SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Ernesto battered the northeast Caribbean on Tuesday as it took aim at Puerto Rico, where officials closed schools, opened shelters and moved dozens of the U.S. territory’s endangered parrots into hurricane-proof rooms.

Ernesto is expected to become a hurricane early Wednesday as the center of the storm moves just north of Puerto Rico on a path toward Bermuda. Forecasters issued a hurricane watch for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands as well as the tiny Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra, which are popular with tourists.

“Ernesto could be near or at hurricane strength in about 24 hours,” the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in an advisory Tuesday. Tropical storm warnings were in place for Puerto Rico, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barts and St. Maarten.

The center of the storm is forecast to pass over the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday evening and pass just northeast and north of Puerto Rico late Tuesday and early Wednesday. It is then expected to move into open waters and be near Bermuda on Friday.

Heavy rains began pelting Puerto Rico, and strong winds churned the ocean a milky turquoise as people rushed to finish securing homes and businesses.

“I’m hoping it will go away quickly,” said José Rodríguez, 36, as he climbed onto the roof of his uncle’s wooden shack on Puerto Rico’s north coast to secure the business famous for its fried street food.

Ernesto was about 65 miles east-southeast of St. Croix late Tuesday afternoon. It had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and was moving west- northwest at 18 mph.

“We are going to have a lot of rain,” Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said as he urged people to be indoors by early Tuesday evening.

He activated the National Guard as crews across the island visited flood-prone areas and older residents as part of last-minute preparations.

US weapons to Israel: The U.S. has approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets and advanced air-to-air missiles, the State Department announced Tuesday.

Congress was notified of the impending sale, which includes more than 50 F-15 fighter jets; advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles; 120 mm tank ammunition and high-explosive mortars; and tactical vehicles.

The weapons are not expected to get to Israel anytime soon; they are contracts that will take years to fulfill. Much of what is being sold is to help Israel increase its military capability in the long term.

The Biden administration has had to balance its continued support for Israel with a growing number of calls from lawmakers and the U.S. public to curb military support there because of the high number of civilian deaths in Gaza.

Ohio cop charged: An Ohio police officer was indicted Tuesday on murder and other charges in the shooting of Ta’Kiya Young, a 21-year-old pregnant Black mother who was killed after being accused of shoplifting last August.

Young was suspected of stealing bottles of alcohol when Blendon Township officer Connor Grubb and a fellow officer approached her car. The other officer ordered her out. Instead, she rolled forward toward Grubb, who fired a single bullet through her windshield into her chest. The daughter she was expecting three months later also died.

A Franklin County grand jury indicted Grubb on charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault in the death of Young and her baby. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. A warrant for his arrest was issued as part of the indictment.

Brian Steel, president of the union representing Blendon Township police, called the indictment deeply disappointing. “Like all law enforcement officers, Officer Grubb had to make a split-second decision, a reality all too familiar for those who protect our communities,” he said.

Young’s grandmother, Nadine Young, said the officer never should have pulled his gun when he first confronted her, especially because Young had been accused of a relatively minor crime.

Kansas newspaper raid: A former Kansas police chief who led a raid last year on a weekly newspaper has been charged with felony obstruction of justice and is accused of persuading a potential witness to withhold information from authorities when they later investigated his conduct.

The single charge against Gideon Cody alleges that he knowingly or intentionally influenced the witness to withhold information on the day of the raid of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher or sometime within the following six days. The charge was filed Monday in state district court in Marion County and is not more specific about Cody’s alleged conduct.

The raid sparked a national debate about press freedom focused on Marion, a town of about 1,900 people set among rolling prairie hills about 150 miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri.

A conviction for a first-time offender can be punished by up to nine months in prison, though under the state’s sentencing guidelines, the typical penalty is 18 months or less of probation.

Ugandan rebel convicted: A former commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebel group has been convicted of dozens of crimes against humanity in a key moment of justice for many in Uganda who suffered decades of its brutal insurgency.

The long-awaited verdict in the trial of Thomas Kwoyelo was delivered Tuesday by a panel of the High Court that sat in Gulu, the northern city where the LRA once was active. It was the first atrocity case to be tried in a special division of the High Court that focuses on international crimes.

Kwoyelo faced charges including murder, pillaging, enslavement, imprisonment, rape and cruelty. He was convicted on 44 of the 78 counts he faced for crimes committed between 1992 and 2005. It was not immediately clear when he would be sentenced.

Kwoyelo, whose trial began in 2019, has been in detention since 2009.

Bangladesh violence: Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued a call Tuesday from self-exile in India for an investigation into those responsible for killings of students and others during weeks of violent protests in Bangladesh that prompted her ouster.

Hasina stepped down and fled Bangladesh on Aug. 5 after student activists led an uprising against a quota system for government jobs. She is accused of responsibility for much of the deadly violence, and activists have demanded she be put on trial.

Hasina’s statement, her first since leaving the country, was posted on the social media platform X by her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy.