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Poynter Court, site of the siege, as seen in 2022

The Northolt siege was a hostage situation which developed in Northolt, West London, on 25 December 1985. After a domestic dispute, Errol Walker forced entry into his sister-in-law's flat in Poynter Court (pictured). He killed the woman, keeping her daughter and his own daughter hostage. He released his daughter, but held the other girl hostage. After more than a day, he ventured onto the communal balcony to pick up an abandoned riot shield. Armed officers tried to intercept him but he made it back to the flat. They threw stun grenades through the windows, their first use by British police, and climbed through the kitchen window. One officer found Walker lying on a sofa, holding a knife to the child, and fired three shots, the first shooting by the Metropolitan Police's Firearms Wing. Walker was shot twice, and was later given life imprisonment for murder and other offences. One historian of the unit felt that the incident showed that the police had an alternative for crises that could not be resolved peacefully. (Full article...)

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In the news

Earthquake damage in Diyarbakır

An earthquake (damage pictured) strikes Turkey and Syria, killing over 12,000 people and injuring more than 56,000 others.
Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf dies at the age of 79.
A Chinese balloon suspected of surveillance and espionage is shot down after overflying Canada and the United States.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) makes its closest approach to the Earth.
A suicide bombing in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, kills 100 people and injures more than 220 others.

On this day

February 8

William D. Boyce

1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, led a failed rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I of England.
1879 – Angered by a controversial umpiring decision, cricket spectators rioted and attacked the England team during a match in Sydney, Australia.
1910 – William D. Boyce (pictured) established the Boy Scouts of America, expanding the Scout Movement into the United States.
1965 – After taking evasive action to avoid a mid-air collision just after taking off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 84 people on board.
2010 – A freak storm triggered a series of avalanches that buried more than 3.5 km (2.2 mi) of road near the Salang Tunnel in Afghanistan, killing 175 people and trapping more than 2,500 travellers.

Helen of Anjou (d. 1314)
Kate Chopin (b. 1850)
Peter Kropotkin (d. 1921)

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Today's featured picture

Himalayan salt is rock salt (halite) mined from the Salt Range mountains in the Pakistani region of Punjab. The salt is principally sodium chloride but has trace presence of calcium, iron, zinc, chromium, magnesium, and sulfate, minerals which give some veins of the salt a pink or reddish color. Himalayan salt is often used as a substitute for common table salt, sometimes being promoted as a healthier alternative, although there is no scientific evidence to support this. It has also been used as a material for serving dishes, baking stones, and griddles. This image of coarse white and pink grains of Himalayan salt, up to 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in diameter, was focus-stacked from 23 individual photographs.

Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus

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