What would the world look like if at least part of your daily diet of news came from the ethnic media -- which now has more readers than the mainstream press in some California metropolitan regions? Every other week PNS, in collaboration with members of the New California Media network of ethnic media organizations, digests news and commentary from this rapidly growing but largely invisible segment of the news media.

AFRICAN AMERICAN, HISPANIC, ASIAN NEWSPAPERS DEMAND GOVERNMENT ADVERTISING

A coalition of black and Hispanic newspaper publishers -- soon to be joined by Asian Pacific publishers -- is calling on President Bill Clinton to review the "systemic exclusion of minority-owned media from the federal government advertisement allocations."

The government is ranked 20th among advertisers in this country, the coalition notes, but only the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has regularly scheduled ads in Black and Hispanic owned media. The US Army and Army Reserve place ads infrequently.

The group points to the US Postal Service -- the largest government advertiser -- as typical of the "separate but unequal" approach. Though it recently issued a "Kwanza" stamp, it placed very few ads announcing the stamp in black newspapers.

The coalition is asking for a review of Federal advertising expenditures. U.S. government spending on print advertising rose 16 percent last year and is expected to increase substantially with new anti-drug and anti-smoking campaigns and the upcoming census.

- San Francisco Bay View (African American weekly)

KOREAN AMERICANS SUFFERED POST TRAUMATIC STRESS AFTER LA RIOTS

Many Korean Americans caught up in the 1992 Los Angeles riots suffered from severe psychological disorders afterwards, according to a new study, but few sought professional help -- in part because of the community's attitudes toward mental health services.

A team of researchers, led by Dr. Mikyong Kim Goh of Cal State Fullerton, surveyed 121 Korean Americans caught up in the first multi-ethnic riots in this country's history and found 86 showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Many reported increased distance in family relationships, and two of three said relations between ethnic groups in the community have worsened.

"I can never forget what happened," said one man. "After my property was destroyed, I have been running a store through a SBA loan... but owing money to the government makes me so upset I cannot sleep at night, and I regret over and over coming to America. Every month when I make the payment, I am reminded of the riot, and I really feel like running away... I don't know why I am living and for whom, anymore."

- Korea Times (English-language monthly, Los Angeles)

MEXICO GEARS UP FOR A MILLION DEPORTEES

In the face of the US Immigration Service crackdown, Mexico is gearing up to process some one million deportees -- a dramatic jump from 85,000 cases in 1996. All deportees will get one free long-distance phone call and be exempted from import taxes on household goods. Women and children will get free transportation to their places of origin. Special brochures advertise government services, warn against bringing in firearms and advise people of their rights if they encounter abusive Mexican authorities.

- La Opinion (Spanish-language daily, Los Angeles)

WORLD'S COLDEST CONFLICT DRAGS ON HIGH IN HIMALAYAS

Indian and Pakistani soldiers continue to skirmish for strategic positions at the world's highest and coldest frontier. After a seven day climb up to the 19,000 foot Siachen Glacier in the Himalayas, soldiers on both sides keep a 24 hour vigil in temperatures that often dip to more than 20 degrees below zero. More than 385 Indian soldiers have died and 9,000 have been injured at Siachen since 1989 -- largely due to chilblain, frostbite or gangrene -- and hundreds have reportedly developed severe psychological and physical problems. There is widespread fear among soldiers that the duty causes impotence.

Both governments seem unwilling to give up the battle, despite mounting criticisms within their own military establishments. India's former chief of staff of the northern command calls the area "totally worthless," saying it "means nothing... (but) a heavy financial drain. . . . It has become purely a prestige issue."

- India West (Weekly, Emeryville, Ca.)

JAPANTOWN BUILDING BELONGS TO COMMUNITY, NOT YMCA, CHURCHES CLAIM

In a case that could have far-reaching implications, a group of churches has sued the San Francisco YMCA to prevent it from selling an historic Japantown property on the grounds that it bought the building "in trust" for the Japanese community at a time when U.S. laws barred Japanese immigrants from owning property.

Although the churches have no written trust agreement, researchers have unearthed minutes of community meetings containing repeated references to the building being held in trust for the Japanese community. "Issei (first generation) Japanese women raised a lot of money in Japan for that building," recalls Michi Onuma, 90, who believes the YMCA should turn the building over to the Japanese American community.

Paul Osaki, executive director of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, thinks this could be "a landmark-- a precedent for properties purchased under the Alien Land Law."

- Nichi Bei Times (Japanese-English bilingual weekly, San Francisco)

ISLAMIC WORSHIP ON THE RISE IN WESTERN CHINA

Mosques are springing up all over China's remote Xinjiang province, a vast region inhabited by Muslim Uighurs as well as a growing population of Han Chinese. Sadiq Qara, vice director of the Islamic University in Kasghar, Xingiang's westernmost city, says Islamic worship is on the rise, especially among the young.

This is straining relations between Muslim leaders and the Communist Party as well as worsening long-standing tensions between the mostly Muslim Uighur population and the Chinese. These have led to severe repression of the Uighurs, yet the number of mosques has risen from an estimated 6,000 to over 10,000 over the last two decades.

- As-Sharq Al-Ausat (Arab language daily, London)

CHINESE-STYLE WRESTLING THE BREAKTHROUGH DIPLOMATIC SPORT

First it was pingpong. Now the breakthrough sport in U.S.-Chinese relations may be Chinese-style wrestling. An international tournament in Beijing, which starts the day after Christmas, will draw a team from the United States -- many from the San Francisco Bay Area -- as well as competitors from Algeria, Chile, France, Finland, Britain, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland.

- World Journal (Chinese language daily, San Francisco)

LATINO APATHY AT S.F. POLLS

Latinos nationwide may be showing increasing clout with every election, but the only records broken at the polls in San Francisco last Nov. 6 were for voter apathy. A mere 27 percent of the City's eligible voters showed up at the polls and the Latino community was among those with the lowest turnout.

Susan Leal, the first Latina to be elected treasurer in the country, blamed the poor showing on the fact that Latinos didn't have issues like 187 to worry about. "The most frustrating thing was to go and talk to supporters who said, 'I think you're great...' but with nothing to worry about on the ballot, were they going to kill themselves to get there? Probably not."

- El Mensajero (San Francisco bilingual weekly)