A senior Emirati police official has been elected president of Interpol.
Maj Gen Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi will serve a four-year term as head of the global crime fighting agency, which is based in Lyon, France.
He serves as inspector general of the UAE's Ministry of Interior. Maj Gen Al Raisi was elected by representatives of the 140 nations that are members of Interpol, gaining more votes than fellow candidate Czech police Col Šárka Havránková, at a meeting in Turkey on Thursday.
Maj Gen Al Raisi is the first candidate from the Middle East to assume the position since Interpol was founded in the 1920s.
In a statement, he said it was "an honour" to be elected to the role.
“Interpol is an indispensable organisation built on the strength of its partnerships. It is this collaborative spirit, united in mission, that I will continue to foster as we work to make a safer world for people and communities," he said.
Secretary General Jürgen Stock, who oversees the day-to-day running of Interpol, welcomed Maj Gen Al Raisi’s appointment.
“I look forward to working closely with him in ensuring that Interpol continues to fulfil its mandate and support international police cooperation," he added.
Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to President Sheikh Khalifa, offered his congratulations, saying his election reflected the UAE's “achievements and efficiency in the field of law enforcement".
Writing in The National earlier this year, he spoke of the need to “modernise and transform” the organisation to tackle ever more sophisticated criminal activities.
“Interpol is at a crossroads. Criminals have adopted the latest technologies, in some respects outpacing law-enforcement agencies,” he wrote in September, as he set out his candidacy.
“To face these emerging forms of criminality, law enforcement co-operation and capacities must be ever more effective.”
Maj Gen Al Raisi, who already served on Interpol's executive committee, was seen as a front-runner before the election after travelling extensively to speak to global law enforcement figures about their hopes for the organisation. The role of the president, which is part-time and unpaid, is to chair the general assembly and three meetings of the executive committee each year.
Interpol, which has an annual budget of about $150 million, relies on the co-operation of its member countries to carry out operations.
Rather than arresting suspects itself, its personnel bring multiple agencies together on missions, which tackle human trafficking, the global drugs trade and the capture of high-profile criminals.
Abu Dhabi was recently one of the global centres in a major anti-trafficking operation led by Interpol that led to 286 arrests globally.
Interpol said authorities rescued about 430 human trafficking victims and identified 4,000 irregular migrants originating from 74 countries. Many of them required medical, psychological and housing assistance and were taken into the care of protective services.
UAE police co-ordinate Interpol human trafficking busts: in pictures
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Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
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Tips for job-seekers
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David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Your Guide to the Home
- Level 1 has a valet service if you choose not to park in the basement level. This level houses all the kitchenware, including covetable brand French Bull, along with a wide array of outdoor furnishings, lamps and lighting solutions, textiles like curtains, towels, cushions and bedding, and plenty of other home accessories.
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Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
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Rating: 4/5
Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines
- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Chelsea 2
Willian 13'
Ross Barkley 64'
Liverpool 0
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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The%20specs
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Top%2010%20most%20competitive%20economies
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Founded 50 years ago as a nuclear research institute, scientists at the centre believed nuclear would be the “solution for everything”.
Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
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The energy centre’s research focuses on biomass, energy efficiency, the environment, wind and solar, as well as energy engineering and socio-economic research.
More on Quran memorisation:
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
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Under 19 Cricket World Cup, Asia Qualifier
Fixtures
Friday, April 12, Malaysia v UAE
Saturday, April 13, UAE v Nepal
Monday, April 15, UAE v Kuwait
Tuesday, April 16, UAE v Singapore
Thursday, April 18, UAE v Oman
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Aaron Benjamin, Akasha Mohammed, Alishan Sharafu, Anand Kumar, Ansh Tandon, Ashwanth Valthapa, Karthik Meiyappan, Mohammed Faraazuddin, Rishab Mukherjee, Niel Lobo, Osama Hassan, Vritya Aravind, Wasi Shah
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final second leg:
Juventus 1 Ajax 2
Ajax advance 3-2 on aggregate