Can new PM save France from crisis?

Hi. François Bayrou is the fourth prime minister of France this year, after Michel Barnier was ousted last week, and centrists are hoping he'll save the country from further turmoil. Tom Bateman, reporting from Secretary Antony Blinken's jet, explains whether the US can really avoid being pulled into Syria. And if you are someone who can’t stand to see people fidget, you might have misokinesia.

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Fourth French PM of 2024 commands respect - but can he save the country?

Bayrou has already singled out reducing France's deficit and debt as a 'moral priority'. Credit: Getty Images

President Macron has turned to a fellow centrist, and one of France's most experienced politicians, to sort out the country's crisis of governance. François Bayrou, a 73-year-old mayor from the south-west who leads the MoDem party, said he's fully aware of the "Himalayan" task facing France, and vowed to "hide nothing, neglect nothing and leave nothing aside". Bayrou commands plenty of respect across the political spectrum and may avoid the potential pitfalls ahead of him, writes Hugh Scofield in Paris.

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Jiggling thighs and hair twiddling among triggers for those who hate fidgeting

One sufferer said: '"I get anger, so much anger". Credit: Getty Images

"If I see someone tapping their fingers on a desk, my immediate thought is to chop their fingers off with a knife," an anonymous patient confided to a researcher. Sound familiar? If so, perhaps you too have a condition called misokinesia - a diagnosable hatred of fidgeting. One recent study suggests perhaps one in three of us might be adversely affected by other people fidgeting, experiencing intense feelings of rage, torture and disgust.

And finally... Smoke him out?

A police force in Massachusetts has discovered that Santa Claus is not the only one who can get stuck in the chimney. Officers chasing a man in the city of Fall River found their fugitive trapped in a sooty flue and called in the fire department to free him, bodycam footage shows. He was taken to hospital and later arrested on drugs charges.