February 24, 2004 (Tuesday)
- The British Olympic Association bans European 100 meter champion Dwain Chambers from competing in the Olympic Games for life for a positive test for the designer steroid THG.
- Same-sex marriage in the United States: U.S. President George W. Bush announces his support for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Bush did not explicitly endorse the Federal Marriage Amendment, proposed by Representative Marilyn Musgrave (R–Colorado), which has been criticised for potentially also denying states the ability to recognise same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. However, he said that the FMA "meets his principles" in protecting the "sanctity of marriage" between men and women.(CNN) (USA Today)
- Russian president Vladimir Putin dismisses Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and implicitly the entire Russian cabinet less than a month prior to presidential elections. (CNN) (BBC)
- At least 564 people are killed in Morocco, in an earthquake of 6.1–6.5 Richter magnitude, occurring outside the tourist resort Al Hoceima in the middle of the night (0227 UTC). (BBC)
- In protest of EMI's attempts to stop the distribution of DJ Danger Mouse's The Grey Album, several hundred websites post the album for download in a coordinated act of civil disobedience known as Grey Tuesday. (TheRegister) (P2PNet)
- 2004 Haitian coup d'état: in the lead-up to the coup, rebels in Haiti have wrested large parts of the island from government control. The capital, Port-au-Prince is still held by supporters of the president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Supporters of the president vowed to defend the city and fight to the death.