FluxDash

The ObserverUS elections 2024The Observer view on Joe Biden: he struck a blow against Donald Trump, but the fight is only just beginningObserver editorialBiden has come out punching, but the polls aren’t on his side, and he’s up against a man who always plays dirty Joe Biden, as US president, likes to stand above the fray, conscious of the dignity of his office and the awesome power he wields. Joe Biden, as Democratic party presidential candidate, running for a second term and determined to prove the doubters wrong, is happy to wade right in.

MediaUS reality TV contestant kills himselfThe risks of putting people through the emotional strains of reality television were brutally underlined last night after a contestant in a new reality boxing series died. Najai Turpin, a boxer from Philadelphia, shot himself in front of his girlfriend just three weeks before The Contender, a US reality series in which he featured, is due to start. NBC, which is broadcasting The Contender, offered its condolences to Turpin's girlfriend and their two-year-old daughter, who also appear in the series, but said the show would go ahead as planned.

BooksReviewFrancis Beckett looks at two sharply contrasting accounts of Gordon Brown's premiershipAnthony Eden, it was said, was thoroughly prepared for the job of prime minister. Unfortunately, he was prepared to do it in 1938 and didn't get it until 1955. Even Gordon Brown's worst enemies would not compare his premiership to the disastrous 19 months Eden spent in the job. (Actually, Brown's worst enemies, mostly former Labour ministers, probably would – they'd say anything about him.

US elections 2024Democratic long-shot candidates to debate in New Hampshire – without BidenMarianne Williamson and Dean Phillips will appear on stage together on 8 January, two weeks before state’s primary The lonely political vigil of long-shot Democratic presidential candidates Marianne Williamson and Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips will be transformed on to the debate stage early next month in New Hampshire – without Joe Biden, who is neither on the state ballot nor agreeable to any debate interaction with competitors.

EducationThe 1983 report, A Nation at Risk, spoke of a school system in ‘the grip of a crisis’ – kicking off cycles of shortcomings for American schools ‘My classroom has asbestos and bats’” a message from Betsy DeVos At 4.20pm on 26 April 1983, in the state dining room at the White House, then president Ronald Reagan accepted a report from a panel of the country’s leading educators, offered a couple of lighthearted quips and spoke of a school system in “the grip of a crisis”.

JapanJapan orders people to evacuate after 7.6-magnitude quake hits west coastMajor tsunami warnings downgraded but residents in coastal areas told not to return to homes A powerful earthquake has struck central Japan’s western coastline, triggering waves over a metre high and prompting tsunami alerts and warnings for people to evacuate. The quake, which is estimated to have been magnitude 7.6, struck the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture on the main central island of Honshu at about 4.

SoccerObituaryJuan SchiaffinoLegendary Uruguayan footballer whose World Cup goal helped his country beat BrazilDespite being pale and slender, and looking like the antithesis of the footballer as athlete, the Uruguayan Juan Alberto Schiaffino, who has died aged 77, was one of the great inside forwards of his day - a man with exquisite ball control, a gimlet eye for the telling pass, and a left foot which scored many an important goal.

Book of the dayFiction in translationReviewInfused with magic and black humour, these fables of women affected by Russian aggression have accrued an unsettling timeliness Yevgenia Belorusets is a Ukrainian photographer, writer and artist. For more than a decade, she has been documenting the ominous splits in the social fabric of her country. Her installations and photographic work have showcased the lives of female factory workers, impoverished villagers in western Ukraine, the country’s persecuted Roma citizens, and its LGBTQ community.

TV reviewOrange is the New BlackReviewGut-wrenching but gripping and full of heart, the groundbreaking prison drama bows out by bringing back all the fan favourites – even the chickens There are not many shows that can lay claim to changing the television landscape during their lifetime, but Orange Is the New Black (Netflix) is one of them. It was the third series ever commissioned by Netflix, after House of Cards and the now-forgotten Hemlock Grove, and the first that made the most of the idea that an audience might be hungry to see representations of itself.