The Dubai Police team that won this year's UAE Swat Challenge. Photo: Wam
The Dubai Police team that won this year's UAE Swat Challenge. Photo: Wam
The Dubai Police team that won this year's UAE Swat Challenge. Photo: Wam
The Dubai Police team that won this year's UAE Swat Challenge. Photo: Wam

Dubai Police crowned champions of UAE Swat Challenge 2024


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Dubai Police have been crowned the winners of this year's UAE Swat Challenge.

Dubai Police B team won the event with 325 points and Dubai Police A team came second with 303 points, state news agency Wam reported. The Sardar team from Kazakhstan were third, scoring 302 points.

The UAE Swat Challenge is organised by the Dubai Police and held under the patronage of Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.

The fifth annual event concluded on Wednesday at the Dubai Police training centre in Al Ruwayyah, with 11 squads from the UAE taking place.

Eighty seven teams from 48 countries participated, up from 55 last year, with prizes totalling Dh1 million ($272,000).

The challenge categories were tactical, assault, officer rescue, tower event and obstacle course.

In the obstacle challenge, the RNP Swat team from Rwanda won with 52 points, while teams from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan came in second and third with scores of 51 and 50, respectively.

Maj Gen Abdullah Ali Al Ghaithi, assistant commander-in-chief for operations affairs at Dubai Police, awarded the top 10 finishers their trophies during a ceremony held on Wednesday.

The Abu Dhabi Police women's team made their debut in this year's competition.

"The decision to form the all-women team was made last year with the goal to excel on both local and global stages," Lobna Elhalawani, fitness trainer for the force's elite F7 Directorate, told The National earlier this week.

Other all-women teams included squads from Chile, Belarus and Thailand.

The UAE Swat Challenge aims to promote co-operation and understanding between international Swat teams and highlight best practices.

It first started in 2019 and involves teams from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and the Ministry of Interior, as well as squads from overseas.

The tests are designed to assess tactical skills, mental focus and physical endurance.

UAE Swat Challenge 2024 – in pictures

UK-EU trade at a glance

EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years

Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products

Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

TRAP

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue

Director: M Night Shyamalan

Rating: 3/5

Women & Power: A Manifesto

Mary Beard

Profile Books and London Review of Books 

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg

Rating: 4/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Fixtures

Friday Leganes v Alaves, 10.15pm; Valencia v Las Palmas, 12.15am

Saturday Celta Vigo v Real Sociedad, 8.15pm; Girona v Atletico Madrid, 10.15pm; Sevilla v Espanyol, 12.15am

Sunday Athletic Bilbao v Getafe, 8.15am; Barcelona v Real Betis, 10.15pm; Deportivo v Real Madrid, 12.15am

Monday Levante v Villarreal, 10.15pm; Malaga v Eibar, midnight

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

While you're here
'Munich: The Edge of War'

Director: Christian Schwochow

Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons

Rating: 3/5

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%3Cp%3EMinisterial%20experience%3A%20Current%20Foreign%20Secretary.%0D%3Cbr%3E%0DWhat%20did%20she%20do%20before%20politics%3F%20Worked%20as%20an%20economist%20for%20Shell%20and%20Cable%20and%20Wireless%20and%20was%20then%20a%20deputy%20director%20for%20right-of-centre%20think%20tank%20Reform.%0D%3Cbr%3E%0DWhat%20does%20she%20say%20on%20tax%3F%20She%20has%20pledged%20to%20%22start%20cutting%20taxes%20from%20day%20one%22%2C%20reversing%20April's%20rise%20in%20National%20Insurance%20and%20promising%20to%20keep%20%22corporation%20tax%20competitive%22.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
FINAL LEADERBOARD

1. Jordan Spieth (USA) 65 69 65 69 - 12-under-par
2. Matt Kuchar (USA) 65 71 66 69 - 9-under
3. Li Haotong (CHN) 69 73 69 63 - 6-under
T4. Rory McIlroy (NIR) 71 68 69 67 - 5-under
T4. Rafael Cabrera-Bello (ESP) 67 73 67 68 - 5-under
T6. Marc Leishman (AUS) 69 76 66 65 - 4-under
T6. Matthew Southgate (ENG) 72 72 67 65 - 4-under
T6. Brooks Koepka (USA) 65 72 68 71 - 4-under
T6. Branden Grace (RSA) 70 74 62 70 - 4-under
T6. Alexander Noren (SWE)  68 72 69 67 - 4-under

Updated: February 08, 2024, 4:46 AM`