Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Friday 14 Jun 2013

1. RUSSIA DISMISSES US SARIN EVIDENCE

Russia has dismissed US evidence that President Assad has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, as unconvincing. "It would be hard even to call them facts," said President’s Putin’s foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov. However, David Cameron told The Guardian today that Britain shared the Americans' "candid assessment".

Has US been duped by 'proof' of Syrian chemical weapons?

2. ARMY CHIEF SAYS CUTS ARE ‘DANGEROUS’

General Sir Peter Wall, the head of the Army, has warned that cuts in defence spending “could become quite dangerous quite quickly”, speaking ahead of the June 26 spending review. The MoD wants to find savings while still protecting front-line capabilities but Wall said further efficiencies would be “very disruptive”.

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3. RUPERT AND WENDI DENG TO DIVORCE

Newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch, 82, and his 44-year-old wife Wendi Deng are to divorce after 14 years of marriage. The news even took Murdoch's biographer, Michael Wolff, by surprise - he said he was "gobsmacked". The filing at the New York Supreme Court said the "relationship between husband and wife has broken down irretrievably".

Murdoch divorce: six reasons why Rupe and Wendi are over

4. ‘ABDUCTED’ TEEN LORNA VICKERAGE FOUND

An off-duty police officer has located 14-year-old Lorna Vickerage, the girl who went missing from her Doncaster foster home on Monday. Vickerage and 35-year-old convicted fraudster John Derek Bush,were spotted near Euston, London today. Bush was arrested on suspicion of child abduction.

5. MAN CHARGED OVER QUEEN GRAFITTO

A 41-year-old electrician from Doncaster, Tim Haries, will appear in court today, charged with defacing a picture of the Queen in Westminster Abbey. The 9ft by 11ft canvas by Australia-born Ralph Heimans has been taken off public display because of the damage. It shows the Queen in the Abbey’s Coronation Theatre.

6. POLICE WARN 'BIG BROTHER' ON EX-COP

Scotland Yard says it has written to Channel 5 about the risks involved in the new series of Big Brother featuring an ex-detective, said to have played a key role in Operation Yewtree, as a contestant. It pointed out that the former officer, expected to enter the ‘house’ today, will have signed the Official Secrets Act.

7. TUCKER TO QUIT BANK OF ENGLAND

Paul Tucker, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, is to step down. The announcement comes days before Canadian Mark Carney arrives to take over from current governor Mervyn King. Tucker who has been at the bank for 33 years was one of the candidates to take King's job but was overlooked. He is expected to remain in his post until the autumn.

Mark Carney: will new BoE boss be the City's Special One?

8. IRANIANS VOTE FOR NEW PRESIDENT

Iranians went to the polls to elect a new president today. There is little chance that the poll will result in a "seismic shift" in Iran's troubled relations with its Arab neighbours and the West, but experts are cautiously hoping for a "softening" of the confrontational style personified by outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Will Iranian election bring reforms? Five key questions

9. TURKISH PM MEETS PARK DEMONSTRATORS

Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has held talks with one of the groups which have been protesting against the government for the past fortnight. A spokesman for the group Taksim Solidarity described the discussions as having “positive” result. A meeting is to be held to allow protesters to decide what to do.

Is Tayyip Erdogan's peace plan case of 'too little, too late?'

10. HOT TICKET: NOLAN’S SUPERMAN REBOOT

American superhero film ‘Man of Steel’ opens in UK cinemas today. Christopher Nolan’s Superman reboot stars Henry Cavill as a young man who must go on a journey of discovery after finding out he has extraordinary powers and isn’t from earth. With Russell Crowe. “Marvel-sized thrills,” says Time.

Superman reboot Man of Steel full of 'Marvel-sized thrills'