Thames River

Bomb-disposal experts Tuesday defused a one-ton World War II-era German bomb that was unearthed at a construction site on the banks of the Thames River near Tower Bridge. The operation forced the evacuation of 2,000 residents for more than a day, police said. The seven-foot-long bomb was discovered Monday by workers using a pile driver on a construction site at Bermondsey, on the south bank of the Thames about 500 yards from Tower Bridge in London's East End.

Take a deep breath. David Blaine's latest stunt is spending a week living in an 8-foot acrylic sphere filled with water. The 33-year-old magician, shirtless and with an oxygen tube in his mouth, slid into his snow globe-like "human aquarium" Monday at Lincoln Center in New York City. In a week, he will remove the device and attempt to hold his breath underwater longer than the record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds.

An unidentified object discovered on a rail bridge delayed the ceremonial start of the King of Saudi Arabia's four-day state visit today, keeping the Queen of England waiting at the station for 20 minutes. A train carrying King Fahd ibn Abdulaziz al Saud, his royal entourage and Prince Charles and Princess Diana pulled into London's Victoria Station well behind schedule, to the visible annoyance of Queen Elizabeth II as she cooled her heels on the red-carpeted platform.

Flames leaping 200 feet in the darkness gutted a huge warehouse belonging to Rupert Murdoch's media empire today, and his top London executive said the fire was sabotage by extremist print workers fired in a four-month labor dispute. The fire, described as one of the most spectacular in London since the World War II blitz, destroyed the warehouse on the south bank of the Thames River and burned 15,000 tons of newsprint used in making newspapers.

It's going to cost $17,500 for the 6,000-mile trip, and the competition could be over in seven minutes. Risky business? You bet, but it's an exercise Orange Coast College's crew program will go through for the ninth time Monday when it travels to England for the 153rd Henley Royal Regatta. OCC's heavyweight eight will be in the 32-boat field competing for the Temple Challenge Cup July 1-5 on the Thames River.

Michelle Knox-Zaloom of the Potomac Boat Club was among the winners Friday as history was made at the 154-year-old Henley Royal Regatta when women competed for the first time over the full course. The rower from the Washington, D.C., club defeated Helen Mangan of England by three lengths over the 1.3-mile course on the Thames River. "Women have not been rowing all that long," Knox-Zaloom said.

Colin Clark, a television director whose memoir "My Week With Marilyn" described his close but never consummated love affair with Marilyn Monroe, died of cancer Tuesday in his London home. He was 70. The son of British art historian Lord Kenneth Clark, Colin was 24 when he was hired as an assistant director on the movie "The Prince and the Showgirl" in 1956. It starred Monroe and Sir Laurence Olivier, who did not get along very well.

--Real estate developers have always had a reputation for trying to put the best possible face on a land deal, so it may come as no surprise to learn that James Edward Oglethorpe, who founded the colony of Georgia in 1733, may have deliberately doctored early maps of the region to enhance its attractiveness to settlers and investors.

TWA has created an international Value-Pak program (the airline already has a domestic version) that provides a coupon booklet with discounts on hotels, restaurants, car rentals and sightseeing, if you fly to Europe or Israel. Your round-trip flights have to be completed by next March 31, when the coupons expire, to receive the booklet.

Festivities range from cruises in Antarctica to parties with Mongolian nomads. A guide to some of the globe's biggest--and sometimes most bizarre--New Year's celebrations. * If you want to be among the absolute first to see the dawn of the new millennium, be one of more than 1,400 people taking cruises to Antarctica. * Remote South Pacific islands near the date line are squabbling over which will see the first sunrise, but expect all to be packed with visitors.