What does the world look like as reported on the pages of California's growing ethnic newspapers? PNS monitors the Chinese-, Spanish-, Vietnamese-, Japanese-, Korean-, Arabic-language news media as well as English-language newcomer and native-born ethnic press published and/or distributed widely in California. "Gleanings from the Ethnic Media" is a regular weekly column compiled by Emil Guillermo, host of "NCM: New California Media TV" (seen on PBS station KCSM-TV60 in the Bay Area); assisted by Pacific News Service and the NCM Network. Just as the alternative news media connected the disaffected populations in the 1960s, so in the 1990s the ethnic media connects the new ethnic majority communities of California -- to one another and to the larger public forum.

EXECUTING DIVERSITY: A Latina guard, visibly pregnant, drew back a beige curtain revealing a Jay Siripongs years older than the figure shown in available press photos, reports AsianWeek (San Francisco) in its account of the first Asian American executed in California since the Eisenhower era. Executions of Asian Americans are rare -- Siripongs, a Thai national, is the first since Filipino American Burt Luis Caritativo in 1958. In all, 25 Asian and Asian Americans have been put to death this century in California.

In a passionate editorial AsianWeek condemned the execution as unjust, arguing that when he was sent to death row in 1983 "it was a lot easier to view the world as all white, especially if you were in Orange County (where the trial took place). Much of America was pre-occupied more with the threat of Japan than with the rights of Asian Americans. To many, we were all the same anyway, as the beating death of Vincent Chin in Highland Park, Michigan had borne out the year below. In that case the two perpetrators received minimal sentences."

ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS, BIG HEADACHE: It's being called the biggest clash since Hong Kong returned to the Mainland last year. The Sing Tao Daily (San Francisco) reports that a Hong Kong court has broadened the "right of abode" (legal permanent residence) to illegitimate children born of Hong Kong parents. The decision allows hundreds, if not thousands of mainlanders into the prosperous Hong Kong "special administrative district."

But Beijing authorities say the court has ignored the National People's Congress, China's top law-making body. It calls into question the effectiveness of the "Basic Law" formula that governs HK's special status: "One country, two systems." Mainland statements point out that "one country" comes first and thus is primary.

The dispute could shake confidence in Hong Kong's stability if it is not settled quickly. The Sing Tao advocates no change in the "right to abode" law, but the issue has already spawned protest demonstrations among Hong Kong residents. According to the World Journal, the United States has already indicated it supports the independence of Hong Kong courts.

MORAL AND CULTURAL SHOCK: "Clinton is acquitted: the American people are going to carry a spiritual wound into the next century," proclaimed an editorial in the World Journal (Taiwan).

The paper quoted Machiavelli, For the stability of the state there's nothing worse than a ruler making laws and then not observing them... When there are too many political impeachments and attacks an unruly mood will arise among the people." Noting Hilary Clinton's accusation of "right-wing conspiracy" to attack her husband, the editorial said: "Whatever the political intrigues or moral lapses the reality is that America is the world's only superpower. When the Congress decided to impeach the president not only was Clinton to be judged but the entire American people."

"Now the impeachment trial is over. But the moral and cultural shock has gone deep into the souls of Americans. The bitter partisan struggles in Congress are not going to end soon. Even though Clinton was contrite after his acquittal the fierce partisan strife and the rifts in Americans' moral values are going to create controversy in next year's presidential and congressional elections. It only will be in the next century that the reconstruction of America's social peace can begin."

AFTER IMPEACHMENT: CHINA?: The post-impeachment era may see China filling the news void, as signs indicate a deterioration in China/U.S. relations. The World Journal (Taiwan) reports that this spring, China could meet the conditions for entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). The U.S. wants to ease entry by a terminological change from "Most Favored Nation" (MFN) to "Normal Trade Relations" (MNR). On the other hand, the Singapore-based Lianhe Zaobao published a Washington datelined piece saying that foreign experts in China and Hong Kong have noted that China is cooling on its earlier ardor to join the WTO.

MORE THAN GESTURES: In covering the funeral of King Hussein, As-Sharq al-Ausat (London) focused on several significant handshakes between Arabs and Israelis. Nayeef Hawatmeh, leader of the radical anti-Israel Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, revealed a conversation and handshake with Israeli president Ezer Weizman. Weizman asked Hawatmeh to arrange a meeting with Syrian president Hafiz al-Asad who also was at the funeral. Also unprecedented was the public handshake of two women, Sara Netanyahu and Suha Arafat. The Arabic media reported the exchange as a hopeful sign for peace.

OUR LAND, OUR COURTS: No longer able to fish, swim, and enjoy ancestral lands, the Onondoga Nation, Native Americans in upstate New York want the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state conservation agency to stop a mining and development company from destroying land they have lived on for centuries, according to a report in The Final Call (Chicago). The Onondaga Nation recently filed a petition asking the two agencies to stop the valley realty Development Co. from operating a mine which they claim has endangered their health and way of life.

REVEALING CHARACTER: They are going back to Chinese in Korea, according to the China Press (San Francisco). Korean President Kim Dae Jung has called for reversing a decades-long policy of eliminating Chinese characters from the Korean language. Jung said that eliminating Chinese characters has cut off the country's historic literary legacy. Chinese has been the main written language of the country's literature since the third century. Experts add that in this information age, Chinese characters are superior in transmitting Korean language information than alphabetic systems.

ONE MAN'S MISERY, ANOTHER'S VACATION: Approximately 100,000 Vietnamese expatriates have returned to Vietnam to celebrate the new year, 20,000 more than last year, according to a report in Thoi Bao (San Jose, Ca.). The country may be suffering economically, but this makes it appealing for returnees who get more bang for the buck as prices have dropped for goods and services. But government officials fear that so many Viet Kieus (Vietnamese nationals living abroad) coming home could create "chaos."

CALL HOME: Ethnic groups spend more of their income on phone calls than the general population, reports La Prensa (San Diego). In a study by Insight research found that Hispanics, Asians, and African-Americans, who represent 25 percent of the U.S. population, are responsible for 29 percent of long distance revenue and 37 percent of local telephone service revenue. By 2002, the ethnic telecom market will total almost $50 billion. The study also revealed that ethnic consumers consider "customer service" as the number one reason for selecting a telecom carrier.

STILL A WASH?: "ABA Membership 'Mirrors' Profession in Ethnic Diversity, Commission Reports," read the spinline in La Prensa (San Diego) on the American Bar Association's just-released report by its Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession. But the profession is not very diverse and progress is slight. The commission found that 92.67 of all lawyers in the U.S. were Caucasian as of 1990, while a voluntary census of ABA members during 1997-1998 fiscal year showed that, of those who identified their ethnicity, 91 percent were Caucasian.