Paris, France A 500-kg WWII bomb forced one of the largest rail disruptions in the French capital in years. The munition was found during construction of a new bridge near the rail tracks and left thousands of stranded passengers waiting for its safe removal.

Police responded to evacuate the area, including 200 residents in the area around the Gare du Nord train station, the country's busiest railway terminus serving international trains to London and mainland Europe.

Once the ordnance was defused, Philippe Tabarot, France's transport minister, confirmed that the 500-kilogram bomb "contained 200 kilogram of explosives."

While some passengers were annoyed with the disruptions, Owen Pritchard, a tourist seeking to return to London, was relieved. "I don't want to get on a train that runs over any unexploded WWII ordnance," he said. "I would rather they clear that and then make sure it's safe to travel."

Matthieu Chabanel, head of rail infrastructure management unit SNCF (France's national state-owned railway company) network, said that finding a bomb of such size was "really quite exceptional." He explained in a statement to reporters, "We know that during WWII, the rail network was heavily bombed, especially here north of Paris where there were also many factories."

The removal operations were safe and effective, and full service to the station was resumed the following day.

Saint-Denis Suburb, Paris. An unexploded World War II bomb was found causing traffic at Gare du Nord, one of France's busiest train stations, to come to a complete halt until the ordnance could be safely defused. The bomb was discovered around 3:30 a.m. during track maintenance.

Authorities then began to halt all train services, including Eurostar connections to London, Brussels, and Amsterdam, causing significant travel disruptions. Over 300 police officers secured the area, as the bomb, weighing more than 1,000 pounds and containing over 400 pounds of explosives, was unearthed during landscaping work. Evacuations of nearby homes and lockdowns of schools were implemented for safety.

O'Fallon, Illinois Scott Air Force Base (AFB) EOD conducted a controlled detonation of old military munition discovered by Caseyville Township Sewer System employees digging for a sewer line.

The employees alerted police of the suspected UXO which was later identified by EOD as a live 80-year-old 90mm projectile.

Authorities have not yet determined how the munition ended up buried at the site, but an investigation is ongoing. Officials issued a warning to anyone who comes across anything that looks like an old military ordnance not to touch it and to alert emergency services.

Northumberland, England Construction work on a playground in Wooler has been halted by the discovery WWII-era bombs. Contractors were forced to stop work just one week after the project kickoff after workers uncovered a "suspicious object" while digging the foundations for the park.

Northumbria Police were called in after discovery of what appeared to be an artillery shell. The bomb disposal squad from Catterick Barracks was called in to confirm that it was a WWII training device which they removed for safe disposal.

Unfortunately, as soon was work resumed, another ordnance was found. The UK Ministry of Defence advised that a full site survey would be required. Once experts began the investigation, they soon realized the large scale of the playground problem.

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Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan Japanese troops safely removed and defused a 5-inch U.S. WWII-era shell on a small island south of Okinawa's capital city. The shell was discovered on a construction site in Tomigusuku city on Senaga Island, about 2,500 feet from Naha Airport's runway, according to a spokesperson for Tomigusuku's Disaster Prevention and Crisis Management Division.

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force's 101st EOD Unit moved the shell into an explosion-proof container and defused it. The shell was found in November by a contractor who was excavating soil with heavy equipment as part of disaster recovery work, the spokesperson said.

No businesses or homes were evacuated, but traffic was restricted within a radius of 83 feet during the defusing operation. The shell was taken to a warehouse for disposal at a later date. The discovery followed the defusing and removal of another 5-inch, WWII-era U.S. shell from a construction site in Naha city earlier this month.

Taipei, Taiwan construction workers discovered an unexploded WWII bomb on at the construction site for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s (TSMC) Technology Industrial Park facility. The Army responded and confirmed it was a WWII-era bomb. The item was relocated for proper disposal.

Tilbury, Essex, construction workers were startled when they unearthed a large unexploded German bomb from World War II buried eight meters deep. The 250 kg bomb was discovered after digging a shaft, and precautions were taken due to its anti-handling and time fuses. Fortunately, the bomb disposal team safely detonated it on-site, covering it with 500 tons of sand to minimize the blast. This discovery led to public curiosity about how the bomb ended up so deeply buried, with theories suggesting it may have fallen into a crater or been covered over time.

Miyazaki, Japan A 500-pound US bomb believed to have been dropped during WWII, exploded at Miyazaki Airport in southwest Japan, causing a crater in a taxiway and leading to the cancellation of over 80 flights. Fortunately, there were no casualties, and no aircraft were in the vicinity at the time of the blast.

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Andersen Air Force Base, Guam Members of the 36th Civil Engineer Squadron EOD team rendered safe and removed a WWII-era Japanese grenade from a construction site at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. The Type 97, standard-issue Japanese hand grenade was discovered in Munition Storage Area 1 last month.

A spokesperson from the 36th Wing said in an email, "[The] general public was not in danger ... due to the quick actions of the Andersen EOD team." The unexploded grenade was found by "the Materials [Munitions and] of Explosive Concern clearance contractor on a construction site."

The Type 97 a common type of fragmentation hand grenade used by Japanese forces during WWII.

Assateague, Maryland UXO discovered on the beach at Assateague Island National Seashore has been safely disposed in a controlled detonation by Dover Air Force Base EOD.

The WWII-era ordnance was found near the parking lot closest to the entrance. Lifeguards assisted in clearing the area, and a cordon was established.

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