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even as violence spiked in the south. This marks his fourth trip to the war zone.
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• 2. LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH
• Conservatives at the core of the Republican Party are coalescing behind likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney faster than expected after a punishing primary season in which they loudly sought someone else -- almost anybody else -- to carry the fight to President Barack Obama.
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• 3. REOPEN TALKS, REOPEN ROUTE
• The U.S. is trying to break deadlocked talks with Pakistan over reopening a route for NATO troop supplies into Afghanistan and may have a little more leverage on its side, thanks to an agreement struck with some Central Asian countries to carry NATO equipment out through their territory.
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• 4. WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE ECONOMY?
• That question is raising fears and dividing economists. And it's one that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be ready for when he visits Capitol Hill on Thursday.
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• 5. STRATEGY TO END SYRIA CONFLICT
• Against the backdrop of a new massacre in Syria, international envoy Kofi Annan will propose tasking a group of world powers and key regional players including Iran to come up with a strategy to end the 15-month conflict, U.N. diplomats say.
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• 6. HIGH PRIORITY, HIGH COST OF ENERGY
• Americans are thinking more about the rising cost of energy than hitting the beach or getting the latest tech gadget, according to a new AP-NORC Center poll that asked people to choose priorities.
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• 7. BRADBURY REMEMBERED AT E3
• If there's one place where Ray Bradbury's legacy is tangibly omnipresent, it's the Electronic Entertainment Expo. He denounced video games but goers of the tech conference are remembering the late author -- and his high-tech foreshadowing -- fondly.
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• 8. SANDUSKY TRIAL: SWAYING THE JURY
• The child sex abuse trial for the former Penn State assistant coach starts Monday. That means attorneys arguing the case against him have just four days to fig

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