November 14, 1992

One of the world's most experienced long-distance sailors, Mike Plant, is missing at sea, and the American's inexplicable failure to register his boat's emergency tracking equipment appears to have seriously jeopardized his chances of being rescued in the Atlantic Ocean. The mystery of his whereabouts has underscored the absence of a fail-safe system to protect sailors on oceanic crossings. For Plant, a 41-year-old yachtsman from Jamestown, R.I., who has circumnavigated the globe alone three times before, his voyage across the Atlantic, to Les Sables d'Olonne, France, should have been little more than a skip across a pond. But as of yesterday, he was late by 13 days. Plant, who left New York Harbor in the 60-foot sailboat Coyote on Oct. 16, sent off a distress signal Oct. 27. He was sailing to Les Sables d'Olonne for the Nov. 22 start of the Vendee Globe Challenge, a nonstop solo race around the world. It wasn't until this Thursday that the United States Coast Guard at Governors Island in New York received word about the signal.

The path of economic recovery brightened today as the Government reported that retail sales rose nine-tenths of 1 percent last month and pollsters at the University of Michigan found consumer confidence soaring in the first half of November. Combined with yet another decline in first-time jobless claims that was reported Thursday, today's findings raised hopes among many economists that the exceptionally sluggish business recovery may finally be gaining some momentum.

Fourteen former employees of the Georgia women's prison here were indicted today on sexual abuse charges, including rape and sodomy, in what is being called one of the worst episodes of its kind in the history of the nation's women's prisons. The indictments of 10 men and 4 women, including a former deputy warden, stem from a 1984 lawsuit against the prison. The lawsuit tells of prison employees trading favors for sex from inmates, of coerced abortions and of an incident in which a mentally disturbed woman was stripped and hogtied on a concrete floor. More Charges Expected Officials involved in the investigation say that at least 119 female prisoners have been identified as victims and that the investigation is almost certain to lead to more indictments.

Bowe Dethrones Holyfield Riddick Bowe, a 25-year-old from Brooklyn, beat Evander Holyfield by unanimous decision to win the world heavyweight championship. Page 29. Officers in Beating Case Gain A judge dealt a setback to prosecutors by barring a critical line of evidence in the civil rights trial of officers who beat Rodney King. Page 6. For F.B.I. Chief, a Cloud Lifts The Justice Department dropped its criminal inquiry on the F.B.I. Director, William S. Sessions. An internal ethics inquiry goes on. Page 6.

In late April, the political professionals working to make Bill Clinton President realized they had a potentially fatal problem: at least 40 percent ofthe voters did not much like Mr. Clinton. They saw him as a "wishy-washy," fast-talking career politician who did not "talk straight." They liked Hillary Clinton even less, regarding her as "being in the race for herself," as "going for the power," and as a wife intent on "running the show."