June 17, 1998

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column contends that it is time for Baltimore Orioles third baseman Cal Ripken Jr, who broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive-game playing record, to retire; photo (M)

Senate, 49-48, votes to limit lawyers' fees in suits against cigarette makers; sets maximum fee of $4,000 an hour for lawyers who took greatest risks and were involved in cases before 1995; fees would drop on sliding scale to maximum of $500 an hour for those who enter cases after today; Sen Slade Gorton sponsors tobacco bill amendment; Majority Leader Trent Lott calls meeting of all Republican senators to decide whether to stop debate and bring bill to final vote; bill sponsor Sen John McCain hopes cap on fees will spur Republican leadership to back cloture (M)

Ruth Reichl (Critic's Notebook) on declining interest in Chinese haute cuisine in America, even though China, like France, has venerable culinary tradition; says reasons range from apathy and lack of sophistication of American diners to shortage of great Chinese chefs; photos (M)

New York Mets beat Montreal Expos, 2-0; photo (M)

Stocks Rebound Slightly As Investors Seek Bargains Stock market gauges rose slightly as investors sought bargains but shunned multinational companies with exposure to the financial turmoil in Asia . The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 37.37 points, to 1,753.12, erasing Monday's 29.30-point decline. The 2.18 percent gain was the largest percentage increase in the barometer in more than three months. Among the big gainers on the Nasdaq were Intel, Microsoft and Dell Computer. Dell jumped 5.9 percent on news it was in talk with Microsoft to custom-design personal computers. [Page D10.]