The US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, was placed on a security lockdown on Thursday while military personnel and local law enforcement investigated reports of threats to the installation, the Navy said on the academy’s Facebook page.

There was no immediate official word on the nature of the reported threat. But Fox News, citing multiple sources inside the academy, said a former midshipman who had been expelled from the school had returned to campus armed with a weapon.

According to the Fox News report, gunshots were heard inside Bancroft Hall, which houses the midshipmen.

According to the Facebook statement from Naval Support Activity Annapolis, the “base is on lockdown out of an abundance of caution.”

 It said Navy support personnel, in coordination with local law enforcement, were “responding to reports of threats made to the Naval Academy.”

• Washington calls it a “witch hunt,” Trump calls it “surprising.”
• Seven aides, including ex-ministers and generals, also convicted.
• He is also guilty of inciting 2023 riots, knowing of plot to kill leaders.

Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced firebrand ex-president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for coup plotting at the end of a landmark trial that divided the nation and drew US fury.

The sentence could see the 70-year-old far-right leader spend the rest of his days in jail.

Judges voted 4-1 to convict Bolsonaro of plotting to overthrow Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva following his October 2022 election defeat by the left-winger.

He can appeal the verdict.

Washington was quick to respond to the conviction of the man dubbed “the Trump of the tropics.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States “will respond accordingly” to what he called a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

Trump, who had levied steep tariffs on Brazil as punishment over Bolsonaro’s prosecution, labelled the verdict “very surprising.”

“That’s very much like they tried to do with me, but they didn’t get away with it at all,” he told reporters, calling Bolsonaro “a good man.”

While the Supreme Court had already garnered the simple majority of three votes needed for his conviction at the fourth vote, it only became final after the last of the five judges issued his decision.

“An armed criminal organisation was formed by the defendants, who must be convicted based on the factual circumstances I consider proven,” said the fifth judge, Cristiano Zanin, Lula’s former lawyer.

Bolsonaro’s seven co-accused, including former ministers and military chiefs, were also convicted.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, who served a single term from 2019 to 2022, claims he is the victim of political persecution.

Political

Bolsonaro’s conviction came after one of the biggest, most divisive trials in Brazil’s recent history, which ended with a nail-biting vote that stretched over four days.

Bolsonaro himself did not attend the verdict hearings in the capital, Brasilia, instead following the proceedings from his residence, where he is under house arrest.

Across the nation, Brazilians were glued to the proceedings on TV and social media.

In one Brasilia bar, patrons watching the trial on a giant screen burst into applause after he was convicted.

“After so much waiting, this despicable individual is being sent to jail,” translator Virgilio Soares, 46, said.

But Germano Cavalcante, a 60-year-old civil engineer, called the trial “unfair.”

Apart from heading a “criminal organisation,” Bolsonaro was charged with knowing of a plan to assassinate Lula, his vice president, Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre Moraes.

He was also convicted of inciting the violent 2023 storming of the Supreme Court, presidential palace and Congress in Brasilia by hundreds of his supporters, a week after Lula was inaugurated as his successor.

A country divided

The trial drove a deep wedge through Brazilian society, between those primarily on the left who saw it as a vital test of the country’s democracy, from those mainly on the right who viewed it as a political show trial.

Fearing his conviction, the ex-president’s allies have been pushing Congress to pass an amnesty law to save him from prison.

The case has led to an unprecedented crisis in relations between the United States and longtime ally Brazil.

Besides the tariff punishment, Washington has also sanctioned Moraes and other Supreme Court judges.

France and Germany moved to bolster the defence of Polish airspace on Thursday as the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting to discuss Warsaw’s accusation that Moscow launched a drone raid on its territory.

Poland branded the incident, which prompted Polish and NATO forces to shoot down several drones overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, a deliberate “unprecedented” attack on the country, NATO and the European Union.

Moscow denied targeting the country and said there was no evidence the drones were Russian.

But Polish President Karol Nawrocki warned Thursday during a visit to an airbase in western Poland that the incident was “an attempt to test the mechanism of action within NATO and our readiness to respond”.

Germany said it would “extend and expand” its participation in NATO’s Air Policing programme, to provide more cover to Polish airspace.

Its defence ministry said it would double the number of Eurofighter jets deployed to four and extend their mission by three months to the end of the year.

And French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a post on X that France would “deploy three Rafale fighter jets to contribute to the protection of Polish airspace and of NATO’s Eastern Flank together with our Allies.”

The Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Sweden each summoned their Russian ambassadors to protest the drone incident.

The UN Security Council’s South Korean presidency announced Thursday it would hold an emergency meeting to discuss Warsaw’s claim of a “violation of Polish airspace by Russia”.

It will take place on Friday at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT).

“Reckless”: NATO

Stray Russian drones and missiles have entered the airspace of NATO members, including Poland several times since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Polish officials said on this occasion, drones had violated its airspace 19 times. There were no casualties, and the damage was limited — a house and a car were destroyed.

Poland’s National Security Council met on Thursday and the defence minister was expected to brief parliament on the latest findings.

Poland boosted its security Thursday, closing air traffic along its eastern borders with Belarus and Ukraine to civilian flights up to an altitude of three kilometres (1.9 miles) until December 9.

The PAZP air traffic control agency announced that drones would also be banned.

The country had already announced ramped-up measures on the Belarus border to cope with military drills the government is carrying out with its ally Russia between September 12 and 16.

The few open border crossings with Belarus were to be closed from Friday due to the Zapad (“West”) drills.

Reacting to the closure, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a statement urged Poland “to consider the consequences of such destructive steps and to review its decision as soon as possible”.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on Wednesday that the drone raid marked an unprecedented escalation of tension with Russia.

Tusk called a NATO meeting on Wednesday, invoking Article 4 under which a member can convene urgent talks when it feels its “territorial integrity, political independence or security” is at risk — only the eighth time the measure has been used.

A cornerstone of NATO is the principle that an attack on any member is deemed an attack on all.

NATO chief Mark Rutte denounced Moscow’s “reckless behaviour” while hailing his organisation’s response. The alliance’s air defences had done their job, he told journalists.

Unity “reaffirmed”

Both the European Union and Ukraine condemned the incident on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said on X: “Russia’s reckless violation of Polish airspace threatens our European security.”

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky denounced the incident as “a pure provocation by the Kremlin”.

Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said in a statement: “The Russian violations are unacceptable and constitute a threat to Europe’s security.”

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular news briefing that China “hopes that all parties concerned will properly resolve their disputes through dialogue and consultation”.

China has never denounced Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Poland is a major supporter of Ukraine and hosts more than one million Ukrainian refugees. It is also a key transit point for Western humanitarian and military aid to the country.