June 2, 2004

• Five aid workers representing Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are killed in a Taliban ambush in north-western Afghanistan. The workers are one Dutchman, one Belgian, one Norwegian, and two Afghans. The incident leads MSF to temporarily suspend their activities nation-wide, except for life-saving activities. (BBC) (MSF Press Release)
• In a speech given at the U.S. Air Force Academy, President Bush compares the present War on Terrorism in the Middle East to World War II in Europe. (AP) (BBC)
• Zhou Zhengyi, the 11th richest businessman in mainland China, is given a three-year jail sentence for stock market fraud. (BBC)
• Norman Hutchins, who has a fetish for surgical masks becomes the first person in history to be banned from all British hospitals. (BBC)
• Scaled Composites announces that the world's first private manned space flight is scheduled for June 21, 2004. (BBC)
• U.S. government prosecutors, preparing for an upcoming trial of four former executives of Merrill Lynch and two former executives of Enron released a document that could prove helpful to the defense -- indicating that the intent of the allegedly fraudulent transaction was, at the least, a bit equivocal. Trial begins Monday. [http:www.nytimes.com/2004/06/04/business/04ENRON.html?th (NYT)]