February 18, 2004 (Wednesday)
- The California state agency that records marriages states that forms that have been altered, which San Francisco has done slightly on its same-sex marriage licenses, will not be registered. (Washington Times)
- An internal memo suggests that Apple Computer has paid off its remaining 3 million dollars debts and is now debt-free with 4.8 billion dollars in cash.
- At least 200 people are reported to have been killed in Iran after rail wagons carrying sulfur, petrol and fertiliser derailed and exploded. The accident happened near the town of Nishapur in Khorasan province. (BBC)
- Occupation of Iraq: Suicide bombers in two vehicles killed 11 Iraqis and wounded 58 foreign troops and 44 Iraqis near the entrance to a Polish-manned coalition logistics base near the town of Hilla in central Iraq south of Baghdad. (BBC)
- Howard Dean officially ends his campaign for President of the United States, after placing a distant third in the Wisconsin primary elections of February 17, 2004. "I am no longer actively pursuing the presidency," he announced.
- Opinion poll results indicate either of the two main Democratic presidential candidates would beat President Bush by at least 10 points. (VOA)
- Israel is condemned by the International Committee of the Red Cross for the location of the Israeli West Bank barrier. The aid agency declared that the barrier at its current position was contrary to international humanitarian law and had caused extensive damage to Palestinian land and property and deprived thousands of Palestinians access to water, health care and education. (ICRC)
- A federal appeals court in the United States ruled that district court judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, presiding judge in the much-watched Martha Stewart trial, was in the wrong in barring the media from the voir dire process at the beginning of that trial. (AP)
- Scientists at NASA and the ESA witness a supermassive black hole in galaxy RX J1242−11 graze, partially consume, and tear apart a star. This is the first time such a phenomenon has been observed. (NASA)