EVENTS

CLINTON HITS THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL President Clinton is raising his voice in partisan battle cry in one close campaign after another this week in a final drive to rouse the Democratic faithful. Many races hang on whether Democratic voters can be stirred from their disillusionment enough to turn out at the polls the way conservative Republicans are clearly going to. ``No matter what I do, I can't take you to the polling place on Tuesday,'' he told the crowd in the Antioch Baptist Church in a black section of Cleveland on Tuesday during a long day of campaigning. Several hours earlier, in Detroit, he urged a predominantly black and union crowd: ``Show up on Election Day.'' The stakes are high for Mr. Clinton and his party: Governors' offices in the nation's biggest states are on the ballot; while in Congress, Republicans are challenging Democratic control of both the Senate and the House. Clinton's itinerary includes stops in six states in five days, beginning in Rhode Island. Economic index mixed

The US government's chief forecasting gauge of future economic activity was unchanged in September after a strong advance the previous month. The Index of Leading Economic Indicators turned in a mixed performance in September, with six of its 11 components advancing, the Commerce Department said yesterday.

Tremor rocks Malaysia

A 12-second earthquake swayed high-rise buildings in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, and those who fled included government ministers holding a meeting in a 28th-floor office, officials said. No injuries or major damage were reported in the tremor in the state of Sabah on the island of Borneo, which Malaysia shares with Indonesia.

Newspapers struck

Reporters and Teamsters picketed side-by-side yesterday as employees at San Francisco's two major daily newspapers went on strike just days before crucial elections in California. The eight unions negotiating as the Conference of Newspaper Unions represent 2,600 workers at the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner, including newsroom employees, printers, and delivery drivers and janitors.

Layoffs at the NAACP

Some NAACP staff members have offered to work without pay during layoffs aimed at reducing a $3.5 million deficit at the nation's oldest civil rights organization. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced Tuesday that it had sent home all its approximately 90 employees this week. The layoff order was for a week, but some employees will reportedly be out longer.

Tourist copter crashes

Authorities yesterday were searching for three people who disappeared when a tourist helicopter plunged into the sea during a fierce storm, killing the other 11 occupants. The helicopter was one of two Bell 212s flying from a cruise ship to Mayan Indian ruins on the Mexican mainland when it went down Tuesday afternoon in the Caribbean off the Yucatan Peninsula, police said.