EVENTS

UNITED STATES INCOME JUMPED IN OCTOBER Americans' income surged 1.4 percent in October, the ninth straight increase and the biggest jump in eight months. The US Commerce Department also reported yesterday that spending rose 0.7 percent in October. Disposable income - income after taxes - also climbed 1.4 percent in October. Consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the nation's gross domestic product, was up for the sixth straight month and eight of the last nine. The combination of incomes and spending meant that Americans' savings rate - savings as a percentage of disposable income - climbed to 4.7 percent in October, from 4.1 percent the previous month. The latest figures are in line with brisk growth for the economy. The government reported Wednesday that the economy expanded at a 3.9 percent annual rate in the third quarter of 1994, despite rising interest rates and is on target for its best yearly performance in six years. Mexican Cabinet

Mexico's new president performed the first political high-wire act of his term even before he took office: balancing a Cabinet of free-market economists with women and a member of the opposition. The naming of his 25-member Cabinet could prove the most important news of the two-day inaugural festivities culminating with Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Les swearing-in yesterday in Mexico City.

NATO's `Warsaw Pact' plan

NATO foreign ministers yesterday in Brussels approved a proposal setting out the terms and conditions for the entry of former Warsaw Pact foes as new members in the coming years. The ministers endorsed a 12-month program to consider financing, structure, nuclear, and other issues related to the expansion of the 16-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization to include Central and East European democracies.

Quayle improves

Former US Vice President Dan Quayle could be released from an Indiana hospital by Monday. Doctors say he is being treated for a blood clot in a lung.

Arizona challenge

Arizona plans to hold its primary in 1996 on the same day as New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation contest, state officials said yesterday. But it is unlikely to happen without a fight from New Hampshire. New Hampshire has a law requiring its primary to be one week earlier than any other state's.

Military readiness

President Clinton will seek an additional $25 billion for the military to help improve the readiness of forces and the quality of life for troops. The money would help cover a $40 billion shortfall over five years that had been created by a congressionally required pay raise, and by inflation.

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