May 11, 1998

Measuring size of audiences attracted by various World Wide Web search services and sites is proving contentious, as big advertisers funnel most of their money to handful of sites that various rating services say reach widest range of users; no Web rating service has yet emerged as industry standard-bearer; many experts say prime-time television-style ratings race is misplaced because Internet offers way to direct ads to narrowly defined group of likely buyers; photo; table (L)

Yeou-Cheng Ma, older sister of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, is developmental pediatrician, but she also carries on family's musical tradition by running Children's Orchestra Society, training ground for musicians aged 4 to 18; it was founded in 1962 by Mas' father; it will present its annual Discovery Concert on May 11 at Alice Tully Hall; photo (M)

Jefferson Smurfit Acquiring Stone for $2 Billion in Stock Jefferson Smurfit has agreed to acquire Stone Container for $2 billion in stock to create one of the world's largest manufacturers of paperboard and paper-based packaging products. It will also assume $4.35 billion in debt. Smurfit-Stone Container will have annual sales of more than $8 billion.

Second article in series, Lethal Partners, on emergence of Dominican drug cartels as major players in distribution of cocaine and heroin along US East Coast and throughout mid-Atlantic states; American law enforcement officials estimate Dominican drug traffickers transport as much as one-third of approximately 300 metric tons of cocaine that enter US each year, with their share more than doubling since early 1990's; say their rapid growth in large-scale distribution is camouflaged beneath legitimate businesses of thriving Dominican immigrants, and that they take advantage of growing trade and financial dealings between two countries; shift in multibillion-dollar drug trade has complicated American antidrug efforts, which for more than two decades have focused on dismantling highly sophisticated drug cartels run by Colombians; authorities from Maryland to Vermont find themselves struggling to locate new adversaries in sea of hard-working immigrants who have spread across Northeast in search of better future for families; expansion of Dominican drug trade across New York City area discussed; photos (L)

Elizabeth Kolbert column contends that Rev Al Sharpton, though he might have most to lose in Tawana Brawley defamation trial, has been barely touched by case; maintains that he is courted by politicians, hailed by well-wishers and sought after as speaker; holds that no one asks Sharpton about lawsuit except for occasional reporter, and even when pressed, he seems unfazed and 'fantastically slippery' (M)