BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg asked Vladimir Putin about his plans for the future of the country, during the president’s annual end-of-year televised event.
The Russian leader responded by saying he’s calling for greater respect from other Western leaders.
“Western politicians created the current situation with their own hands”, Putin said, adding that “they constantly talk about preparing for war with Russia”.
The president also said that plans to attack Europe are “nonsense”.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to further jail terms following a fraud case involving state gifts.
They were convicted of breaking Pakistan’s rules on gifts after Bibi was given a luxury jewellery set by Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman during a 2021 state visit.
The pair are already serving time in prison for earlier convictions, and the new sentences – 10 years for criminal breach of trust and seven years for criminal misconduct, and a fine – will reportedly run concurrently to their earlier terms.
Khan has described the charges as politically motivated and his lawyer told BBC News his team plan to challenge the verdict.
Speaking to the BBC after the sentencing, the former prime minister’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, said Khan and his wife had not been present for the hearing.
Mr Safdar said their legal team had only been informed about the sentencing late on Friday night, after normal court hours.
They planned to mount a challenge to the verdict in the high court, Mr Safdar said.
This case is the latest in a series of charges laid against the cricket star-turned-politician, who has been detained since August 2023. In January, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison over a separate corruption case.
He has faced charges in more than 100 cases, ranging from leaking state secrets to selling state gifts. The BBC has been unable to confirm the exact number brought against him.
The jewellery case, referred to as Toshakhana 2 in Pakistan, concerns a Bulgari jewellery set given to Bushra Bibi by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a state visit in 2021, according to court documents.
Under Pakistan’s rules on state gifts, these items go to Pakistan’s Toshakana department (state treasury), but politicians are able to purchase the items back.
Khan is alleged to have asked a private firm to undervalue the jewellery set, before purchasing it back at a significantly reduced price.
In addition to their jail terms, the pair were handed a fine of over 16 million Pakistani rupees (£42,600).
Khan has previously been acquitted in a separate Toshakhana case.
The former leader still has other cases outstanding against him.
These include terrorism charges relating to violent protests that took place on 9 May 2023, when he was previously arrested.
Khan was Pakistan’s prime minister until April 2022 when he was ousted in a vote of no confidence.
Although he has not been seen in public, his social media accounts have continued to operate with messages attributed to him on X often appearing after jail visits.
These have been highly critical of Pakistan’s current government and its politically powerful army Chief Field Marshall Asim Munir, including posts calling him a tyrannical dictator.
In November, he was denied any visitors for nearly a month.
After campaigning by his family and party, his sister was allowed to visit in early December; a few hours after she saw him, his account posted a comment credited to Khan calling the Field Marshall Asim Munir a “mentally unstable person”.
Khan has not been allowed any family visits since.
According to an official at the jail, Khan and his wife were present when the verdict was announced but no journalists were allowed to observe.
The judgement states the judge was lenient in sentencing because of Khan’s “old age”.
At least three people have been killed and nine others injured as a knife-wielding attacker went on a rampage in the Taiwanese capital Taipei.
The 27-year-old suspect set off smoke bombs at Taipei’s main metro station, before running to another station in a busy shopping district, stabbing people along the way, Taiwanese Premier Cho Jung-tai said.
The suspect, named by officials as Taiwanese man Chang Wen, later died after falling from a multi-storey building, Cho added. His motive remains unclear.
Attacks of this kind are rare in Taiwan, which has low rates of violent crime. The last time a similar incident struck Taipei was more than a decade ago in 2014.
Friday’s attack took place at about 17:20 local time (09:20 GMT) during the city’s evening rush hour.
Videos shared on social media show people fleeing the scene in panic as an individual wearing a baseball cap and black clothing lobs smoke bombs across a busy road.
He can then be seen carrying a large knife as he walks past several cars.
Cho said the suspect had detonated smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails at Taipei’s Main Station, which is connected to a busy underground shopping street.
A man reportedly tried to stop the attacker but was struck with a blunt object and later died in hospital.
The suspect then fled through an underground shopping centre to the nearby Zhongshan Station, about a 800m walk away.
After a detour to his hotel, where he picked up a weapon, he ran back to the street outside Zhongshan Station and set off further smoke bombs. He also stabbed more people.
The attacker went into a nearby bookshop and department store, but fell from the building after police surrounded him. He died shortly after in hospital.
Cho said he had ordered increased security at metro and railway stations, as well as airports, in response to the attack.
“We will investigate [the suspect’s] background and associated relationships to understand his motives and determine if there are other connected factors,” the Taiwanese premier was quoted by news agency Reuters as saying.
Taiwan’s President William Lai also promised a swift investigation.
The suspect had a criminal record and was wanted by the authorities, according to local media reports.
The last major incident of this kind, in 2014, saw a man kill four people on an underground train in Taipei, shocking people in Taiwan. The perpetrator of that attack was executed two years later.
