Homeland hero: French wildcard Loïs Boisson stuns at Roland-Garros

South Korean voters head to the polls for snap presidential elections after months of political turmoil and the ousting of former President Yoon Suk Yeol. The vote is dominating the South Korean press this Tuesday. The Korea Times prints a front-page picture of the leading candidates in this election: Lee Jae-Myung from the liberal Democratic party and conservative leader Kim Moon-Soo. The centrist paper also underlines that the next president will assume office immediately. There will be no customary 60-day transition period. That prospect also raises concerns about the government’s readiness to manage state affairs. Koreans will no doubt be hoping for stability in the country, both political and economic – US President Donald Trump's tariff war has wrought havoc on the Korean economy. This is perhaps why the Korea Herald calls it the D-DAY showdown.

You can also grasp the gravity of the election with an editorial from the Korea Times. The paper says the "future of the country hinges on this election". While the editors are encouraged by the high number of early voters – despite high levels of voter apathy and frustration, they remind us that elections are not a choice between good and bad but the lesser of two evils. The conservative daily Korea Joongang Daily, meanwhile, likens this election to a recent Korean box office hit, "Yadang: The Snitch", which examines political and institutional corruption. The paper encourages voters to scrutinise candidates carefully, saying loyalty, sentiment or empty promises should not sway votes. The highly progressive paper The Hankyoreh offers rousing words for its readers: "It's time for voters to shine and create a brand new Korea."

In other news: The New York Times publishes a moving portrait of a social media influencer and female genital mutilation survivor. She also appeared on our Perspective programme with Stuart Norval a few years ago. The New York Times describes Shamsa Sharawe as a "sweary and self-possessed British anti-cutting campaigner", one who’s perfect for the TikTok generation and who has garnered a cult following there. She talks frankly about enduring female genital mutilation at the age of six in her village and about regrowing the flower, or undergoing genital reconstruction surgery, two years ago. The paper pays tribute to a woman at the "vanguard of a new generation of FGM survivors in the West". This generation is candid about their trauma, aware of their rights and unafraid to criticise revered national institutions.

There's a new French hero at Roland Garros – tenniswoman Loïs Boisson! The world n° 361 and wildcard at the Grand Slam pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the French Open by defeating world n°3 Jessica Pegula in three sets. Her exploits have earned her the cover of L’Equipe, which calls her "The Boisson sensation." Her victory comes at a particularly fraught time, when Roland Garros organisers are under fire for a lack of women's nighttime matches. Indeed, The Wall Street Journal recounts that when the match started, the court was practically empty. Most people preferred to eat lunch than watch a match they thought would be a blowout. They were wrong and the court was fully packed by the time Boisson served for match point. She is the first French tenniswoman to reach the quarter-finals since 2017. She'll face Mira Andreeva on Wednesday and will be hoping to pull off a second upset! 

Finally, he was the first Black man to embody the title role in the Doctor Who franchise, but now Ncuti Gatwa is being replaced. He becomes the actor who embodied the role of Doctor Who for the shortest amount of time. Gatwa, who appeared in the hit series "Sex Education", was supposed to give Dr Who a refreshing, modern makeover: "black, young, queer and beautiful", as the Guardian notes. But now he's being replaced. Ultimately, the Guardian says, several issues converged – Gatwa's Doctor Who cried a lot, which perhaps cheapened the other times he cried, combined with a few sub-par episodes. The decision has earned this rebuke in Gizmodo, equivalent to being put in the naughty corner​​​​: "Doctor Who needs to go away and think about what it did." The website says Gatwa's Doctor Who deserved so much more. 

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