The disposal of what Paris police called an “excessively dangerous” unexploded World War II bomb on Friday caused hours of transportation chaos on rail and road networks in the French capital, including the suspension of high-speed train links with the UK and other parts of Europe.
After moving the bomb into a hole, disposal experts unscrewed and destroyed its fuse, “like you see in the movies,” said Christophe Pezron, who heads the Paris Police Laboratory, which handles bomb disposal.
He said that the 500kg British-made bomb could have caused major damage had it exploded after workers inadvertently dug it up with an earthmover.
Photo: Prefecture de Police de Paris via EPA-EFE
However, the operation to defuse the bomb triggered major disruption for hundreds of thousands of rail travelers and motorists.
The bomb was dug up near train tracks north of Paris, forcing a shutdown of the rail network serving Gare du Nord, France’s busiest station. A portion of the A1 highway — a major road artery into northern Paris — and sections of the capital’s busy beltway were also closed while bomb disposal officers worked.
“We’re delighted and relieved that all this has come to an end,” French Minister of Transport Philippe Tabarot said on Friday afternoon — 12 hours after the bomb-disposal police were first called — as roads reopened and rail services were progressively being restored.
Photo: AP
The minister said that almost 500 trains had been canceled, affecting about 600,000 people at Gare du Nord.
At Eurostar’s hub in London, St Pancras International station, passengers scrambled for alternatives. Paris-bound passengers were advised to try taking trains to Lille, France, or fly.
Bride-to-be Charlotte Liddell had a bachelorette party — her own — to get to in Paris and wanted to join friends already in the French capital.
“It’s the hen do without the hen,” she said. “We’re very upset, but it’s so out of our control.”
Additional reporting by AFP
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS