N Korea's military seeks US talks

North Korea's military has called for direct talks with US forces to discuss "peace and security on the Korean peninsula", state media reports.

The talks, to be attended by a UN representative, could take place at a mutually acceptable place and time, a statement from KCNA news agency said.

But it also warned that US pressure could derail a key disarmament deal.

Under the deal, North Korea agreed to end its nuclear programme in return for fuel aid and political incentives.

UN inspectors are currently heading to North Korea to monitor the shutdown of the North's main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.

US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Washington's chief envoy to North Korea, said on Friday that he wanted the Yongbyon reactor to be disabled by the end of this year.

No pressure

North Korea's proposal reportedly came from the chief of the military mission at the truce village of Panmunjom, which is located in the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas.

"The Korean People's Army side proposes having talks between the DPRK [North Korea] and US militaries, to be attended by a UN representative," the statement said.

But the statement also told the US not to pressurise North Korea "under the pretext of the nuclear issue", warning that it would boost defensive measures if this was the case.

It is unclear why the North has chosen to make these comments now, and there has so far been no immediate response from the US to the proposal of military talks.

US and North Korean military officials already hold general-level meetings, about the administration of the ceasefire that ended the Korean War, but analysts say this latest request by the North is noteworthy because it appears to widen the remit for military discussions.

The comments have been interpreted as being an attempt to discuss a formal peace treaty on the Korean peninsula.

Despite a ceasefire being signed to end the conflict in 1953, this has never been replaced by a peace treaty, leaving the region technically in a state of war.

But US envoy Mr Hill told Reuters on Friday: "I want to emphasise that we're not going to be reaching any peace arrangement on the peninsula ahead of denuclearisation."

Currently the main forum for discussions between Pyongyang and Washington is the ongoing six-party talks, which involve delegates from South Korea, Japan, China and Russia as well as North Korea and the US.

Bilateral talks do sometimes occur on the sidelines of these discussions, but between political rather than military representatives.

The latest round of six-party talks are set to resume in Beijing on Wednesday.

IAEA mission

UN inspectors have set off for North Korea for the first working visit by an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team since Pyongyang expelled monitors in 2002.

Nine members of the IAEA team left Vienna late on Thursday. They will make a brief stop in Beijing, from where they will fly to North Korea on Saturday. A tenth expert is expected to join the group later.

Leaving Vienna, leader Adel Tolba told the Associated Press news agency that the team members were optimistic about their mission.

"We have a reason to believe that it will be successful," he said.

North Korea - which shocked the world with its first nuclear test in October 2006 - has strongly indicated that it will consider starting to shut down its key nuclear reactor, Yongbyon, as soon as the first shipment of aid arrives.

A South Korean vessel carrying aid - 6,200 tons of fuel oil - set sail on Thursday and is due to dock in North Korea's Sonbong port on Saturday.

Under the February deal, North Korea is to receive 50,000 tons of energy aid for closing Yongbyon and another 950,000 tons for closing and dismantling all its nuclear facilities.

China glaciers melting at alarming rate

Massive glaciers in northwest China have melted at an alarming rate over the past 40 years, with global warming believed to be the culprit, scientists said in comments published Friday.

China's remote Xinjiang region is home to nearly half of the nation's glaciers that supply the rest of the country and other parts of Asia with water.

However they have shrunk by 20 percent and snow lines there have receded by about 60 metres (200 feet) since 1964, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a report, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Global warming is believed to be to blame, with the internal temperature of the glaciers rising by 10 percent over the past two decades, the academy said.

"Like the hard drive of a computer, glaciers record how the environment has changed. Warm weather has been the major cause of the glaciers' retreat," Xinhua quoted Wang Feiteng, a researcher with the academy, as saying.

In the most alarming example, the largest glacier in Xinjiang, located 3,545 metres above sea level in the Tianshan mountains, split in two in 1993 and has since been melting extremely quickly, according to Wang.

Another researcher with the academy, Hu Wenkang, said the shrinking glaciers would have a major impact on Xinjiang, one of China's most arid regions, and beyond.

"Glaciers are sometimes called solid reservoirs. They are one of the major water resources in... Xinjiang," Hu said.

"But melting glaciers may cause floods and landslides in some areas, and (eventually) fail to provide water for rivers."

Xinjiang has 42 percent of China's glaciers, with most of the others in the Himalayan areas in and around Tibet to the south.

While other reports have emerged in China's state-run press about the demise of Tibet's glaciers, those in Xinjiang have previously been given scant attention.

One of China's top glaciologists, Yao Tangdong, warned last year of an "ecological catastrophe" in Tibet because of global warming.

He said most glaciers in the region could melt away by 2100 if no efficient measures were taken.

UN scientists agreed in a landmark report this year that human activity was responsible for global warming, largely due to the use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil.

For Parking Space, the Price Is Right at $225,000

In Houston, $225,000 will buy a three-bedroom house with a game room, den, in-ground pool and hot tub.

In Manhattan, it will buy a parking space. No windows, no view. No walls.

While real estate in much of the country languishes, property in Manhattan continues to escalate in price, and that includes parking spaces. Some buyers do not even own cars, but grab the spaces as investments, renting them out to cover their costs.

Spaces are in such demand that there are waiting lists of buyers. Eight people are hoping for the chance to buy one of five private parking spaces for $225,000 in the basement of 246 West 17th Street, a 34-unit condo development scheduled for completion next January. The developer, meanwhile, is seeking city approval to add four more spots.

Parking in new developments is selling for twice what it was five years ago, said Jonathan Miller, an appraiser and president of Miller Samuel.

Although spaces in prime sections of Manhattan are the most expensive, even those in open lots and in garages in Brooklyn, Queens, Riverdale and Harlem are close to $50,000, although at least one new Brooklyn development is asking $125,000.

Scarcity figures big in the escalating prices. Mr. Miller estimated that less than 1 percent of all co-op and condominium buildings in the city have private garages. The city also limits how much parking new buildings below 96th Street can offer, requiring that no more than 20 percent of the units have spaces.

“It’s a fairly rare amenity,” Mr. Miller said. “And in the world of pet spas and on-site sommeliers, it’s actually a pretty functional amenity.”

In other densely packed cities where space and parking are at premium, parking spaces in condos also tend to trade at high prices. In Boston, they can sell for as much as $175,000, and they go for as much as $75,000 in Chicago. But in other cities, like Los Angeles and Dallas, most condos include parking in their prices.

For developers in New York, parking is the highest and best use for below-grade space and fetches about the same price per square foot as actual living space, which costs much more to develop. According to Miller Samuel, the average parking space costs $165,019, or $1,100 per square foot, close to the average apartment price of $1,107 per square foot. Those are averages, of course. A $200,000 parking space is about $1,333 per square foot.

If parking at the Onyx Chelsea, a new 52-unit condo at 28th Street and Eighth Avenue, is any indication, there is plenty of demand. The first two spots sold for $165,000, the third for $175,000 and the last two for $195,000. Each space will include about $50 in monthly maintenance costs. Still, there are three buyers on a waiting list.

Cynthia Habberstad is at the top of that list. She chose not to buy a spot when they were selling for $165,000, but changed her mind only to learn that all the spaces had been taken.

“At first, I was getting overwhelmed and didn’t want to spend the money,” Ms. Habberstad said. “I’m kicking myself now, believe me.”

She and her three children, ages 7, 9 and 11, live on Long Island, but the children’s modeling schedules bring them into the city at least twice a week, and the apartment they bought in the building will be a pied-à-terre.

“If we’re coming in late from dinner or we have a lot of stuff in the car, do we really want to have to walk a few blocks to get home?” Ms. Habberstad said. “It all makes sense now that I don’t have it.”

Developers are well aware of the demand. “We’re putting in parking in pretty much every development that we’re working on,” said Shaun Osher, the chief executive of Core Group Marketing, which represents 246 West 17th Street and about a dozen other new condo buildings.

In-building parking allows city dwellers with cars to replicate the suburban ideal where they can park, take their keys and walk right into their homes, Mr. Osher said.

At the Fifth Street Lofts in Long Island City, Queens, which are scheduled for completion at the end of the year, Jackie and Lee Freund bought an apartment and three garage spaces at $50,000 each, even though they own only one car.

“We bought three because we know the parking situation is bad now and its only going to get worse,” Jackie Freund said.

The Freunds, who have a 2-year-old son, have lived in a nearby rental building for the last three years. After dealing with the hassles of parking on the street, they got a space in a nearby garage.

“We’ve had the car towed, and my sister had hers towed when she came to visit and parked on the wrong side of the street,” she said. “They’re crazy for towing around here since the tow pound is nearby.”

The Freunds plan to sell one of their extra spots at the Fifth Street Lofts and rent out the other.

Buyers and brokers across the city are confident that prices will only go up as finding a parking space becomes more difficult. In fact, 40 parking garages or lots in the city have closed within the last nine months while only 23 new ones have opened, said Margot J. Tohn, publisher of “Park It! NYC 2007,” a parking garage guide.

“It’s not at a huge, huge scale, but we definitely are losing parking,” Ms. Tohn said.

Tom Postilio, a broker for Core Group Marketing and the director of sales at 246 West 17th Street, said: “There are people looking for apartments who have the attitude, ‘Love me, love my car.’ And for them, if there’s no place to park on the streets, it’s practically a deal to get a parking spot for $225,000.”

The lure of the no-maintenance lawn

It was the teamwork that was really annoying. As Melanie Locke watched, raccoons worked in pairs to rip up the freshly laid sod in a portion of her backyard. They rolled back the strips of grass, and then took a break while the automatic sprinkler moistened the exposed earth, bringing out their favourite snack.

"They … would come back and eat worms to their hearts' content," she says.

But Dr. Locke and her husband, Dave Seymour, have had the last laugh: The shaded patch of backyard is now covered with the latest in artificial grass and used as a putting green. It's perfectly even, green, maintenance-free and raccoon-proof.

The couple, who live with their three young children near Taylor Creek Park in East York, are among a growing number of homeowners who find maintaining perfectly green, healthy grass too labour-intensive, and are turning to the artificial kind for putting greens, play areas, pool surrounds, rooftops and full lawns.

"People are so frustrated with trying to grow lawns that artificial grass now makes up 80 per cent of our total sales," says Jerome Keays of Toronto-based Design Turf. It's one of several companies that sell and install the product, whose look and feel is much more realistic that it was a decade ago.

Mary and Jeff Kopman are also among the converted. They turned to Mr. Keays in the summer of 2005 after raccoons completely destroyed new sod they had laid in the backyard of their North Toronto home.

"My husband's mother, Ruth, came by to keep tabs on things … while we were on vacation in Muskoka, and was horrified," Ms. Kopman recalls. "By the time we came home, the back garden was a sod graveyard."

The couple had Design Turf install synthetic lawn in their backyard garden, which also includes stone benches, sculpted planting beds with flowering shrubs, and a slide and playhouse for their two young sons.

"Many of our clients have small children and they are desperate to provide an area, like a lawn, where they can play," Mr. Keays notes. "They have sometimes had to replace their lawns every year, and in some cases, they just want something that is maintenance-free. We consider the artificial grass as adding extra space to a home, in the same way as a deck. Several of our clients flood the space in the winter and let it freeze for a skating rink."

The Kopmans say they are thrilled with the artificial grass, especially because it doesn't require maintenance — there's no cutting, pulling weeds, fertilizing, seeding or watering.

A pine tree that towers over the rooftops and shades the area, but the artificial turf — unlike real grass, which tends to die out in such locations — is as green as ever, and any needles or pinecones from the tree can be swept, hosed or raked away. Promoters of the product also say it can be ideal for areas that are excessively wet or dry.

Meredyth Hilton of the Toronto-based garden design/build firm Artistic Gardens, says that for some people, successfully growing grass is not an option. "Because of the shade produced by the number of very mature trees in Toronto, grass is often hard to grow," she explains.

"It's also fairly high maintenance. You can't just leave it for a few weeks; it has to be tended to regularly and often. When you see artificial grass, it's surprising how realistic it looks."

In the spring of 2006, the Kopmans decided to have the same thing done in the front garden. "We were nervous," Ms. Kopman recalls. "We wondered how it would look next to the real grass of our neighbours. But we were cutting, watering and fertilizing [the natural lawn], and that care is not something either Jeff or I enjoy."

The artificial grass at the Kopman home is very uniform, very green, and you wouldn't necessarily notice it wasn't real unless you knew.

Installation of artificial grass takes only a couple of days. Design Turf's process includes taking out any existing vegetation and adding two inches of either crushed limestone or an aggregate sand mixture, which is smoothed and levelled. The artificial turf, which comes in 15-foot-wide strips, is held down with five-inch lawn staples.

The cost is between $6 and $8 a square foot (actual sod runs about $4 a square foot), and there are several options in terms of colour and blade length. "The [artificial grass] is made of polyethylene and nylon, with a guaranty of eight years," Mr. Keays explains.

He notes that putting greens cost a bit more than $13 a square foot because "the installation process is more rigorous and requires a more substantial sub base."

The thought of artificial grass is bound to bring to mind similar products made years ago largely for athletic fields. Greg Woolvett of Pro Putt (www.pro-putt.com), a company that installs artificial grass in a number North American cities, including Toronto, says that with the old product, the surface was hard and resulted in injuries to athletes." Things changed when manufacturers turned to machines that had been used to make shag carpets, he says. "The process and the products are a lot more sophisticated today."

Real estate agent Jan Scott-Charles of Toronto-based Guild Manor Realty Ltd. says that although landscaping with artificial grass may not add to a home's value on a dollar for dollar basis, it will likely add curb appeal, an intangible and invaluable asset.

"When a home is for sale, it doesn't matter how nice it looks inside if it looks so bad from the outside that people refuse to even go in," she points out.

F1 won't return to Indianapolis in 2008

Formula One's U.S. Grand Prix won't return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next year.

The race will not be held at Indy in 2008 after eight years at the track, spokesman Ron Green said Thursday. He declined to give other details, but said speedway CEO Tony George would speak later in the day.

George had set Thursday as the deadline for reaching an agreement to extend the contract with F1. Indianapolis, the only American race on the F1 schedule, draws one of the biggest crowds on the circuit.

George, who met with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone last month during U.S. Grand Prix weekend in Indianapolis, had said he was confident a new deal would be reached.

But Ecclestone had repeatedly said F1 did not need to race in the United States. He mentioned the possibility of moving the U.S. Grand Prix to New York or Las Vegas.

The 2.6-mile, 13-turn road course was built inside the speedway's famous oval to attract the F1 race.

Attendance figures are not released at Indianapolis, but estimates have been around 125,000 each of the past six years. The inaugural race in 2000 drew more than 200,000.

The event was marred in 2005 when 14 of the 20 drivers pulled off the track just before the start over concerns about the safety of the Michelin tires used by seven teams. Afterward, George refused to wave the checkered flag or join Michael Schumacher in the winner's circle.

Last year's negotiations to extend the deal dragged into August before the two sides agreed to a one-year deal. Speedway officials had said they wanted a more permanent solution this time.

Despite F1's absence, the speedway could still be the site of three races next year as track officials expect to announce with MotoGP, the international motorcycle racing series, next week.

Besides the Indianapolis 500, the speedway also is the site of NASCAR's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on July 29.

Report on Iraq Sees Progress on 8 of 18 Benchmarks

President Bush said today that talk of troop withdrawals did not at this time constitute the “real debate” on Iraq, as his administration released an assessment report this morning asserting that the Iraqi government has shown satisfactory performance on a number of the 18 benchmarks for progress in political and security fronts.

The report, which also said it would take time before a trend could be measured on a number of other key indicators and forecast a possible rise in insurgent activity in the coming months, was released by the White House before President Bush’s news conference, which began at 10:30 a.m.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Bush said that progress has been satisfactory in eight areas, including the military realm and modernization of Iraqi forces, while eight other areas of focus needed more work, such as in preparations for local elections.

In two areas, progress was too mixed to be characterized, Mr. Bush noted.

Mr. Bush sought to reiterate his policies in Iraq, and to deflect the discussion from troop withdrawal. “This is not the real debate,” he said.

He said that support for the Iraqi government and sustained military pressure must be increased at this “crucial moment,” as troops work to defeat Al Qaeda and other extremists; and thereby create the conditions allowing American forces to return home. Asked at the news conference why he was resistant to the idea of a change of course in Iraq, which has found wide support among Americans in recent polls, Mr. Bush said he was not surprised that there was deep concern. “I believe we can succeed,” he said, “and I believe we are making security progress that will enable the political track to succeed as well.”

The report also forecast a rise in attacks by insurgents in the coming months.

It said that Al Qaeda in Iraq, a local insurgent group that has claimed a loose affiliation with the Al Qaeda of Osama bin Laden’s network, would probably step up its attacks in the coming months.

“The surge of additional U.S. forces into these areas allows us to better combat AQI and other terrorists,” the report said. “We should expect, however, that AQI will attempt to increase its tempo of attacks as September approaches, in an effort to influence U.S. domestic opinion about sustained U.S. engagement in Iraq.”

On the political front, the report said that significant progress had been made on both substantive issues and technical details in the constitutional review process, and it gave a mixed assessment on several aspects of the elections commission.

There has been a lack of satisfactory progress on de-Ba’athification, it said.

“This is among the most divisive political issues for Iraq, and compromise will be extremely difficult,” the report said. “Given the lack of satisfactory progress, we have not achieved the desired reconciliation effect that meaningful and broadly accepted de-Ba’athification reform might bring about.”

There has also been unsatisfactory progress on equitable distribution of oil and gas revenue, the report said.

But it praised the Iraqi government’s quick reactions to condemn major attacks, such as the recent one in Samara last month.

While the White House report noted progress in the military realm, with an overall decrease in the numbers of Iraqi civilians killed in sectarian violence and in casualties from car and truck bomb blasts, some of the benchmarks have not been met in that section, such as improvements in the ability and political neutrality of the Iraqi security forces and the Iraqi government.

It largely pinned any further gains on increased troop activity in the coming months, capitalizing on the troop surge.

“Tough fighting should be expected through the summer as Coalition and Iraqi Forces seek to seize the initiative from early gains and shape conditions for longer-term stabilization,” the report said. “These combined operations, named Operation Phantom Thunder, were launched on June 15, 2007, after the total complement of surge forces arrived in Iraq. The full surge in this respect has only just begun.”

The administration’s decision to qualify many of the political benchmarks will enable it to present a more optimistic assessment than if it had provided the pass-fail judgment sought by Congress when it approved funding for the war this spring.

The administration officials who provided details of the draft report, in advance of its official release, to The New York Times, insisted on anonymity, partly to rebut claims by members of Congress in recent days that almost no progress had been made in Iraq since President Bush altered course by ordering the deployment of about 30,000 additional troops earlier this year.

Bush says US can succeed in Iraq

President George W Bush has insisted the US mission in Iraq can still succeed, saying it was vital for the security of the US and the Middle East.

He said troops would only be withdrawn when conditions were right, adding that to do so early would risk handing Iraq over to al-Qaeda.

Mr Bush was speaking after an interim report said Iraq's progress towards meeting goals set by the US was mixed.

The president said he saw some of the findings as "cause for optimism".

The report comes amid growing pressure in Congress on the Bush administration to change course in Iraq.

The report says Baghdad has had more military than political success since a US troop surge began in January.

It says Iraq has made satisfactory progress towards meeting eight targets, but less so towards another eight.

The report says Baghdad has shown mixed results in its progress towards meeting another two goals.

The BBC's Washington correspondent Matt Frei says it is not yet clear whether the report will help or hinder the administration in its efforts to limit a Republican rebellion in Congress that might force the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

The Senate is expected to vote next week on amendments to the military budget, which could force cuts in troop numbers.

In May, the House passed a bill to immediately release some $43bn (£21.8bn) of funding requested by Mr Bush for the war in Iraq.

It also earmarked $53bn for release only if progress was made towards the political and military benchmarks.

US Democrats want a timetable for withdrawal or a change in the focus of the US mission from combat to counter-terrorism and the training of Iraqi forces.

Some Republicans have joined the ranks of those calling for a phased troop withdrawal.

Mr Bush has said he will veto any bill on a pull-out timetable.