Diplomats say president George Bush signed off the move on Friday in a bid to salvage a faltering disarmament accord aimed at getting North Korea to abandon atomic weapons.
But they say North Korea will be put back on the list if it doesn't compl
y with the inspections.
The US action comes as North Korea moves to restart a disabled nuclear reactor and takes other steps that threaten the agreement.
Meanwhile, North Korea released pictures of leader Kim Jong Il yesterday for the first time in nearly two months, showing the reclusive ruler looking generally well despite reports that he recently underwent brain surgery.
PERUPRESIDENT Alan Garcia, accepted the resignation of his entire cabinet yesterday without naming replacements in response to an oil kickbacks scandal.
Garcia's government has been rocked by the public airing of audiotaped conversations discussing kickbacks for steering government contracts to Norwegian oil company Discover Petroleum. Discover denies any wrongdoing.
The president cleared out his cabinet after already suspending the five oil contracts Discover won in a public auction last month and accepting resignations from his energy minister and the president of state oil company, Petroperu.
Opposition politicians want a new slate of ministers. Peru's Congress has launched an investigation into the September 10 public auction that awarded Discover the exploration contracts.
SOMALIAARMED pirates in speedboats have hijacked a Greek chemical tanker with 20 crew members on board in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia.
The Greek ship, which was flying a Panamanian flag, was travelling from Southeast Asia to Europe when it was seized.
Friday's hijacking brings the number of attacks this year in the African waters to 69. A total of 27 ships have been hijacked, and 11 remain in the hands of pirates along with more than 200 crew members.
Momentum has been growing for coordinated international action following the September 25 hijacking of the Ukrainian ship MV Faina, which was carrying tanks and other heavy weaponry.
The UN Security Council last week called on countries to send naval ships and military aircraft, and US warships are being diverted from counter-terrorism duties to respond to the sea bandits.
INDONESIAHASAN di Tiro, the founder of the former rebel group GAM in Indonesia's Aceh province, returned yesterday after more than 30 years' exile, welcomed by thousands of people.
His return came a day after Finland's former president, Martti Ahtisaari, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in global peacemaking, including in Aceh.
Di Tiro, who is in his late seventies and understood to be in poor health, fled to Sweden after declaring Aceh independent in 1976, a move that triggered a long-running conflict and a death toll of around 15,000.
A truce was reached with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in August 2005.
INDIASHOPS, businesses and schools were shut in the Indian portion of Kashmir yesterday to protest against a visit by the Indian prime minister to the disputed Himalayan region.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was there to inaugurate its first train line and meet pro-Indian political parties.
His visit comes amid a wave of unrest that included some of the largest protests against Indian rule in two decades.
On Friday, police shot two people dead as thousands of Muslims protested Singh's arrival. At least 75 others, including 34 security personnel, were injured in the clashes.
The Jammu-Kashmir Co-ordination Committee, a coalition of Muslim separatists and business leaders, called for a strike yesterday in Srinagar
PAKISTANA SUSPECTED US missile strike has killed three people close to the Afghan border, according to Pakistani intelligence officials.
The officials said the attack took place yesterday close to the market in Miran Shah in north Waziristan.
The United States has launched several missile strikes against suspected militant targets in north-west Pakistan in recent weeks.
Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders are believed to hiding in the region.
NORTH KOREANORTH Korea has agreed to all US nuclear inspection demands and the administration of President George Bush responded yesterday by removing the communist country from a terrorism blacklist.
The breakthrough is intended to salvage a faltering disarmament accord before President George Bush leaves office in January.
"Every single element of verification that we sought going in is part of this package," State Department Sean McCormack said.
North Korea will allow atomic experts to take samples and conduct forensic tests at all of its declared nuclear facilities and undeclared sites on mutual consent.
The North will permit experts to verify that it has told the truth about transfers of nuclear technology and an alleged uranium programme.
CHECHNYAAN EARTHQUAKE in the Caucasus mountains killed at least 12 people in Russia's Chechnya yesterday and left hundreds sheltering in tents the day before regional elections.
"We must not forget that we have elections tomorrow," Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov said. "They must go ahead as a happy event for all residents of Chechnya."
A Health Ministry spokesman in Grozny said 12 people were killed in the aftermath of the quake and 105 were injured, seven critically.
About 500 families needed tent shelters for the night in the town of Kurchaloi, about 12 miles southeast of the Chechen capital, which saw the worst damage in the region, the Emergencies Ministry said.
At least five of the victims were killed in Kurchaloi, where the tremor cracked the walls of the local hospital, forcing medics to treat the injured elsewhere.
The full article contains 941 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
