Two men who allegedly stole Dh195,000 from a woman after distracting her with a “faulty tyre” trick were arrested within three hours, police said on Tuesday.

The woman had withdrawn the cash from a bank in Fujairah, an emirate on the UAE’s eastern coast along the Gulf of Oman, and placed it inside her car.

The suspects followed her, and as she stopped, one man approached claiming that one of her tyres was damaged.

When she got out to check, the second suspect opened the car door, grabbed the cash, and both men fled. 

Police said the complaint was received at 10:50am, and after quick coordination with Sharjah Police, the suspects were traced and arrested in Sharjah, an emirate about 100 kilometres west of Fujairah.

Officials said the pair were also wanted for similar thefts in other emirates.

Authorities have urged residents to remain vigilant after withdrawing cash and to avoid engaging with strangers outside banks.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a category five hurricane, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory.

It was one of the most powerful hurricane landfalls on record in the Atlantic basin, the NHC added.

Jamaica’s ‘storm of the century’

Earlier, the US National Hurricane Center said that the Category 5 storm, the strongest possible on the Saffir-Simpson scale, was about 55 km (34 miles) southeast of the Jamaican resort town of Negril as of 1600 GMT and packing maximum sustained winds of 295 km per hour (183 miles per hour), with even higher gusts.

The Miami-based hurricane centre warned that “total structural failure” was likely in Melissa’s path.

“It’s a catastrophic situation,” the World Meteorological Organisation’s tropical cyclone specialist Anne-Claire Fontan told a press briefing. “For Jamaica, it will be the storm of the century for sure.”

Storm surges of up to four meters were expected, she said, with rainfall set to exceed 70 cm (2.3 feet), causing “catastrophic flash flooding and landslides,” she said.

Nearby Haiti and the Dominican Republic have faced days of torrential downpours leading to at least four deaths, authorities said. At least three people died during storm preparations in Jamaica, local media reported.

The NHC expects the storm to hit Jamaica on Tuesday and remain as a strong hurricane when it crosses eastern Cuba to move over the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos by Wednesday.

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis has ordered evacuations for people in southern and eastern parts of the archipelago.

In Cuba, authorities said they had evacuated upwards of 500,000 people from areas vulnerable to winds and flooding.

Storm intensified on approach

Melissa’s slow movement over unusually tepid Caribbean water had contributed to its ballooning size and strength, NHC forecasters said, threatening Jamaica with days of never-before-seen catastrophic winds and rain.

Melissa could bring up to 30 inches (762 mm) of rain to parts of Jamaica, and up to 12 inches to parts of the island of Hispaniola, the NHC said.

The International Federation of the Red Cross said up to 1.5 million people in Jamaica were expected to be directly affected by the storm.

“Today will be very difficult for tens of thousands, if not millions of people in Jamaica,” IFRC official Necephor Mghendi said via video link from Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago.

“Roofs will be tested, flood waters will rise, isolation will become a harsh reality for many.”

To enable swift relief distribution, essential items — tarpaulins, hygiene kits, blankets, and safe drinking water — had been pre-positioned in Red Cross branches on the island, he said, with over 800 shelters set up for evacuees.

On Monday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness ordered mandatory evacuations for parts of southern Jamaica, including the historic town of Port Royal.

He warned of damage to farmlands, homes, and infrastructure on the island, which is roughly the size of Connecticut and whose main airports sit close to sea level.

“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” he said.

Holness said his government was as prepared as possible, with an emergency response budget of $33 million and insurance and credit provisions for damage a little larger than that sustained from Beryl.

Beryl was the earliest and fastest Atlantic hurricane on record to reach Category 5, but scientists warn that storms are becoming stronger and faster as a result of climate change warming ocean waters.

“Slow-moving major hurricanes often go down in history as some of the deadliest and most destructive storms on record,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter. “This is a dire situation unfolding in slow motion.”

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday lauded Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, during talks in Tokyo, welcoming her commitment to accelerate Japan’s military buildup and overseeing the signing of new agreements on trade and critical minerals.

Takaichi a close ally of Trump’s late friend and golfing partner, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly told Trump she would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

Sources familiar with the discussions said the new Japanese leader is also expected to announce a $550 billion investment package, including shipbuilding projects and increased imports of U.S. soybeans, natural gas, and pickup trucks.

Analysts believe these commitments could ease potential U.S. pressure on Tokyo to spend even more on defense amid rising tensions with China.

Takaichi has already pledged to boost defense spending to 2% of GDP as part of her government’s long-term strategy.

“It’s a very strong handshake,” Trump remarked as the two leaders posed for photographs at the Akasaka Palace in central Tokyo.

“Everything I’ve heard from Shinzo and others tells me you’ll be one of Japan’s great prime ministers,” Trump said, congratulating Takaichi on becoming the country’s first woman to hold the office.

Takaichi gifted Trump Abe’s putter, a golf bag signed by Japanese major winner Hideki Matsuyama and a gold leaf golf ball, according to photos posted on X by Trump’s assistant Margo Martin.

DEAL ON CRITICAL MINERALS SIGNED

Trump also praised Japan’s efforts to purchase more U.S. defence equipment, while Takaichi said Trump’s role in securing ceasefires between Cambodia and Thailand, and Israel and Palestinian militants, were “unprecedented” achievements.

Takaichi followed other world leaders to recommended Trump for the Peace Prize he has long said he is worthy of.

The leaders then signed an agreement to support the supply of critical minerals and rare earths, as the countries seek to wean reliance off China’s chokehold on the materials crucial for a wide range of products from smartphones to fighter jets.

The deal aims to jointly identify projects of interest in areas such as magnets and batteries over the next six months and work together to develop stockpiles of key minerals among other measures.

Trump was last at the palace, an ornate residence built in a European style, in 2019 for talks with Abe, who was assassinated in 2022.

After lunch with Takaichi there, Trump met with relatives of people abducted by North Korea in the 1960s and 1970s to train its spies and their relatives.

While some were later repatriated, Japan continues to press Pyongyang for a full accounting of all the abductees and the return of any who remain alive, a cause championed by Abe.

“The United States is with them all the way,” Trump said after greeting the families.

The U.S. leader began his visit on Monday with a meeting at the Imperial Palace with Japanese Emperor Naruhito .

VISIT U.S. NAVAL BASE

Takaichi’s gifts to Trump and repeated references to Abe are aimed at evoking memories of a close bond forged over hours the pair spent golfing together during Trump’s first term.

Abe was assassinated in 2022, with the trial of his assailant coincidentally beginning in the western city of Nara on Tuesday.

A similar close relationship with the leader of Japan’s key security and trade partner could help Takaichi bolster her weak political position at home.

Though she has seen a surge in public support since becoming prime minister, her coalition government is two votes shy of a majority in parliament’s lower house.

Trump and Takaichi will later visit the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka near Tokyo, which is home to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, part of the U.S. military’s powerful presence in the region.

Trump will then meet business leaders in Tokyo, before travelling on Wednesday to South Korea.

In talks there with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump said he hopes to seal a trade war truce between the world’s two biggest economies.