Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 4 Sep 2012

Tory veteran Ken Clarke is a surprise winner from today’s cabinet reshuffle. He has been moved from Justice not to the backbenches as many expected but to the Cabinet Office with a brief to advise on the economy. Jeremy Hunt moves from Culture to Health – a move he called "a huge privilege" - replacing Andrew Lansley who is demoted to Leader of the Commons.

More than 100,000 Syrians fled the country to escape the civil war in August says the UN. The exodus took the overall number of refugees since the uprising begannin March 2011 to almost 250,000. Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, today met Bashar al-Assad to ask for better access for aid workers.

The Colombian drug trafficker Griselda Blanco, known as the “Queen of Cocaine”, is reported to have been shot dead by two gunmen as she left a butcher’s in Medellin. She was 69. In the 1970s and 80s she was at the centre of the cocaine trade in New York and Miami, reportedly making $8m a month and responsible for the murders of numerous rivals.

The Food Standards Agency is to publish a study that says the toxoplasma parasite, which breeds inside the domestic cat, infects up to 350,000 people every year in the UK, The Independent reports. Most infections are caught through eating contaminated food such as sheep. Scientists want the FSA to change its current advice that it is safe to eat lamb that is not well cooked.

Prince Harry has returned to public duties for the first time since the publication of photographs of him romping naked in a Las Vegas hotel room, presenting awards at the WellChild charity of which he is patron. He joked that he was “never shy about coming forward” and was greeted with laughter and a warm round of applause.