Washington, D.C.

Powell returns to work

Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday returned to work at the State Department, 15 days after surgery for prostate cancer.

Powell presided at a senior staff meeting and made telephone calls to Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and to the president and vice president of Sudan.

The calls to Sudanese leaders were aimed at encouraging final agreement on ending Sudan’s civil war before the Dec. 31 deadline set by the parties.

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Powell did not plan a full day at the office Tuesday. He will to resume his normal schedule next week, Ereli said.

Washington, D.C.

Trucker rule change aimed at reducing deaths

Truck drivers will be able to stay on the road for up to 11 straight hours but will have to take at least 10 hours off before they can again get behind the wheel of their rigs, according to new federal regulations taking effect Sunday.

The government said Tuesday that the new rules would make the roads safer because truckers would have to rest for two more hours between driving shifts. The Transportation Department estimates the change will reduce deaths associated with truck driver fatigue from 440 to 335 a year.

Some safety groups and the truckers’ union disagreed, saying that allowing a trucker an extra hour behind the wheel — compared with the 10 hours maximum now permitted — will result in more, not fewer, dangerously fatigued truckers on the road.

Austria

Inspector doesn’t want U.S. help in Libya

The U.N. nuclear agency does not need American help in dismantling Libya’s nascent weapons program, the agency chief told The Associated Press on Tuesday, echoing differences with Washington over Iraq and Iran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is happy to receive U.S. and British intelligence that will assist its inspectors in Libya, said Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.

But the IAEA doesn’t want help on the ground. “As far as I’m concerned, we have the mandate, and we intend to do it alone,” he said.

The Bush administration is convinced Libya’s nuclear program was far more extensive than assumed by the Vienna-based IAEA. In response, Washington has decided to send its own inspectors and British technical experts to Libya to help survey and dismantle its weapons programs.

Indonesia

Zoo claims to have world’s largest snake

Indonesian villagers claim to have captured a python that is almost 49 feet long and weighs nearly 990 pounds, a local official said.

If confirmed, it would be the largest snake ever kept in captivity.

Hundreds of people have flocked to see the snake at a primitive zoo in Curugsewu village on the country’s main island of Java.

Local government official Rachmat said the reticulated python measured 48 feet 8 inches and weighed in at 983 pounds.

The Guinness Book of World Records lists the longest ever captured snake to be 32 feet. The heaviest — a Burmese Python kept in Gurnee, Ill. — weighs 402 pounds, the book said on its Web site.