Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Wednesday 12 Dec 2012

James Harding, Editor of The Times, has stepped down. According to the rival Daily Telegraph, his departure was requested by his bosses and follows a disagreement over the Times’s handling of the phone hacking and police bribery scandal at News International. Accounts just released show Rebekah Brooks received £10.8m in compensation when she resigned as NI’s chief executive last year.

President Obama said yesterday that the US has formally recognised Syria's opposition rebel coalition as the "legitimate representative" of the Syrian people. The move follows the lead taken by France and Britain, but Obama warned that the US would not support extremist elements within the opposition coalition. Officials said arms would be supplied only to further a "political solution".

The suicide of Jacintha Saldanha, the King Edward VII hospital nurse who put through the hoax phone call to Kate Middleton’s room, was by hanging, according to latest reports. It transpires that she never told her family about the incident. Details of yesterday’s post-mortem will be given once the inquest into her death opens tomorrow.

Actress Jennifer Lawrence, star of the Hunger Games and the recently released comedy Silver Linings Playback, has been voted the world's most desirable woman. The 22-year-old won the accolade in a global poll released by online men's magazine AskMen.com, whose editor said: "There's a sense that she's a little more authentic than other actors."