on the broadcast tonight, headed even higher. the warnings that $4 for a gallon of gas could become $5, and the surprising reason behind it according to some experts. path of destruction. where our violent spring has hit and where it's headed next. uncovered. the faces of muslim women being made to be shown bare against their own beliefs. we'll take you where this has sparked a debate. and dress rehearsal for the most famous couple in the world. also tonight, the fastest speed limit in the nation may be going up. "nightly news" begins now.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. if you have filled up or taken on a few gallons in the last few days, you know where the prices are, but you may be surprised to learn the reasons behind the spikes in prices. yes, a lot of oil producing states are undergoing revolts with varying degrees of violence. you would think that uncertainty would be the prime mover of prices, but there's something else at work. whatever the cause, with the national average close to $4 a gallon, near a record, the effect is fewer people driving fewer miles because they just can't pay the freight to drive with gas at this price. kristen welker starts us off tonight in southern california. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. prices like these are becoming the norm here in california. more than $4 a gallon for regular unleaded. and that's impacting drivers and just about everyone else.

sky high gas prices in the mile high city are causing painful cuts at this senior resource center. last year, they gave 150,000 rides to see a doctor or go food shopping. >> it's going to have an impact on the ridership. we're going to have to look at consolidating trips. >> the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded is $3.77 a gallon. that's 91 cents higher than this time last year. among the cities with the steepest prices, san francisco, chicago, and new york. among the lowest, tucson, arizona. >> the current price is the most we paid for this time of year ever. however, we're still about 40 cents away from the all-time record highs. >> analysts say unrest in north africa and the middle east is a contributing factor but not the main reason. >> the value of the u.s. dollar has fallen precipitously over the last year, and because the

world paid for crude oil in u.s. dollars, that cheapening dollar drives the price up of commodities across the board. oil companies also add it's due to taxes, seasonal time, and the refinery problems. but this is getting ridiculous. >> i guess you have to change your lifestyle until the passes. >> less activities. nothing, just going to work, come home. >> in fact, gas sales have fallen for five straight weeks, attributed to the high prices. more people are taking public transportation, shopping around for the least expensive prices and buying fuel efficient cars. still, for this woman who owns a mobile dog grooming company in los angeles, $4.17 a gallon hurts. >> if these gas prices continue rising, it's going to make it really hard to try to keep all my clients. >> one more bump on an already rocky economic road. and analysts say it is likely

gas prices will continue to go up as the summer travel season approaches. >> kristen welker in southern california. thanks. now to the violent weather that slammed the midwest in the past two days. the national weather service is still trying to sort out how many tornadoes touched down. they can confirm a total of ten in a four-state area in the path of this active and violent spring weather front. weather channel meteorology chris warren is with us from merrill, wisconsin. chris, good evening. >> reporter: good evening to you. it was a wild ride for the family who lived here. they found shelter, the family, just before a tornado ripped off the top of their home. they were in the basement, and it's easy to see just by looking at this that these violent storms made their mark. in merrill, wisconsin, sirens

warned residents of an imminent threat. the ominous tornado's arrival caught on video. once the storm blew through, the residents reassessed the damage and relived the nightmare. >> the roof came off, i pushed my wife on the basement floor, i covered her. scared the det out of me. >> fortunately, the storm claimed no lives here, only property. >> don't go any further, bro. >> a tornado that was part of the same weather system had already rolled through iowa, flattening parts of the small midwestern town of mapleton. damaging 60% of the town, leaving behind torn debris, shredded insulation, and sentimental belongings. >> in virginia, ten people were injured and hundreds of homes damaged when two powerful tornadoes struck there. >> my house is completely gone. >> on the north dakota/minnesota border where the red river crests sunday, interstate 29 is still under water.

porgs closed indefinitely. adding to a springtime mixture of midwest weather that included hail, tornadoes and floods. and this is where the garage used to be. amazingly, you look at the cars, and at first look, only minor damage. now, the storm system that brought these violent storms is moving off to the east. it's going to be moving through during the overnight hours, track through, bringing the threat for damaging winds, spotty hail, and the chance for isolated tornadoes. good news as we head to tomorrow evening, the biggest threat will just be rain on the east coast, so we'll get a little bit of a break, at least for now. >> i don't know how that car somehow survived, but it seemed to. chris, thank you very much. chris warren in merrill, wisconsin. >> we turn overseas to libya after another weekend of fierce fighting, negotiators for the african union say moammar gadhafi has agreed to a deal for a cease-fire with the rebels.

the problem is the rebels aren't buying it. stephanie gosk is with us tonight from benghazi. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the head of the rebel counsel libya's former justice minister said gadhafi has to step down now if he wants to survive. not a position that leaves a lot of room for negotiation. leaders of the african union arrived in benghazi hoping to strike a deal. just hours earlier in tripoli, moammar gadhafi said he backed their peace plan, including an immediate cease-fire, but the rebels quickly said no deal. the plan was rejected, the protesters cheered. people of benghazi have been protesting since mid-february with one simple demand, that gadhafi step down. any negotiation short of that, they say, is unacceptable. this woman has worked with the rebel leadership from the

beginning. we first met her son after they seized control of the season. >> he is a liar and tried to lie many times. >> without a deal, the fighting continues. in the west, gadhafi has put a stronghold on misratah. medicine and food are running low. government tanks shell the city nearly every day. snipers done people down in the street. >> nato has stepped up its attacks on gadhafi's soldiers, releasing these videos of successful air strikes. bombing sunday gave rebels help to hold the eastern town of agdabia, but nato acknowledges it won't be enough to end the crisis. >> i want to be clear there can be no solely military solution to the crisis in libya. >> but a peace deal will require compromise. and with gadhafi still in power,

rebels made it clear today they are not interested. the libyan government said they will stop anyone trying to get close to misrato with what they call the pretext of humanitarian aid. the problem is, humanitarian aid is greatly needed. unicef said tens of thousands of kids are at risk in that city now, brian. >> stephanie in benghazi tonight. thanks. the defeated president of the ivory coast has been captured after a week-long standoff with forces loyal to his rival who is viewed by the rest of the world as the winner of elections there. he had been holed up in his home for days, reportedly in an underground bunker, as france and the u.n. bombarded him from the air. he looked disheveled when they finally got to him. he surrounded at his residence. in a speech on national tv, the new president is vowing to bring him to justice. back in the u.s. tonight, the government shutdown over the federal budget may have been averted at the last moment, but

not long after that, washington started arguing over the next thing, the federal debt ceiling, which is once again approaching fast. nbc news white house correspondent savannah guthrie is with us tonight from the white house. savannah, the shouting had just stopped about one issue which i assume will be cleared up before the next one started. >> and this fight, brian, promises to be even tougher. the stakes are even higher, as you mentioned. in a few weeks, the u.s. will reach its debt limit. that's the maximum amount the u.s. can borrow. congress will have to raise the debt ceiling. if it doesn't, the u.s. would default on its obligations. the economy would spiral downward. some say we would hit a recession again. this year, republicans are saying they're not going to vote to raise the debt ceiling unless there are major cuts with it. but they're saying it's wrong to use those cuts as political

leverage. >> the consequence of not raising the debt ceiling would be like armageddon. it would be devastating. on job creation, on growth. >> as the administration makes the argument, it has one political problem, back in 2006, then-senator barack obama voted against raising the debt ceiling. that's a vote his spokesperson said today that was a mistake. he plans to make a speech on cutting the deficit on wednesday. >> thanks. we turn back overseas for a moment. it's not been one month to the day since that 9.0 earthquake, the devastating tsunami hit northern japan. and that, of course, triggered a nuclear emergency, still far from over. today, a strong aftershock that killed at last two people. the official death toll now stands at more than 13,000, even though many are still missing and so many places now exist where life will never be the same.

nbc's john yang has our report tonight from tokyo. >> reporter: at 2:46 p.m., sirens marked the moment one month later. from evacuation centers to the prime minister, to the search for the missing, japan paused. 3:30 later, another aftershock, 6.6, unnerving an already traumatized nation. my stress is at its limit, said this evacuee. >> earlier, the president of the company that operates the fukushima plant made his first visit to the area since the disaster. i am truly sorry, he said. local officials refused to meet with him. at the plant, more questions about what to do with an estimated 14 million gallons of highly radioactive water. with no end to the crisis in sight, japanese officials expanded the evacuation zone around the plant to include five more communities.

nearly 150,000 people are still without homes, living in evacuation centers like this tokyo sports center. many have no idea where they're going to go next. this man and his wife fled the evacuation zone, but their daughter, a nurse, and their sun-in-law, a telecommunications worker, stayed. they're worried about the radiation, he said, but they're also worried about losing their jobs. this man and his grandson lived outside the expanded evacuation zone but still fear the radiation. if we don't find a new place, he said, there's no choice but to go back. a dilemma thousands of others may face soon. john yang, nbc news, tokyo. >> the ripple effects of this disaster in japan, of course, are many, including this. toyota warned its u.s. dealers today the supply of new vehicles could become, quote,

significantly impacted by summer because of the earthquake. when we come back in just a moment, women coming face-to-face with a controversial new law that affects both the way they dress and what they believe in. and later, this will be the last public outing before the big wedding day.

back now with a tense tug of war that pits women, what they wear, and what they believe right in the middle.

in a move that has greatly upset the growing muslim community in france, the french government today started enforcing a controversial new law that makes it illegal to cover one's face in public. a common religious practice for some muslim women and not all of them are going along with it. nbc's george lewis is with us tonight from paris. george, good evening. >> reporter: brian, a minority of muslim women here believe that covering their faces is a sign of respect to god, that banning that practice is an affront to religious freedom. outside paris' famed notre dame cathedral, police arrested two female protesters who defied the new law. violators face a fine of 150 euros, about $215 dollars. this is an attack on my freedom of conscience, my freedom of religion, this woman said. the law pushed through

parliament last year by president sarkozy and his party is highly controversial. some call it bigotry directed at muslims. proponents of the law saying wearing the veil demeans women and it's important for the state to defend secular values. >> in order to improve integration in the french society, we must take some measures against this extreme behavior like wearing a burka in the street in public places. this cannot be accepted. it is rejected by the majority of the french population. >> muslims are a growing minority here, changing the face of europe. now, france is insisting that face be visible in public. muslims worry other european parliaments may try to pass similar laws.

meanwhile, the french police unit is saying tonight they're not sure they can enforce the new law that rounding up the women may end up in public unrest. >> interesting story. george lewis with us from paris. when we come back tonight, who has the highest speed limit in the country? and where it might be about to go even higher.

here in new york, investigators on long island now say they have found what they believe to be the remains of ten people, all thought to be the victims of a serial killer. more than 125 police officers, firefighters, and medical examiners, volunteers, now searching a huge and expanded area along the coast for any other potential victims. four of the bodies have been identified. all white women who had worked at some point as prostitutes and advertised on craig's list. the highest speed limit in the country may be about to be higher. it was president nixon who backed us all down to 55 as a national speed limit back in the '70s. it was intended to save energy and lives, and it did. since then, however, individual states have been backing away from that and allowing cars to go much faster. top speed limits in the country these days are texas and utah.

both top out at 80 miles an hour on some roads. now a bill in texas would allow a speed limit of 85 on selected new highways in the future. gary elkins, a republican who supports it told nbc it's because texans have a lot of ground to cover in a hurry. >> we're not talking like in the northeastern states where a lot of your viewers are where 50 miles is a long trip. everything in texas is 200 or 300 miles. in west texas, our state reps, their districts may be 500 miles from one end to the other. and you have to drive because there's not airports available in the rural towns and communities. so people need to be able to drive to get there in a timely manner. >> the bill to okay this 85 mile an hour limit still has passed one hurdle. it heads to the state senate and the governor. up next tonight, here comes the bride, and the next time we see her, about a billion people will be watching.

unlike the wedding of charles and diana, this groom isn't the next in line for the throne, and this bride has been living with this groom, by the

way, for a while in a decidedly present-day british relationship, but like charles and diana, because of that thing so many americans and other people around the world have for british royalty, their wedding 18 days from now will be a global event. today was their last outing before the big day, nbc's michelle is in london for us tonight. >> reporter: bring on the worst of weather and britons still turn out by the hundreds for a glimpse of william and kate. royalty irrelevant today? these two, young, in love, and socially conscious, appear to be the insurance policy against that. >> they're like peas in a pod, they're heavily synchronized at the moment. which shows they're like minded, which we haven't seen a lot with a royal marriage. >> they have already been together a decade, but the love story of william and catherine

has been mostly their own. now, days from their wedding, here is a couple whose world is about to change. to become possibly the most watched pair on the planet. the last few weeks have been a flurry of wedding muniesha and endless memorabilia with the young couple undergoing a kind of public audition that ended today. william and kate have been traveling their country, highlighting community efforts that mean a lot to them. here, hundreds came to focus on the need for more green spaces. some have called them boring, wondered who exactly kate is, a modern working woman or not? >> she's got kind of a naughty sense of humor. and i think once that emerges, once she's allowed to come out of that, sort of that difficult restraint right now, you're going to fall in love with her without a doubt. >> they barely dipped a toe into what their public lives will be, but look ready for the plunge. and britain, reeling from budget

battles and protests, is ready for them. michelle kosinski, nbc news, darwent, england. >> that's our broadcast for this monday night. thank you for being here with us as we start off a new week. i'm brian williams and we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. right now, tommy lasorda's tears over the beating of a giants fan and how he says we can all help. >> reporter: i'm jody hernandez near tat&t park. i'll have the live report. scam artists seeking tax dollars by recycling cans and bottles