Nation & World briefly

Karzai confirms U.S., Afghan talks with Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - President Hamid Karzai acknowledged Saturday that the U.S. and Afghan governments have held talks with Taliban emissaries in a bid to end the nation's nearly 10-year war, even as suicide attackers launched a bold assault in the heart of the country's capital, killing nine people.

Three men wearing camouflage fatigues that are frequently worn by Afghan soldiers stormed a police station near the presidential palace, with one of them detonating an explosives vest just outside the gates as two others rushed inside and began firing, an Interior Ministry statement said.

The crackle of gunfire echoed through the usually bustling streets for about two hours before security forces killed the two remaining attackers. Insurgents killed three police officers, one intelligence agent and five civilians in the attack, according to the ministry statement.

Gov. Perry crashing 2012 GOP field

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A candidate in waiting, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is elbowing the Republicans already in the 2012 presidential race as he courts party activists, operatives and donors still shopping for someone to back against President Barack Obama.

His appearance Saturday at the Republican Leadership Conference offered yet another tantalizing hint that he's ready to upend a crowded field of candidates who have worked months to amass name recognition, organization and campaign cash. He is the longest serving governor of his state.

"I stand before you today as a disciplined conservative Texan, a committed Republican and a proud American, united with you to restoring our nation and revive the American dream," Perry said during an address that repeatedly drew the crowd to its feet.

Obama, Boehner team up for golf triumph

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner put partisanship aside, at least on the golf course, and teamed up to triumph on the final hole Saturday in their long-awaited links outing.

The match pitted the political rivals against Vice President Joe Biden and Ohio's Republican Gov. John Kasich. The match was won on the 18th hole, with the winning partners each pocketing a $2 prize.

The question now is whether a partnership forged on the tees, fairways and greens of a military base course can yield success in the policy arena. Obama and Boehner find themselves on opposite sides of everything from deficit reduction to the military campaign in Libya.

Levees besieged, farmers flooded

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - It isn't so much the amount of water churning its way down the Missouri River that has people along the nation's longest waterway on edge. It's how long all that water will stick around.

A torrent of early season rains and winter snowpack flows through wide-open gates of South Dakota's Gavins Point Dam upriver and toward the confluence with the Mississippi River. The Missouri might start to crest soon, but it won't start to fall until August or later.

That constant pressure on the network of levees that protect farmland, roads, and cities is what worries folks downriver most as the high water heads south toward Kansas City and east toward St. Louis.