Briefly

SUDAN

Army chief asks UN to dismiss envoy

Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan demanded in a letter to the United Nations secretary-general that the UN special envoy Volker Perthes be removed, officials said on Saturday. Antonio Guterres said he was "shocked" by Burhan's letter, which requested "the nomination of a replacement" to Perthes and accused him of committing "fraud and disinformation" in facilitating a political process, which led to six weeks of devastating urban warfare. Also on Saturday, the Rapid Support Forces said it is willing to discuss the possibility of extending a cease-fire agreement with the Sudanese army that is due to expire on Monday.

INDIA

Official drains dam to retrieve phone

A government official in India has been suspended from his job after he ordered a water reservoir to be drained so he could retrieve his smartphone, which he had dropped while taking a selfie. Food inspector Rajesh Vishwas dropped his Samsung smartphone in the Kherkatta dam in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh last week. Vishwas first asked local divers to jump into the reservoir to find the device, claiming it contained sensitive government data. But after initial efforts to retrieve his smartphone failed, he asked for the reservoir to be emptied using diesel pumps. Over the next three days more than 2 million liters of water were pumped out of the reservoir. The smartphone was eventually retrieved.

SERBIA

Vucic steps down as head of ruling party

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stepped down as the leader of his party on Saturday after more than a decade at the helm, but he is widely expected to remain the most powerful political figure in the country. Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party won parliamentary elections by a landslide last year. The 53-year-old, who has served as SNS chief since 2012 and has held the position of either Serbia's president or prime minister since 2014, said that while he was stepping down as leader, he will not leave the party he helped found.

UNITED KINGDOM

Travelers face long waits amid tech snag

Travelers arriving in the UK faced delays of hours on Saturday after a technical problem shut electronic border gates at airports across the country, forcing everyone to have their passports checked manually on what was expected to be one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. The Home Office, the government agency responsible for immigration and borders, said it was working to correct a "nationwide border system issue", though it provided no details about what caused the problem.

Agencies Via Xinhua