WWII bomb forces evacuation of 18,500

A German bomb disposal team yesterday successfully defused an unexploded World War II bomb that had forced the evacuation of 18,500 people in the city of Ludwigshafen. The 500-kilogramme aerial bomb, thought to have been dropped by American forces, was discovered during construction work earlier in the week. More than 70 years after the end of World War II, Germany remains littered with unexploded ordnance, a legacy of the intense Allied bombing campaign against Nazi Germany.