May 31, 2002

dA

Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec for most of its 36 years has seen no conflict between its role as government agency promoting economic independence for Canada's French-speaking province and its obligation to seek highest return for millions of Quebecers who entrust their retirement savings to government-sponsored plans; juggling act has become increasingly difficult to defend as Caisse has moved beyond its Quebec roots in quest to become global asset management powerhouse; Quebec government, spurred by criticism over some investments and recent lackluster performance, has named Henri-Paul Rousseau, president of Laurentian Bank of Canada, to replace Jean-Claude Scraire as agency's chairman and chief executive; agency has played crucial role in Quebec's economy, especially in helping it to recover from flight of businesses and capital from Montreal to Toronto after separatist Parti Quebecois first took power in 1976; Caisse has become Canada's biggest institutional investor and real estate owner; agency's investments outside Canada have grown to 40.3 percent of of its total last year from just under 15 percent in 1992 (M)

Shareholders of MobilCom hand vote of no confidence to company's chief executive Gerhard Schmid after inquiry ordered by France Telecom found that stock option plan he proposed broke German securities rules; MobilCom's shares fall 14 percent after Schmid admits he violated rules by failing to give finance chief Thorsten Grenz enough information about option program; vote further erodes Schmid's credibility and gives France Telecom's chief executive Michel Bon upper hand for control of MobilCom (S)

European Parliament passes data protection law that civil liberties campaigners, telecommunication companies and Internet industry representatives condemn; law allows 15-member European Union states to force Internet and telecommunications service providers to retain data on their customers' online and phone activity beyond one or two months information is normally stored for billing purposes; also bans spam, or unsolicited e-mail advertisements (S)

Pres Bush will send Defense Sec Donald H Rumsfeld to India and Pakistan in effort to defuse threat of nuclear war between longtime enemies; makes strongest demand yet that Pres Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan crack down on infiltration of terrorists into India, amid growing alarm that five-month-long military buildup has reached new point of crisis; Sec Colin L Powell is sending his deputy, Richard L Armitage, to region next week; Bush has been praising Musharraf for his pledge to clamp down on Islamic extremists who carry out attacks on Indian civilians along line of separation, and newly harsh tone appears aimed at assuaging Indian rage over incursions; Bush also warns remnants of Al Qaeda thought to be gathered in western Pakistan not to exploit India-Pakistan conflict to make trouble along Pakistan's western border (M)