Preview -- World News Tonight 07/26/01

July 26 -- Good Afternoon.

Mother nature leads our news tonight. Though she is doing very different things in the two places we are watching most closely.

The other day the Italian authorities pronounced Mount Etna calmed and quiet. Disaster averted. The Italian authorities of all people should know better. Tonight a brand-new wall of lava has coursed down the mountainside, a tourist center is threatened, and the Italian army has been called in. Good luck. Our Bob Woodruff is on Mount Etna again tonight.

Some 6,000 miles away, a very different threat. Winds are whipping up a nasty fire in the bone-dry forests of Wyoming. This is one of the first fires this season that's actually putting homes in danger. A big swath of territory is under a "red-flag warning" — no rain is forecast until the weekend — and firefighters and residents alike are very worried. Judy Muller is in Wyoming tonight.

A lot of other stories are competing for our attention. The fate of the patients' bill of rights, the fate of a 14-year-old boy on trial for murdering his teacher, the very tense situation in Macedonia, and the return to the United States of scholar Gao Zhan, who had been jailed in China. Gao's case, and her release, have led to a profound discussion about U.S.-China relations. We will hear from her on the broadcast tonight.

The news is always an amalgam of the important and the interesting. This morning we spent a lot of time talking about a story that is clearly both. It has to do with a survey of college women and their attitudes about relationships. So tonight, a Closer Look at college-campus romance, which is becoming increasingly complex, to say the least. People go to school so they can learn, but many consider it an opportunity to meet someone. Perhaps a spouse. The survey's results are provocative. Michele Norris reports tonight.

When is a strawberry not a strawberry? Frivolous question? Maybe. But the Center for Science in the Public Interest doesn't think so. It is going after food manufacturers who misrepresent what is in their products. Strawberry yogurt with no strawberries — peach oatmeal with not a shred of peach — fruit juice with no fruit. You get the picture. There are many examples. Jackie Judd has the story.