PIZZA ORDERS RISE WITH WAR TENSION

Forget about spies and satellite intelligence. To gauge international tension, look at late-night pizza deliveries to US war planners. As the UN deadline for Iraq to withdraw Kuwait came and went, White House staffers burning the midnight oil sent out for 55 pies from Domino's Pizza, according to Domino's, the area's largest franchise.

The White House orders five pizzas on an average night. Just before Iraq invaded Kuwait Aug. 2, presidential aides ordered 24.

Across the Potomac River at the Pentagon, post-10 p.m. orders surged to 101 from an average of three, according to Domino's, which thinks it has discovered a nearly infallible barometer of war and peace.