What do Indians and Pakistanis think about the recent bomb tests? How are Latinos faring at the polls? What do the Ku Klux Klan and the Nation of Islam have in common? You probably won't find answers to these questions in mainstream media outlets. Every two weeks New California Media, a network of ethnic media organizations, digests news and commentary from this rapidly growing segment of the news media.

PAKISTAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM RECEIVED BOOST DURING REAGAN YEARS

Pakistan's nuclear weapons program received its most crucial boost from the Reagan Administration.

Under Reagan's Soviet policy, pleasing Pakistan was more important than the United States' commitment to non-proliferation. When Reagan became president, he cultivated Pakistan to deal with challenges in Iran and Afghanistan, giving Islamabad 40 F-16 planes and a $3.2 billion, six-year assistance package.

The U.S. also exempted Pakistan from its non-proliferation laws for six years. Members of the Reagan Administration privately admitted U.S. aid would help Pakistan become a nuclear power, yet the aid continued throughout the 1980s.

-Pakistan Link, Inglewood, Calif.

LAW CENTER LABELS NATION OF ISLAM HATE GROUP

The Southern Poverty Law Center in Birmingham, Ala., has been tracking the activities of violent white supremacist groups -- like the White Aryan Resistance, the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi skinheads -- around the country for decades.

By suing the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama for infringing on people's civil rights, the Center forced that group to file for bankruptcy in the mid 1980s.

The Center is getting heat in response to its most recent Intelligence Report, which tracks the spread of hate groups across the country. For the first time since the report began to come out in 1981, the Nation of Islam is listed as one of 474 hate groups in America. The Nation's Internet home page is listed as a hate site on the Web.

-San Francisco Bay View

INDONESIA'S HIDDEN VICTIMS

The overthrow of President Suharto in Indonesia has been big news in recent weeks, but one piece of that story has special significance to ethnic Chinese everywhere -- the scapegoating of Indonesians of Chinese decent, rich and poor.

In 1965 and 1966, when Suharto came to power, Indonesians killed hundreds of thousands of ethnic Chinese. This time, ethnic Chinese in Indonesia have been blamed, in part, for the economic downturn precipitated by Suharto's corruption and crony capitalism.

Indonesian mobs have attacked Chinese merchants and symbols of Chinese wealth as a way of venting rage against Suharto, who has set up his family and some ethnic Chinese business leaders with lucrative deals.

-Asian Week, San Francisco

THE "CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS" HAS BECOME NUCLEAR

Samuel P. Huntington Jr., author of "The Clash of Civilizations and the New World Order," said the clash of civilizations has turned nuclear, as evidenced by the recent nuclear tests of India and Pakistan.

Huntington sees the India-Pakistan conflict as a conflict between Hinduism and Islam which has taken on nuclear aspects, and argues that these have now replaced the ideological confrontations of the Cold War as indicators of global conflict.

Huntington said that the remarkable thing about the recent nuclear tests is that they have lessened the dangers of war between the two countries. Both countries now feel the necessity of being "even more cautious" towards one another. This is going to make it impossible for "cultural nationalism" to defeat globalism.

-Ash-Sharq Al-Ausat, Arab language, London

LATINO VOTER PARTICIPATION DOUBLES

The Latino presence in California elections has continued to increase. In the most recent elections, Latinos represented 12 percent of the voters, doubling their showing from the '94 elections.

Countering many projections in the mainstream media, 63 percent of Latinos voted "no" on Proposition 227; 37 percent voted "yes."

The number of Latino candidates also grew -- there will be Latinos participating in 7 of the 20 state Senate races and 25 of the 80 Assembly races next November.

-El Latino, Spanish language, San Francisco

PHILIPPINE SEAFARERS ORGANIZE

The Philippine Seafarer's Organizing Ministry (PSOM), a local Methodist Church initiative, has become an advocate for Filipino seafarers in U.S. ports.

For the last three years, Pastor Rey Lopez has been setting up a network of support for the PSOM among dock workers, maritime unions and community-based organizations in major West Coast ports.

Today's globalization of labor is best exemplified by the situation of some 180,000 Filipino seafarers who receive low pay and are forced to work long overtime hours. Many complain of racist abuses by their non-Filipino officers.

There are reported cases of disappearances, and sexual and physical assaults on board vessels.

- Nafaum Tambuli (National Association of Filipino-American United Methodists), San Francisco

CARTER CRITICIZES U.S. REACTION TO INDIAN TESTS

Former president Jimmy Carter has criticized the Clinton Administration's response to India's nuclear tests. Carter said that while he found the tests disturbing, he also questioned imposing sanctions against India when the United States itself has backed away from ratifying a treaty to ban nuclear testing.

"It is very hard to tell India it shouldn't have nuclear weapons when we will keep 8,000 or so," Carter said.

He went on to chide the United States for spending less than 1 percent of its budget on foreign aid, while less wealthy communities contribute more. "We are the richest nation on Earth, but we are also the stingiest."

-India Currents, San Jose, Calif.