November 27, 2002

New York Mets receive counteroffer by free agent pitcher Tom Glavine, and are surprised by reportedly high asking price of $45 million for four years; photo (M)

David Nash, chairman-designate of corporate telecommunications group of Cable and Wireless, will quit instead of taking up his post, raising speculation that Graham Wallace, chief executive, will soon follow; Wallace photo (S)

European Union overhauls its antitrust laws in hopes of channeling its energy into uncovering price-fixing arrangements and breaking up cartels; new laws, adopted by vote of economics ministers of union's 15 member nations, will shift much of responsibility for regulating ties between companies away from European Commission and back to individual countries and their courts (M)

This cerebral science-fiction film wants to fuse the mystical intellectual gamesmanship of "2001: A Space Odyssey" with the love-beyond-the-grave romantic schmaltz of "Titanic." George Clooney is a psychiatrist called to a space station whose crew, while investigating a planet called Solaris, has started acting strangely. While there, he is visited by his wife, who committed suicide years earlier. Is she a miracle of resurrection or a mental trick played by the planet? And does it matter? Although the fusion doesn't quite come off, this somber film is a worthy, absorbing meditation on reality and fantasy and the possibilities of heaven and eternal life. It includes the most emotionally probing performance of Mr. Clooney's screen career. — Stephen Holden

Alan Riding reviews Imperial War Museum exhibition featuring works and artifacts of twelve World War I poets; photos; London show, Anthem for Doomed Youth, marks 84th anniversary of Armistice Day (M)