier outbreak, in 2002, killed 91 people, Agencia Brasil reported.

Another 96 possible dengue fatalities have been reported in the current outbreak but have yet to be confirmed, Agencia Brasil said. It cited figures from the Rio de Janeiro state Health Department.

On April 10, the department had been reporting at least 79 people confirmed killed by dengue so far this year.

The mortality rate from dengue has also soared to one death for every 1,204 cases, up from one per 3,167 in the 2002 outbreak.

LONDON – A somber Tony Blair is back in Parliament – in a portrait capturing an indelible image of the embattled politician in his final months in office.

The painting, unveiled Wednesday, takes its place in the buildings grand portrait galleries alongside British political luminaries, including former leaders Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill.

The former prime minister, who stepped down last June amid plunging popularity after 10 years in office, now juggles lucrative banking jobs with work as a Middle East peace envoy.

Curators said the work, commissioned by Parliament authorities, depicts an isolated and confrontational figure. It is the only formal portrait painted of Blair in office.

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Hopes dimmed on Wednesday for a priest who vanished after sailing into the air under hundreds of colorful balloons. The cleric’s former flight teacher called his disappearance a “tragedy foretold.”

Paragliding instructor Marcio Andre Lichtnow, who gave courses to the Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli three years ago, described him as a “headstrong, anxious individual who was always in a rush.”

“After two or three months, I asked him to abandon the course because of these personality traits, which are not the ideal profile for a paraglider,” Lichtnow told The Associated Press by telephone. “So what happened comes as no big surprise.”

The 41-year-old Roman Catholic priest has been missing since Sunday, when he lifted off from the port city of Paranagua wearing a helmet, an aluminum thermal flight suit, waterproof coveralls and a parachute.

SHANGHAI, China – Chinese authorities are trying to limit access to a Catholic shrine in Shanghai during pilgrimages next month, in an apparent sign of anxiety over large religious gatherings.

While such restrictions are common, this year’s May pilgrimage to Sheshan’s Marian shrine is considered especially significant and the crowds are expected to be much larger than usual.

Pope Benedict XVI mentioned the shrine in a letter to Chinese Catholics last year calling for unity and renewed ties between China and the Vatican. He designated May 24 as a day of prayer for the church in China.

Hong Kong-based scholar Anthony Lam said officials with the Shanghai diocese had asked him not to arrange pilgrimage groups from the Chinese-governed territory.

“Maybe they’re worried about something like what happened in Tibet, but I guaranteed no, no, no,” Lam said, referring to recent anti-government protests. “Of course, we felt a little bit disappointed and frustrated.”

DAMASCUS, Syria – Syria handed over a trove of some 700 looted artifacts to Iraq on Wednesday after seizing the items from traffickers since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The head of the Syrian Antiquities Department, Bassam Jamous, said some of the objects were from the Bronze Age and early Islamic era.

The treasures were returned during a ceremony at the Syrian National Museum attended by senior Syrian officials and the Iraqi state minister for tourism and antiquities affairs, Mohammad Abbas al-Oraibi.

Jamous did not specify the value of the artifacts or single out the most important pieces, but clay jars, coins, daggers and what appeared to be a large trunk were displayed at the ceremony.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Cambodia’s genocide tribunal abruptly adjourned a pretrial hearing for a Khmer Rouge leader Wednesday after his French attorney erupted at judges because thousands of pages of documents had not been translated into French.

The judges later said they would issue a warning to lawyer Jacques Verges for courtroom conduct causing the hearing’s postponement.

Verges, 83, who is representing Khieu Samphan in his appeal against pretrial detention, has earned notoriety with a client list that includes Nazi Gestapo officer Klaus Barbie, Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal and former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.



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