Vijay: From Tamil Nadu's biggest film star to Indian political leader

We start with a significant state election win for PM Narendra Modi's party in India. With over a billion voters in India, state elections take place over several years. They also serve as a litmus test on national governance. Modi is midway through his third term and is possibly eyeing a fourth one in 2029. In West Bengal, Modi and his party storms into power, the Deccan Chronicle says on its front page. Modi's landmark victory ends 15 years of rule by Mamata Banerjee, one of his most outspoken critics. In its editorial, the paper says this victory is the culmination of efforts the BJP has made for years. It also reminds us of a voting scandal right before the election. The Election Commission deleted the names of some 2.7 million voters in West Bengal from the electoral roll for "technical reasons". Experts have said that Muslims and other minorities were overwhelmingly among this group, a scandal that the Deccan Chronicle calls a "moral deficit that weighs on this victory."

Watch moreIndian Muslims say they're being targeted as millions of voters deleted from rolls

The other big surprise comes from the state of Tamil Nadu, in southern India, where a famous film star won with his upstart political party. Vijay is one of the most recognisable faces in the state as he's known for his hugely popular films. The 51-year-old swapped the big screen for politics and made a stunning electoral debut with his fledgling TVK party. It picked up 107 seats in the state assembly, making it the single largest party there with a relative majority. The Indian Express and The Hindu, a Chennai-based paper, both headline on his victory. The Hindu says Vijay's party disrupted nearly half a century of "a bipolar [political] landscape dominated by two parties." The Times of India calls Vijay the "new star of Tamil politics": quiet, introverted and persistent. The general feeling, however, is apprehension: can he convert the popular vote into popular rule?

We also bring you the 2025 winners of the Pulitzer Prizes in the US in the journalism category. The New York Times picked up three awards, including best breaking news photography for Palestinian photographer Saher Alghorra for his "haunting" sensitive series showing devastation and starvation in Gaza as a result of the war with Israel. The Times also picked up best investigative reporting for its series on conflicts of interest and self-enrichment running rampant through the Trump administration.

Julie K. Brown, a Miami Herald journalist, was given a special commendation for her 2017 and 2018 work investigating Jeffrey Epstein and his systematic abuse of young women and the sweetheart deal he got from prosecutors. She spent two years trawling through court documents and reaching out to Epstein victims. She published a series called "Perversion of Justice" in 2018 and later a book of the same name. Her work laid the groundwork for US federal authorities reopening the investigation and eventually arresting Epstein. As a 2021 Guardian article reminded us, Brown had been considered for a Pulitzer when her work was published eight years ago. However, Alan Dershowitz, a prominent defence lawyer for Epstein and Harvard Law School professor, urged the Pulitzer committee not to consider her in a letter he wrote to them. Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre accused Dershowitz of being one of the men with whom she was forced to have sex. 

Finally, the Met Gala took place in New York on Monday. The controversy around Jeff Bezos's patronage gave way to the pomp and glamour of fashion's night of nights, with something to everyone's taste – or not! From Madonna's Morticia Adams-inspired goth outfit to Teyana Taylor's look, described approvingly by Cosmopolitan as silver mop meets Afghan hound, we check out some of the most striking outfits.

You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.