Preview -- World News Tonight 05/07/01

N E W   Y O R K, May 7 -- Good Afternoon.

We plan to lead tonight with gasoline and traffic. There is news on both fronts.

It sounds like a cliché, but Americans are now spending so much time stuck on the roads that it is affecting the economy. According to a study released today, the average American spends nearly the equivalent of a full work week each year stranded in traffic. The costs to business, to the environment, and of course to your mental well-being (assuming you're like the "average American") are considerable. ABCNEWS' Lisa Stark, who covers transportation for us, has that story tonight.

And business reporter Betsy Stark (no relation) has what you might call the summer gas forecast. Wish we could tell you it was cut and dried. But as Betsy reports, "The good news... is that refineries are producing more gasoline; the bad news is that beefed-up supplies have yet to make a dent in prices." She'll have all the details tonight.

Overseas, the United States has resumed those surveillance flights off the Chinese coast — and in the Middle East Pope John Paul II has crossed paths, in a strange and sad way, with a 4-month-old baby. The China flights are likely to provoke more ill will between Beijing and Washington; we won't know for a while.

As for the Middle East, the pope paid another historic visit today, this time praying for peace at one of the region's more dramatic datelines. And while John Paul was blessing an olive tree in the Golan Heights, the emergency room at Khan Yunis Hospital, in the Gaza Strip, was in chaos. Before long, John Paul was taking note of that chaos, another tragedy in that part of the world. We have Gillian Findlay reporting from Jerusalem, and our veteran pope-watcher Bill Blakemore traveling with the pope in Syria.

We take a Closer Look tonight at the controversy surrounding some hugely popular allergy medications. We reported Friday on the scope of the allergy problem in some parts of the country (anecdotally we can tell you that allergies are ravaging our staff); tonight, should Claritin, Allegra, and Zyrtec be allowed to be sold over the counter? The decision would make a big difference for doctors, allergy sufferers, and for the drug companies. Our reporter is Jackie Judd.