Time

COVER: The brightest supernova in 60

383 years exhilarates astronomers

Light from a star that exploded when man' s ancestors were still working with stone tools reaches earth after a 170,000- year journey. Scientists are elatedly studying it because they believe such flaring stars account for the creation of elements, the birth of new stars and perhaps some of the mutations that drive the evolution of terrestrial life. See SCIENCE.

NATION: A death pact among four youths 12

dramatizes the problem of teen suicide

As a New Jersey town asks how it could happen, experts fear that others will seek similar fatal attention. -- Senator Sam Nunn fights for strict adherence to a key arms treaty. -- Freedom for John Gotti, the Mafia' s Dapper Don. -- Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole has become a hot presidential candidate. -- Marian Wright Edelman is a Washington lobbyist -- for children.

WORLD: The Pollard affair casts a chill 30

over relations between the U. S. and Israel

Under mounting pressure from the Reagan Administration and American Jewish leaders, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir reluctantly names a panel to investigate the spy case. -- Stubborn support for a sales tax puts Japan' s Nakasone on a political hot seat. -- A new book presents an intriguing idea for solving the South African dilemma: cantonal government.

40

Economy & Business

In a daring move, Chrysler will buy AMC. -- The merger whirlwind blows anew. -- A transatlantic insider- trading scam.

58

Religion

A stern Vatican declaration denounces surrogate motherhood and most of the other artificial techniques of human reproduction.

70

Law

The Supreme Court opens the door a bit wider for refugees seeking asylum. -- A libel judgment against the Washington Post is reversed.

75

Press

After a painful round of layoffs, CBS News staffers debate whether the network has just trimmed fat or done itself serious harm.

77

Sexes

Awareness grows about the phenomenon known as "date rape." -- Money for the Mayflower madam, this time from a book.

78

Sport

At least during spring training, baseball is neither a game of inches nor a $ business measured only in dollars and cents.

90

Theater

Les Miserables, an epic musical of the downtrodden in bygone Paris, opens to Broadway box- office records -- and deserves them.

92

Music

At the Metropolitan Opera, Director Franco Zeffirelli stages a Turandot that is a monument to glorious -- or is it wretched? -- excess.

1 American Scene

7 Letters

81 People

82 Show Business

82 Milestones

83 Books

86 Cinema

Cover: Illustration by Geoffrey Chandler