Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai said President Hamid Karzai will not hold any talks with Taliban representatives now in Qatar.

He will meet with Qatari officials on the sidelines of an annual conference on relations between the United States and the Muslim world.

"As we have already said, any official negotiations regarding peace with the Taliban can take place only between the high-ranking Taliban representatives and the High Peace Council of Afghanistan," Mosazai told reporters.

The indirect contacts come as NATO forces draw down in preparation for handing the lead for security to Afghan forces in the coming weeks ahead of a full pullout by the end of next year. That development has made both military and political developments crucial.

Karzai's office said Sunday evening that he had arrived in Doha along with senior ministers and advisers.

"During this visit, the President will meet with Qatari officials to discuss Afghanistan's peace process and bilateral relations between the two countries," his office said in a statement.

Both Afghanistan and the United States support the opening of a Taliban political office in Qatar as part of an effort to rekindle talks with the insurgent group, which has been waging war against the government and U.S.-led military coalition for nearly 12 years. But first the Taliban must renounce all ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups and accept Afghanistan's constitution.

Afghanistan insists all talks must be carried out by the peace council, a group formed by President Hamid Karzai to try and find ways to initiate negotiations with the insurgents.

The council has so far failed to start any form of negotiations with the Taliban since U.S.-initiated peace talks collapsed last year. It is made up of influential Afghans, former Taliban and tribal elders from all Afghan ethnic groups.

Taliban representatives have met officials from more than two dozen countries, participated in international forums in Tokyo and France, and recently visited Iran a traditional enemy. But they have steadfastly refused to talk to the peace council or Karzai's representatives, saying they represent a "puppet government."

Mosazai reiterated the Afghan government's support for the opening of a Taliban office in Qatar, but "only under the conditions and principles which would be acceptable for the Afghan people."

He would not comment on the recent trip to Iran by Taliban representatives.

"Unfortunately the Taliban have very good relations with foreign countries, but they have enmity with the Afghan people, they are killing Afghan people while they are carrying out terrorist attacks," Mosazai said.

In southern Kandahar, an insurgent roadside bomb killed two police officers and a child in the Arghasan district, said provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq.

Violence in parts of Kandahar has increased in recent weeks as Afghan forces battle the Taliban in their southern heartland.

Provincial spokesman Javed Faisal said eight Taliban were killed, two were wounded and eight others were arrested on Saturday during an operation in the Zhari and Maiwand districts.

Fixed-asset investment, an important driver of economic activity, grew 20.4 percent in the first five months from the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast industrial output growth of 9.3 percent and a retail sales increase of 12.9 percent in May, as well as a rise of 20.5 percent in fixed-asset investment for the January-May period.

(Reporting by Langi Chiang and Jonathan Standing)

The 35-year-old Froch, who lost to Kessler in Denmark three years ago, put on a typically gutsy performance to win with a scorecard that read 115-113, 116-112 and 118-110 in favor of the Nottingham fighter to the delight of the 20,000 crowd.

Froch's record is now 31-2, with his only other defeat coming at the hands of American Andre Ward in Atlantic City in 2011, compared to Kessler's 46-3 after an action-packed fight that saw the Dane hanging on near the end of the final round.

"It feels really, really good, only thing that feels bad is I have had to beat a real gentleman and a nice man, Mikkel Kessler," Froch told Sky Sports. "It's 1-1 now, who knows do you fancy a third one? Best of three maybe?

"I deserved to win, but he won't lie down for any man and massive respect to him," added Froch before turning his thoughts to a possible rematch with unbeaten WBA title holder Ward who was watching at ringside.

"The winner of this fight should be moving on to avenge their other loss and now I move on to the second best boxer in the world," said Froch. "Let's get Andre Ward over to the UK and fight him here."

The 34-year-old Kessler, whose only other defeats were against unbeaten Welshman Joe Calzaghe in 2007 and Ward in 2009, said: "I gave it my all but didn't have the energy and couldn't cope with Carl. It is nice to fight such a warrior."

(Writing by Ken Ferris; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

The suspension will keep Andersen from playing on Saturday when the Heat, one win away from a third consecutive trip to the NBA Finals, visit the Indiana Pacers with a 3-2 series lead.

"Andersen knocked Indiana Pacers forward Tyler Hansbrough to the floor, escalated the altercation by shoving Hansbrough, and resisted efforts to bring the altercation to an end," the NBA said in a statement.

Andersen, who received a flagrant foul 1 on the play, finished the game with four points, four rebounds, two blocks and one steal in Miami's 90-79 win. (Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)

By Mike Collett

PORT LOUIS, Mauritius, May 31 (Reuters) - Workers' rights demonstrators protesting against the 2022 World Cup finals being held in Qatar were arrested and detained for seven hours by police while the FIFA Congress was being held on Friday.

The demonstration was taking place in the Mauritian capital of Port Louis about 24 km (15 miles) from the Swami Vivekananda Convention Centre where the Congress of FIFA's 209 member nations, including Qatar, was taking place.

The demonstration involved around eight people holding protest banners demanding a revote of the 2010 decision to award Qatar hosting rights for the World Cup.

The demonstration was organised by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and their banners read: "Re-run the vote. No World Cup without workers' rights."

The ITUC has become increasingly active and also held a protest outside last week's UEFA Congress in London.

South African Gemma Swart, the ITUC's campaign and communications specialist, told the media by telephone: "We were arrested and held in a Port Louis police station for seven hours without charge.

"Our lawyers told us that under local laws we could hold a peaceful demonstration with up to 11 people and we were below that.

"We staged a similar protest in London last week outside the UEFA Congress without any problems."

FIFA has yet to comment. (Editing by John O'Brien)

The probe comes just weeks after the German carmaker recalled about 91,000 vehicles in Japan because of potential gearbox problems that could cause cars to speed up or slow down during driving.

Safety concerns about Volkswagen vehicles have drawn fresh attention in Australia as the Victoria state coroner conducts an inquiry this week into the death of Melissa Ryan. The coroner's decision is due in July.

Australia's Department of Infrastructure and Transport said on Friday that it was aware of Ryan's case and might provide assistance to agencies including coroners.

"The Department is investigating recent reports of safety concerns with Volkswagen vehicles to establish whether systemic safety issues are involved," it said in a statement.

The department also provides information to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which can order a vehicle recall.

The ACCC declined to disclose whether any complaints had been lodged against Volkswagen. Several drivers have contacted local radio stations and newspapers to report instances of sudden power loss while driving a Volkswagen vehicle.

Volkswagen Australia did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

In March, Volkswagen said it would recall 384,181 vehicles in China for similar gearbox problems.

(Reporting By Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by Jane Wardell and Daniel Magnowski)

MIAMI (Reuters) - The Indiana Pacers fell just short in the Eastern Conference finals opener but their gritty display pumped life into the NBA playoffs and let the defending champion Miami Heat know they have a battle on their hands.

The ease with which the top-seeded Heat have brushed aside opponents during the regular season and playoffs has given an air of inevitability to this year's postseason, resulting in falling television ratings and plummeting interest.

But those hoping for tighter games with the chance of an upset would have been encouraged by the way the Pacers gave a timely warning to the Heat that they will need to draw on all their talent to reach a third straight final.

"It doesn't matter if you win by one or if you win by 30 or whatever the case may be. You just want to win. We have to be better Friday if we want to win again," LeBron James said after powering Miami to a 103-102 overtime victory on Wednesday.

Indiana have struggled on the road this year, losing 21 of 40 games in the regular season, but in a scrappy, foul-ridden game that came alive spectacularly in the closing stages, the Pacers showed their mettle.

"It was a terrific basketball game. Two great teams throwing punch for punch. Our spirit is very high and very confident. And we know we can play with this basketball team," said Indiana coach Frank Vogel.

A layup from James as time expired gave Miami the win after Paul George's heroics looked to have earned the Pacers a shock victory in the opening game of the best-of-seven series that will send the winner to the NBA Finals.

George drained a long-range three-pointer to force overtime and then, in the final stages of the extra period, kept calm to put away three free throws after he was fouled by Dwyane Wade.

But, with just 2.2 seconds left on the clock, it was George who allowed James the space to drive the left of the lane and grab the win for a relieved Heat.

"We have got to feel good about how we played," said George, who nonetheless engaged in some self-criticism.

"At this point every possession counts and that's what we've got to understand. Myself included. We had a couple of turnovers that I wish we could take back I could take back. But the margin of error is so small at this level, so going into Game Two, we have just got to improve off that."

The Heat will look to recapture the intelligent and fast ball movement that has characterized their best displays this year but, after a six-day layoff following their 4-1 series win over Chicago, was not quite there on Wednesday.

But it was significant there was little discussion of style or flow from the Heat after the game with the overarching feeling being one simply of relief.

"In the end it just came down to finding a way, even if it wasn't pretty. And it took an overtime to get it done. We're glad to get that one," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

The Eastern Conference representative will face the winner of the Western Conference finals, which the San Antonio Spurs lead 2-0 over the Memphis Grizzlies, to determine the National Basketball Association (NBA) champion.

(Editing by Frank Pingue)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc will argue for a comprehensive corporate tax reform that will levy a "reasonable tax" on foreign earnings and is not dependent on a company's revenue when it goes before a Senate panel on Tuesday to explain its offshore tax practices.

In prepared testimony released by the company and submitted ahead of Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook's hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Apple denied it employed "tax gimmicks" like using Cayman Islands bank accounts or shifting intellectual property abroad.

It also said the existence of its subsidiary "AOI" in Ireland - which has been criticized as a way to shift money from the United States - does not reduce Apple's U.S. tax liability.

Tuesday's hearing is the second to be held by Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the subcommittee, to examine how the weaknesses of the U.S. corporate tax code is helping large companies avoid paying taxes on offshore earnings.

Cook, in his first Senate testimony on the issue as CEO, will face lawmakers' queries over his company's overseas cash holdings and tax bills.

The hearing comes as lawmakers globally are closely scrutinizing the taxes paid by multinational companies. In Britain, Google faces regulatory inquiries over its own tax policies, while Hewlett-Packard Co and Microsoft Corp have been called to Capitol Hill to answer questions about their own practices.

U.S.-based multinationals do not have to pay U.S. corporate income tax on foreign earnings as long as the earnings do not enter the United States. Accounting rules also let the companies avoid recognizing a tax expense if management intends to keep the earnings indefinitely re-invested overseas.

KEY ISSUE

In the submitted testimony, Apple said any tax reform should favor lower corporate income tax rates regardless of revenue, eliminate tax expenditures and implement a "reasonable tax on foreign earnings that allows free movement of capital back to the US."

"Apple recognizes these and other improvements in the US corporate tax system may increase the company's taxes," it said, adding that it expects to pay over $7 billion in taxes to the US Treasury in its current fiscal year.

Large U.S. companies boosted their offshore earnings by 15 percent last year to a record $1.9 trillion, avoiding hefty tax bills by keeping the profits abroad, according to research firm Audit Analytics.

Corporate tax reform is a key issue for Apple as its offshore cash piles up, with sales outside of its home country accounting for two-thirds of the company's $43.6 billion in revenue during its fiscal second quarter. Over $102 billion of Apple's total $145 billion cash was held offshore as of the end of March.

To mollify investors, the company will borrow money to pay for an expanded $100 billion cash return program for its investors, rather than repatriate its overseas cash at the present tax rate of 35 percent.

Apple said in the testimony that it was able to borrow money for that program at a cost of less than 2 percent, which makes the interest rate on the debt lower than the dividend yield on the company's shares.

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta and Edwin Chan; Editing by Gary Hill)

Halfway around the globe, similar contraptions atop the Eiffel Tower and elsewhere around Paris keep a pulse on emissions from smokestacks and automobile tailpipes. And there is talk of outfitting Sao Paulo, Brazil, with sensors that sniff the byproducts of burning fossil fuels.

It's part of a budding effort to track the carbon footprints of megacities, urban hubs with over 10 million people that are increasingly responsible for human-caused global warming.

For years, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse pollutants have been closely monitored around the planet by stations on the ground and in space. Last week, worldwide levels of carbon dioxide reached 400 parts per million at a Hawaii station that sets the global benchmark a concentration not seen in millions of years.

Now, some scientists are eyeing large cities with LA and Paris as guinea pigs and aiming to observe emissions in the atmosphere as a first step toward independently verifying whether local and often lofty climate goals are being met.

For the past year, a high-tech sensor poking out from a converted shipping container has stared at the Los Angeles basin from its mile-high perch on Mount Wilson, a peak in the San Gabriel Mountains that's home to a famous observatory and communication towers.

Like a satellite gazing down on Earth, it scans more than two dozen points from the inland desert to the coast. Every few minutes, it rumbles to life as it automatically sweeps the horizon, measuring sunlight bouncing off the surface for the unique fingerprint of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.

In a storage room next door, commercially available instruments that typically monitor air quality double as climate sniffers. And in nearby Pasadena, a refurbished vintage solar telescope on the roof of a laboratory on the California Institute of Technology campus captures sunlight and sends it down a shaft 60 feet below where a prism-like instrument separates out carbon dioxide molecules.

On a recent April afternoon atop Mount Wilson, a brown haze hung over the city, the accumulation of dust and smoke particles in the atmosphere.

"There are some days where we can see 150 miles way out to the Channel Islands and there are some days where we have trouble even seeing what's down here in the foreground," said Stanley Sander, a senior research scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

What Sander and others are after are the mostly invisible greenhouse gases spewing from factories and freeways below.

There are plans to expand the network. This summer, technicians will install commercial gas analyzers at a dozen more rooftops around the greater LA region. Scientists also plan to drive around the city in a Prius outfitted with a portable emission-measuring device and fly a research aircraft to pinpoint methane hotspots from the sky (A well-known natural source is the La Brea Tar Pits in the heart of LA where underground bacteria burp bubbles of methane gas to the surface.)

Six years ago, elected officials vowed to reduce emissions to 35 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 by shifting to renewable energy and weaning the city's dependence on out-of-state coal-fired plants, greening the twin port complex and airports and retrofitting city buildings.

It's impractical to blanket the city with instruments so scientists rely on a handful of sensors and use computer models to work backward to determine the sources of the emissions and whether they're increasing. They won't be able to zero in on an offending street or a landfill, but they hope to be able to tell whether switching buses from diesel to alternative fuel has made a dent.

Project manager Riley Duren of JPL said it'll take several years of monitoring to know whether LA is on track to reach its goal.

Scientists not involved with the project say it makes sense to dissect emissions on a city level to confirm whether certain strategies to curb greenhouse gases are working. But they're divided about the focus.

Allen Robinson, an air quality expert at Carnegie Mellon University, said he prefers more attention paid to measuring a city's methane emissions since scientists know less about them than carbon dioxide release.

Nearly 58 percent of California's carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 came from gasoline-powered vehicles, according to the U.S. Energy Department's latest figures.

In much of the country, coal usually as fuel for electric power is a major source of carbon dioxide pollution. But in California, it's responsible for a tad more than 1 percent of the state's carbon dioxide emissions. Natural gas, considered a cleaner fuel, spews one third of the state's carbon dioxide.

Overall, California in 2010 released about 408 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air. The state's carbon dioxide pollution is greater than all but 20 countries and is just ahead of Spain's emissions. In 2010, California put nearly 11 tons of carbon dioxide into the air for every person, which is lower than the national average of 20 tons per person.

Gregg Marland, an Appalachian State University professor who has tracked worldwide emissions for the Energy Department, said there's value in learning about a city's emissions and testing techniques.

"I don't think we need to try this in many places, but we have to try some to see what works and what we can do," he said.

Launching the monitoring project came with the usual growing pains. In Paris, a carbon sniffer originally tucked away in the Eiffel Tower's observation deck had to be moved to a higher floor that's off-limits to the public after tourists' exhaling interfered with the data.

So far, $3 million have been spent on the U.S. effort with funding from federal, state and private groups. The French, backed by different sponsors, have spent roughly the same.

Scientists hope to strengthen their ground measurements with upcoming launches of Earth satellites designed to track carbon dioxide from orbit. The field experiment does not yet extend to China, by far the world's biggest carbon dioxide polluter. But it's a start, experts say.

With the focus on megacities, others have worked to decipher the carbon footprint of smaller places like Indianapolis, Boston and Oakland, where University of California, Berkeley researchers have taken a different tack and blanketed school rooftops with relatively inexpensive sensors.

"We are at a very early stage of knowing the best strategy, and need to learn the pros and cons of different approaches," said Inez Fung, a professor of atmospheric science at Berkeley who has no role in the various projects.

___

Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

Back in 1913 when it was formed, cancer was a lesser threat for most Americans. The biggest killers then were flu, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and stomach bugs. At a time when average life expectancy was 47, few lived long enough to get cancer.

But 15 doctors and businessmen in New York City thought cancer deserved serious attention, so they founded the American Society for the Control of Cancer. The modern name would come 31 years later.

The cancer society's rise coincided with the taming of infectious diseases and lengthening life spans. "Cancer is a disease of aging, so as people live longer there will be more cancer," explained Dr. Michael Kastan, executive director of Duke University's Cancer Institute.

Cancer became the nation's No. 2 killer in 1938, a ranking it has held ever since. It also became perhaps the most feared disease the patient's own cells growing out of control, responding only to brutal treatments: surgery, radiation and poisonous chemicals.

The cancer society is credited with being the largest and most visible proponent of research funding, prevention and programs to help house and educate cancer patients.

Last year, the organization had revenues of about $925 million. It employs 6,000 and has 3 million volunteers, calling itself the largest voluntary health organization in the nation.

"The American Cancer Society really is in a league of its own," Kastan said. The rate of new cancer cases has been trending downward ever so slightly.

Some historical highlights:

1913 The American Society for the Control of Cancer is founded in New York City.

1944 The organization is renamed the American Cancer Society. The change is spurred by Mary Lasker, the wife of advertising mogul Albert Lasker.

1946 A research program is launched, built on $1 million raised by Mary Lasker. A year later, Dr. Sidney Farber of Boston announces the first successful chemotherapy treatment.

1948 The cancer society pushes the Pap test, which has been credited with driving a 70 percent decline in uterine and cervical cancer.

1964 Prodded by the cancer society and other groups, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issues a report irrefutably linking smoking to cancer.

1971 The cancer society helps lead passage of the National Cancer Act to ramp up research money. President Nixon declares a national "war on cancer," which becomes an extended effort derided by some as a "medical Vietnam."

1976 The cancer society suggests women 40 and older consider a mammogram if their mother or sisters had breast cancer.

1976 The cancer society hosts a California event to encourage smokers to quit for the day. A year later, the annual Great American Smokeout is launched nationally.

1988 Atlanta becomes headquarters for the society.

1997 The cancer society recommends yearly mammograms for women over 40.

2000 Dr. Brian Druker of Oregon reports the first success with "targeted" cancer therapy.

2003 The cancer society stops recommending monthly breast self-exams. But it continues to urge annual mammograms for most women over 40, even after a government task force says most don't need screening until 50.

2012 The cancer society reports the rate of new cancer cases has been inching down by about half a percent each year since 1999.