NATIONWIDE

RETAIL GAS PRICES HIT ALL-TIME HIGHS

CAMARILLO, Calif. – Damage to Gulf Coast oil production by Hurricane Katrina pushed retail gas prices to historic highs in the past two weeks, with self-serve regular averaging $3 a gallon for the first time ever, a nationwide survey found.

The weighted average price for all three grades surged more than 38 cents to nearly $3.04 a gallon between August 26 and September 9, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations around the country. Self-serve regular averaged $3.01 a gallon nationwide, according to the survey. Midgrade was pegged at about $3.11, while premium-grade was at nearly $3.21.

– Associated Press

NEW YORK

ABC NEWS GETS TAPE OF MAN THREATENING LOS ANGELES, AUSTRALIA

A tape delivered to ABC News in Pakistan this weekend features a masked man making terrorist threats against Los Angeles and Australia.

ABC News reported that the man is believed to be Adam Yahiye Gadahn, an American from California purported to be an Al Qaeda member and wanted by the FBI. The CIA said yesterday it was aware of the report but had no immediate comment about the tape’s authenticity. Counter terror officials believe Mr. Gadahn also may be the person on a 75-minute video given to ABC News last year in Pakistan.

The tape was aired on ABC’s “Good Morning America” yesterday, the fourth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The man on the tape, wearing a black turban with most of his face covered, calls the attacks of four years ago “blessed events” before making a threat against America.

“Yesterday, London and Madrid. Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, Allah willing. And this time, don’t count on us demonstrating restraint and compassion,” the man says during the 11-minute tape.

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

PENTAGON DRAFTS A REVISED DOCTRINE FOR PREEMPTIVE NUCLEAR ATTACKS

The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons.

The document, written by the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs staff but not yet finally approved by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, would update rules and procedures governing use of nuclear weapons to reflect a preemption strategy first announced by the Bush White House in December 2002.

– The Washington Post

OFFICER RESCINDS CLAIM THAT IRAQ HAMPERED HURRICANE RESPONSE

The officer who oversees the National Guard denied yesterday that the assignment of troops to Iraq hampered efforts to relieve the suffering of those caught in Hurricane Katrina’s onslaught. “The fact that National Guard units were deployed to Iraq at the time of Katrina did not lessen the guard’s ability to respond,” Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum said in a statement e-mailed to reporters.

General Blum’s statement appeared to be at odds with remarks he made to reporters on Friday while examining recovery efforts in Mississippi. The Associated Press said the general acknowledged that the overseas deployment of two local National Guard infantry brigades from Mississippi and Louisiana led to a delay that “arguably” amounted to as much as one day. “Had that brigade been at home and not in Iraq, their expertise and capabilities could have been brought to bear,” the AP quoted General Blum as saying. The general dispatched personnel from Kansas and Minnesota to take up some of the duties that could have been performed by the local units, the wire service wrote.

Asked if the quotes were accurate, a spokesman for General Blum, Daniel Donohue, said, “General Blum never said the response to Katrina was delayed because of Iraq deployments.” The general did agree that the two local brigades would have been used had they been in the area, Mr. Donohue said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun