Can you still send strong messages when you've rolled out the red carpet and chilled the champagne for a state dinner? China's Xi Jinping is being feted in the French capital for his first visit to Europe since 2019, despite trade tensions, spy scandals and insistence that he isolate Vladimir Putin over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to be inaugurated for a fifth term. In other news, there's new information on how Ludwig van Beethoven may have lost his hearing, some 197 years after his death. Finally, this year's Met Gala throws up a variety of sublime and ridiculous outfits.

According to latest government estimates, the unemployment rate rose to 5.4% in the fiscal year that ended March 2023, from 4.9% in 2013/14 before Modi took over. In urban areas, the rate is higher at 6.5%. Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a private think tank, show that the jobless rate rose to 8% in February 2024.