Thousands of people were evacuated from a northern suburb of Paris while a World War Two bomb was rendered safe on Sunday.

Residents in Colombes living within a 450m radius of where the device was found last month were told by police to leave their homes by 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT), as authorities carried out a bomb disposal operation.

An inital attempt to remove the device's detonator failed, French media reports, prompting authorities to destroy the historic munition in situ with a controlled explosion.

The operation was "carried out successfully" and the evacutation order was lifted by early on Sunday evening, the Préfet des Hauts-de-Seine confirmed in a statement.

The bomb was discovered on 10 April during construction work on Rue des Champarons. Authorities secured the site and covered the device with sand while preparations were made for its removal.

Ahead of the operation, local official Alexandre Brugère said it would be "risky" and required a "high level of preparation".

Nearly 800 police officers were deployed to enforce the 900m-wide evacuation zone, while a second, wider zone extending a kilometre from the bomb's location allowed residents to remain indoors but restricted outdoor activity.

Locals received emergency alerts instructing them to leave and were told they would not be allowed to return until the operation had been completed.

"The authorities told us to close our windows and shutters when we left the house, but we didn't take anything - we left everything as it was," one resident, Alida, told newspaper Le Parisien.

Reception centres were set up for those forced to leave their homes, including support for vulnerable residents requiring medical assistance.

Police said bomb disposal experts conducted the controlled detonation at 15:20 on Sunday. The evacuation order was lifted shortly after 16:00.

Undetonated WW2 bombs are still found regularly across Europe, 86 years since the war began.

Those uncovered in urban centres - usually when digging foundations for new buildings - can pose a greater risk due to a built-up nearby population.

Dozens of bombs have been found in recent years across London, leading to evacuations of tourist hotspots and even the temporary closure of London City Airport.

Last year, a device weighing 500kg was found and defused near Gare du Nord in Paris, where rail workers were putting up a new bridge over railway lines. (BBC)

FA probes alleged discriminatory remark to referee

The Football Association is set to investigate an alleged discriminatory remark made towards referee Sunny Singh Gill during Solihull Moors' National League game with Boston United on Saturday.

Gill took both teams off the field shortly after Solihull's Conor Wilkinson was shown a straight red card in the 66th minute.

An FA spokesperson said: "We are aware of an alleged incident of discrimination towards the referee during the National League match between Solihull Moors and Boston United.

"We are taking this matter very seriously and will review the details of the match official's report before taking the appropriate action."

A spokesperson for refereeing body PGMOL added: "We are offering our full support to the referee following an alleged discriminatory comment directed towards him during the National League match between Solihull Moors and Boston United.

"The referee will submit his match report and we will work closely with the FA on this extremely important and concerning matter."

Play was halted for around 20 minutes, with the score at 0-0, before the teams re-emerged to finish the match. Boston scored three times in the final 23 minutes to win 3-0.

Solihull Moors manager Chris Millington's post-match interview implied it was one of his team's players who had been accused of making the comment.

Speaking to the club's social media, he said: "There's been an accusation made against a player who isn't ever going to be guilty of that type of behaviour, and who definitely isn't based on the weight of evidence supplied by our players and the opposition players, who all tell a very different story to the one that the referee believed to be true."

Boston boss Paul Hurst, meanwhile, also suggested the incident may have been a case of a remark being misheard.

"The assistant has heard [a player] say a word and I think he has come up with the wrong word," Hurst told the Non-League Paper. "I don't believe that was said and that's from numerous people out there." (BBC)

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