News

Dubai Police Reveal New 10-Minute Drug Testing Device

The technology eliminates human error or operator bias, setting it apart from conventional narcotics testing methods.

Published

3 years ago

March 16, 2024

dubai police reveal new 10-minute drug testing device

Dubai Police has introduced a groundbreaking device at the World Police Summit known as the Rapid Test Cup. The new narcotics analyzer ensures fast and accurate examination and identification of thirteen drug types, helping to reduce custody times from seven hours to just ten minutes. The Rapid Test Cup also eliminates the risk of human error or operator bias, setting it apart from conventional drug testing methods.

Although the new device is certainly innovative, developing the Rapid Test Cup was challenging. To ensure its effectiveness, the project underwent 3272 separate trials.

“We are working hard to overcome the high-cost techniques traditionally used for detection, such as manufactured cannabinoids, opiates, and ketamine. Our goal is to proactively detect modern drug abuse with quick, easy, and high-quality screening techniques,” said Faisal Al-Taniji, head of Dubai’s Department of Biological Movement at the Narcotics Observatory Center.

Also Read: Qatar Airways Unveils The World’s First AI Cabin Crew

“This project aligns with our administration’s commitment to advancing the methods and tools employed in forensic evidence and criminology. We strive to provide advanced models that support laboratories, enhance performance levels, and facilitate optimal investment in testing techniques and tools,” added Ibtisam Abdul Rahman Al-Abdouli, Director of the Drug Observatory Center at the General Administration of Forensic Evidence and Criminology in an official press release.

Developers of the Rapid Test Cup have also announced that intellectual property rights have been obtained for the new device, and its technology is available upon request through Dubai Police if criminal laboratories worldwide wish to use it.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.