Long lines of container ships queued up outside major U.S. ports on Thursday as the biggest dockworker strike in nearly half a century entered its third day preventing unloading and threatening shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts.

The strike by the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) union has blocked goods from food to automobile shipments across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas, a disruption that analysts warn will cost the economy billions of dollars a day.

President Joe Biden and his administration have signaled to both sides in the high-stakes dockworkers strike that they need to work things out “fairly and quickly,” the White House said in a statement Tuesday.

An unexploded U.S. bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport exploded Wednesday, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights, Japanese officials said.

An unexploded U.S. bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport has exploded, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights but no injuries

The attack came days after Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, a key Tehran ally, and as Israeli ground forces enter Lebanon, sparking fear of an even wider war.

The US fired about a dozen interceptors at Tuesday's barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles fired at Israel, the Pentagon says. US President Joe Biden said the US "actively" supported Israel's defence at his direction.

Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday, the latest in a series of rapidly escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatens to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.