SEOUL (Dispatches) – A U.S. F-16 jetfighter has crashed during military drills near South Korean capital Seoul, the U.S. Air Force has announced, saying the pilot had safely ejected prior to the crash. “An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 8th Fighter Wing crashed in an agricultural area near Osan Air Base at about 9:45 am” in Gyeonggi province, the statement said on Saturday. The jet’s pilot safely ejected before the crash and was taken to the nearest hospital, the statement added, noting that an investigation into the incident was underway. Gyeonggi Governor Kim Dong-yeon said on his Twitter account that the local fire department was dispatched to the crash site and extinguished the fire. “There are no civilian homes nearby the crash, causing no further damage (other than the jet),” a police official further stated as quoted by the local Yonhap news agency.

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IMPHAL (AFP) – The death toll after ethnic clashes in India’s remote northeast rose to 54 on Saturday, with fresh violence overnight despite authorities rushing in troops to restore order. Thousands of soldiers were sent to Manipur state after a protest march by a tribal group turned violent on Wednesday. Authorities imposed an internet blackout and issued shoot-at-sight orders in “extreme cases” in an effort to contain the unrest. The situation remained tense after a fresh bout of violence on Friday night, hours after the state’s top police officer warned that rioters had stolen arms and ammunition from police stations. Hospital morgues in the state capital Imphal and Churachandpur district further south had reported a combined total of 54 dead, according to local media. “16 bodies were kept in the morgue of the Churachandpur district hospital while 15 bodies were in Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal East district,” Press Trust of India news agency reported, citing an unnamed local official. “The Regional Institute of Medical Sciences at Lamphel in Imphal West district reported 23 dead.”

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PARIS (Sputnik) – French police unions have sent a letter to President Emmanuel Macron demanding an emergency law to combat violence from demonstrators, according to a French daily. In a letter addressed to Macron, the unions said that police live in an “apocalyptic situation” faced with violence from the demonstrators and called for an emergency law against “thugs,” the French newspaper said. The unions have a meeting scheduled at the Elysee Palace on May 12 and are expected to be received by Macron’s chief of staff, Patrick Strzoda, as well as the French president’s Interior and Security Affairs Adviser Frederic Rose, according to the newspaper. On April 14, the French Constitutional Council approved the key article of the pension reform bill, which would gradually raise the age of retirement in France from 62 to 64 years by 2030. The reform sparked a strong backlash, prompting people to take to the streets across the country. On May 1, major demonstrations were held in France, with people continuing to protest against the controversial pension reform. Police used tear gas against the protesters in Paris, while demonstrators threw fire crackers, paint balls and bottles at law enforcement officers. According to the French Interior Ministry, over 100 French police officers were injured on May 1, while more than 500 demonstrators were detained across the country.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden says he is not yet ready to invoke the 14th Amendment to avoid the United States defaulting on its debts as early as June 1, comments which for the first time suggested he has not ruled out the option. “I’ve not gotten there yet,” Biden said in an interview with MSNBC when asked about the possibility of invoking the amendment. The divided U.S. Congress is running out of time to raise the federal government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, with the Treasury Department warning it could be unable to pay its bills as soon as June 1. If Congress fails to act, some legal experts say Biden has another option to avert a crisis: Invoke the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ensure the United States can continue to pay its bills. Section Four of the amendment, adopted after the 1861-1865 Civil War, states that the “validity of the public debt of the United States ... shall not be questioned.” But the clause has been largely unaddressed by the courts.

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SRINAGAR (AP) – Indian soldiers killed two fighters in Kashmir on Saturday, officials said, a day after the fighters fighting against Indian rule killed five soldiers in the disputed Himalayan region. Joint army, paramilitary and police teams “spotted and pinned down” the fighters before killing one of them in a forested area in the southern Rajouri sector, an Indian army statement said. It said soldiers recovered an automatic rifle and some ammunition and grenades and noted another was “likely to be injured.” There was no independent confirmation of the incident. Separately on Saturday, government forces killed another fighter in a gun battle in western Kunzer area, police said. The violence comes as Indian authorities are on high alert in Kashmir and have stepped up security in the already highly militarized region ahead of a meeting of officials from the Group of 20 leading industrialized and developing nations on promoting tourism in the region later this month.

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MANILA (AFP) – Philippine authorities have rescued over a thousand people from several Asian nations who were trafficked into the country, held captive and forced to run online scams, an official said Saturday. International alarm has grown in recent months over internet scams in the region often staffed by trafficking victims tricked or coerced into promoting bogus crypto investments. Michelle Sabino, a spokeswoman for the Philippine national police force’s anti-cybercrime group, said officers raided a cluster of buildings Thursday in Mabalacat city about 90 kilometres north of Manila. A total of 1,090 people were rescued who had been recruited to run online scams. Sabino said the victims were forced to target unsuspecting people in the United States, Europe and Canada. Their passports were confiscated and they were made to work up to 18 hours a day, with salary deductions for interacting with colleagues or taking extended breaks.