LEAD: Scientists report that for the first time they have repaired crushed nerves connecting the extremities to the spinal cord in mammals, in this case rats.

Rat Nerves Repaired and Rejoined With Spine

LEAD: The Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation pleaded guilty yesterday to Federal charges that it had sold phony apple juice intended for babies and agreed to pay a $2 million fine.

Beech-Nut Is Fined $2 Million for Sale Of Fake Apple Juice

LEAD: The public humiliation of a Communist Party official once regarded as one of Mikhail S. Gorbachev's closest political supporters has raised critical questions about the Soviet leader as he prepares for his first visit to the United States next month.

Yeltsin Affair Is Raising New Speculation On Soviet Leader's Commitment to Change

LEAD: President Daniel Ortega Saavedra of Nicaragua presented a detailed proposal today for a cease-fire with the contras that would oblige the rebels to surrender their weapons after one month and accept a political amnesty.

ORTEGA PROPOSES TRUCE BUT REBELS OBJECT TO TERMS

LEAD: President Reagan announced today that he would impose punitive tariffs covering more than $100 million worth of imports from Brazil in retaliation for Brazilian curbs on American computer and software products.

Reagan Imposes Punitive Tariffs Against Brazil

LEAD: Elizabeth Morgan had a difficult choice: She could deliver her 5-year-old daughter for a court-ordered visit to the former husband she contends had been sexually abusing the child since infancy, or she could hide her, be held in contempt of court and go to jail.

Charges of Parent Sex Abuse, And a Family Left in Tatters

LEAD: The nation's shoppers seem to have been largely unfazed by the stock-market plunge that began in mid-October, continuing to spend freely, the Commerce Department's monthly report on retail sales indicated today.

RETAIL SALES BRISK AS PRICES DECLINE AT PRODUCER LEVEL

LEAD: Governor Cuomo called yesterday for the creation of a state investigative agency to combat ''systemic corrupution'' and racketeering in the multibillion-dollar construction industry in New York City.

CUOMO PROPOSES CORRUPTION UNIT

LEAD:  Homeless Woman Still Held  An appellate court stayed the release of a homeless woman who a judge said was inappropriately hospitalized by New York City. Page 29.

INSIDE

LEAD: ''The next step is up to them.''- President Daniel Ortega Saavedra of Nicaragua, referring to the contras.  [ 4:4. ]

Quotation of the Day

LEAD:  INTERNATIONAL 3-7, 28  A Nicaraguan cease-fire plan was presented by that country's president. It would oblige Managua's rebel opponents to surrender their weapons after one month and accept a political amnesty. Page 1  News analysis: Boris Yeltsin's ouster has raised questions about the Soviet leader as he prepares for his first visit to the United States.

NEWS SUMMARY: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1987

LEAD: A chart in Business Day yesterday with an article on a new American export drive in Europe mislabeled the two main components. The labels for imports and exports, in the chart showing trade in capital goods, should have been reversed.

CORRECTION

LEAD: A listing on Thursday of the 10 most expensive works of art sold at auction gave an incorrect date for the auction of ''Rue Mosnier With Street Pavers,'' by Manet. The painting was sold at Christie's in London in 1986.

LEAD: An article in Business Day on Thursday about the risks of options trading misidentified in the first mention the type of investor who would suffer big losses if the underlying security turned down. As the article correctly explained thereafter, it is the seller, not the buyer, of an options put contract who risks the heavy losses.

LEAD: Because of a production error, a Washington dispatch on Wednesday, about the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and its attitude on air safety, omitted the association's position on collision-avoidance equipment. Edmund Pinto, an association vice president, said his organization supported the use of ''supplementary equipment'' that would alert air traffic controllers to the position and altitude of a private plane in congested areas.

LEAD: Seven of the nine House Democrats on the Congressional Iran-contra committees will attach a separate statement to the panels' report next week taking issue with the report's conclusion that the White House was fully cooperative with the Congressional inquiry.

7 Democrats Say White House Resisted Iran Panel

LEAD: The leaders of West Germany and France concluded a two-day meeting today with agreements to jointly develop a combat helicopter and to set up joint councils on military and economic policy.

FRANCE AND WEST GERMANY TO SET UP JOINT COUNCILS

LEAD: The United Nations moved today to expand a 1963 treaty into a complete ban on nuclear testing.

U.N. Body Calls for Widening of Test Ban Treaty

LEAD: A picture caption on Friday with an article about the Literary Lions dinner at the New York Public Library Wednesday night misidentified the woman pictured with Harold Pinter and Marietta Tree. She was Kathleen Tynan.

Correction

LEAD: Jacobo Timerman's impassioned pen, which once gave voice to the victims of repression in Argentina, has turned to two other troubled Latin American nations, Chile and Cuba.

Buenos Aires Journal; Timerman, Stranger in Two More Strange Lands

LEAD: Amnesty International said that Wei Jingsheng, China's most prominent political prisoner, is reported to have died in prison while serving a 15-year sentence for ''counterrevolutionary crimes.''

CHINESE DISSIDENT SAID TO DIE IN JAIL

LEAD: Two of three Soviet citizens who appealed to join their spouses in the United States have been given permission to leave the Soviet Union, one of the three said today.

Soviet to Let 2 Women Join Husbands in U.S.

LEAD: A hurricane lashed coastal areas of India's southern Andhra Pradesh state today, killing at least 9 people and forcing the removal of about 29,000, the United News of India reported.

9 Killed in India Hurricane

LEAD: Administration officials, who are divided in their assessment of Mikhail S. Gorbachev's political problems, say American policy will not be influenced by internal maneuvering in the Soviet leadership.

U.S. Won't Alter Policy to Bolster Gorbachev in Rifts, Officials Say

LEAD: Following are excerpts from a report in Pravda yesterday about a Moscow Communist Party meeting Wednesday at which Boris N. Yeltsin was dismissed. The section quoting Mr. Yeltsin was translated by The New York Times; the section quoting others was translated by Reuters.  YELTSIN FOES' REMARKS

Excerpts From Moscow Speeches by Yeltsin and His Critics

Georgios Georgiadis is a Greek former professional footballer and manager, technical director of Pontioi Cheimarros B΄.

November 14, 1987

Headlines from November 14, 1987

Rat Nerves Repaired and Rejoined With Spine

Beech-Nut Is Fined $2 Million for Sale Of Fake Apple Juice

Yeltsin Affair Is Raising New Speculation On Soviet Leader's Commitment to Change

ORTEGA PROPOSES TRUCE BUT REBELS OBJECT TO TERMS

Reagan Imposes Punitive Tariffs Against Brazil

Billboard 200

Dirty Dancing

Tunnel Of Love

Bad

Whitesnake

A Momentary Lapse Of Reason

Notable Births

Historical Context for November 14, 1987