Officials searching through the rubble revise death toll in Moore down from 51 to 24, saying every home has been searched at least once

Rescue workers were scaling back their search for survivors amid the devastation wrought one of the most powerful tornadoes in modern US history on Tuesday.

Hundreds of US National Guard, police and medical staff combed through piles of rubble in the streets of Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City, and by the end of the afternoon officials said they were "98% sure" no-one else would be found alive.

The tornado lasted just under an hour on Monday, when it tore through farmland, crossed a river and headed into Moore. It destroyed hundreds of homes and shops, wiped out two schools and a hospital and left at least 237 people injured, including many children.

"We've experienced one of the most horrific disasters our state has ever faced," said the governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin.

Authorities in Moore put the number of deaths at 24, revising down an earlier figure of 51. Local officials blamed the higher figure on double-counting in the confusion of the tornado strike. The Moore storm was the deadliest US tornado since 161 people were killed in Joplin, Missouri, two years ago.

Rescue workers had spent Monday night searching for survivors in Moore and elsewhere along the tornado's track. They deployed thermal imaging equipment to try and detect body heat beneath the rubble and also asked media crews to leave the area so rescuers could better listen to any cries for help.

Using flashlights and teams of sniffer dogs, they braved conditions made hazardous by leaking gas mains, fires and the threat of further storms. Officials said more than 100 people had been pulled alive from the ruins after the tornado struck.

On Tuesday afternoon, fire chief Gary Bird said he was "98% sure" there were no survivors or bodies left under the rubble. He told the Associated Press that every damaged home had been searched at least once and that was hopeful the work could be completed by nightfall.

Speaking from the White House, President Obama called the disaster "one of the most destructive tornadoes in history" and promised the full help of the government in both rescue and rebuilding. "There are empty spaces where there used to be living rooms and bedrooms and classrooms. And in time we're going to need to refill those spaces with love and laughter and community," he said.

Obama summed up the horror of the moment for many Americans by talking about the direct strikes on Moore's schools. "In an instant, many homes were destroyed, dozens of people lost their lives ? and among them were children trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew, their school," Obama said.

The tornado touched down at 2.56pm on monday, just 16 minutes after the first warning went out, and traveled for 17 miles. The National Weather Service said the tornado was 1.3 miles wide and upgraded it from an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale to an EF-5, the top of the scale, based the findings of a damage assessment team on the ground. It loosely followed the path of a previous storm that hit the same region in May 1999 with winds of up to 300 mph.

Stories of survival began to emerge on Tuesday. At the hospital in Moore, some doctors had jumped in a freezer to survive the storm. Elsewhere local farmer Lando Hite described how the storm had struck a horse farm carrying the animals up into the sky. "It was just like the movie Twister," Hite told TV station KFOR. "There were horses and stuff flying around everywhere."

Outside the regional hospital in nearby Norman, Oklahoma, Ninia Lay, 48, told Reuters she huddled in a closet as the tornado hit. Her house was flattened and Lay was buried in the rubble for two hours until her husband and rescuers dug her out. "I thank God for my cell phone. I called me husband for help," she said. At the Agapeland daycare facility, 15 children survived after being herded into two bathrooms. Even though the roof was ripped off one of the rooms as the tornado passed, staff kept the youngsters calm by having them sing: "You are my sunshine." All survived.

But there were scenes of tragedy. At local churches, families anxiously awaited news of loved ones as authorities scrambled to work out who was dead, missing or alive. At one church, St Andrews United Methodist Church, the names of surviving children were called out via megaphone in front of a crowd of terrified parents.

Much of the attention was focused on the ruins of Plaza elementary school, which had been flattened by the storm. Workers formed lines to remove rubble from the twisted heap which had had its roof torn off and its walls pushed down by the sheer force of the winds. A few children were found alive in the rubble overnight and were passed down a line of rescue workers to waiting ambulances. But as the search wore on, it became less likely that anyone would be pulled out alive. "They're looking for life, but they have not had any hits recently, so they're in recovery mode now," Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin said late Monday night.

The weather system that spawned the tornado, and several other twisters the day before, had still not run out of steam by Tuesday. South-west Arkansas and north-east Texas, including Dallas, were still under the threat of severe weather warnings, raising the dread prospect that yet more tornadoes could still strike the area and wreak further havoc.

Opponents of bill say peers have every right to oppose it because it was not in coalition agreement or any party manifesto

Conservative opponents of gay marriage have invited the House of Lords to reject the bill after 133 Tory MPs, including two cabinet ministers, defied David Cameron to vote against the measure.

As a Tory grassroots organisation warned of a "civil war in conservatism", prompted in part by the legislation, more than half of the Conservative parliamentary party voted against the bill after one ministerial aide complained of a "sham consultation" process.

Owen Paterson, the environment secretary, David Jones, the Wales secretary, and the prime minister's "envoy" to the right, John Hayes, led a group of ministers who formed a 133-strong bloc of Tory MPs who voted against the bill. A further two Tories acted as tellers for the opponents, whose numbers fell from the 135 no votes at the second reading in February. But the opponents were more numerous than the 126 Tory MPs who voted in favour of the bill, which was given a third reading by 366 to 161, a majority of 205.

The vote came after David Burrowes, the Conservative MP for Enfield Southgate, who is Paterson's parliamentary private secretary, said that peers had every right to oppose the bill because it was not included in the coalition agreement and was not promoted clearly in any of the party election manifestos.

His comments came after Peter Bone, the Conservative MP for Wellingborough, said: "The unusual position we have is none of the political parties put this in their manifesto. Would [you] agree that [the House of Lords] has the complete legitimacy to reject this bill because there is no Salisbury Convention?" This says that peers cannot reject legislation pledged in a winning election manifesto.

Burrowes said: "I am grateful. Certainly the other place is looking in great detail at the way we have handled this bill." He added: "We are in an extraordinary position on the third reading of a bill which redefines marriage, one that I never thought our government would have done, one where there was no clear manifesto commitment, no coalition agreement, no green paper ? just a sham consultation."

The MP said he feared for people who feel uncomfortable about the bill. "Intolerant reaction to our belief in marriage runs the risk of becoming fomented by the state orthodoxy in this bill about this new gender neutral meaning of marriage. Those who disagree risk vilification and discrimination and they won't get the protection they deserve under the equality act."

But other Tories spoke in favour of the bill. Charles Walker, the MP for Broxtowe, said: "I didn't come into politics to be defined by what I am against. I want to be defined by what I am for. And tonight is a good night."

The bill moved to a third reading after a final threat was removed when Labour withdrew its support for an amendment to allow humanist wedding ceremonies to be included in the bill's provisions. The government had warned this could over-complicate the bill and threaten its parliamentary journey. It was a similar warning that prompted Labour on Monday to drop its support for an amendment that would have extended civil partnerships to heterosexual couples.

In her concluding remarks the equalities minister, Maria Miller, pleaded with MPs to support the bill. She said: "I accept that for some colleagues their beliefs mean that the principle of this issue is an insurmountable barrier to supporting this change. But to other colleagues I say, now is the time.

"Let us not be side-tracked nor distracted. Let us not expand the remit of this bill beyond its original intention. Let us make equal marriage possible because it is the right thing to do and then let us move on."

But Tory divisions were highlighted as it emerged that the arch-Eurosceptic John Redwood is to be given a formal role in helping to formulate the prime minister's economic policy. Downing Street has decided that a series of policy groups run by the backbench 1922 committee should report to the prime minister's policy board. This means that Redwood, who chairs the 1922 economic committee and who unsuccessfully challenged John Major for the Tory leadership in 2005 over Europe, will have a formal input into the prime minister's policy board on economics.

One rightwinger praised Downing Street for deciding to include the 1922 policy groups in its work. The MP said: "Credit where credit is due. Downing Street is trying hard to reach out. It really is time to end the Tory civil wars. We can't stop gay marriage, we have got a referendum on the EU so we should just get on with it and support the prime minister."

But the Conservative Grassroots organisation warned that Cameron would pay a high price for pressing ahead with gay marriage and for refusing to launch an investigation into the remarks by the Tory co-chairman, Lord Feldman, who was alleged to have called party activists "mad swivel-eyed loons".

Feldman has strenuously denied making the remarks.

Miles Windsor, chairman of Conservative Grassroots, said: "This week has begun a civil war in conservatism, it may rumble on for years ? but as things stand, Nigel Farage is winning it at a stride."

Claim against Jack Straw, brought by Gaddafi victim and his wife, may be heard in secret under new Justice and Security Act

One of the first cases to be heard by the government's new generation of secret courts may be a claim brought by a Libyan dissident who was kidnapped along with his pregnant wife and flown to one of Muammar Gaddafi's prisons.

Abdel Hakim Belhaj is suing the former foreign secretary Jack Straw and Sir Mark Allen, former head of counter-terrorism at MI6, as well as the British government and its intelligence agencies, over the so-called extraordinary rendition operation from 2004.

The high court in London heard on Tuesday that ministers would probably move to have the case heard under the secrecy provisions of the controversial Justice and Security Act, which comes into force in July.

"The new act will apply to these proceedings," Rory Phillips QC, representing the government, told the court at a preliminary hearing. "It is likely that such an application will be made."

The act has faced criticism from lawyers and human rights groups who argue that its primary intention is not to protect intelligence-sharing arrangements with foreign states ? as ministers argued when it was passing through parliament ? but to conceal evidence of government wrongdoing in cases such as that brought by Belhaj.

Straw, Allen and the government face claims for damages from Belhaj and his wife, Fatima Bouchar, who accuse them of false imprisonment, conspiracy to injure and trespass to person, misfeasance in public office and negligence.

Richard Hermer QC, prosecuting, said that there was likely to be a lively debate between the two sides over the circumstances in which the secrecy provisions of the act could be relied upon by the government.

Phillips made clear, however, that the defendants were keen to reach a negotiated settlement with Belhaj.

"They would be pleased to enter into a settlement process to draw a line under this case," he said.

"The defendants would like to reiterate ? their willingness to sit down with Mr Belhaj and his representatives, face to face, in order to see if we can reach a settlement."

Belhaj and Bouchar's lawyers believe the pair has a strong case, based in part on a secret intelligence file discovered by the New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch during the revolution that toppled Gaddafi.

The file contained a number of letters from Allen to the dictator's intelligence chief, Moussa Koussa, including one in which the MI6 officer made clear that although he did not pay for the air cargo, the intelligence that had led to the couple being detained and "rendered" had originated with his agency.

Other documents discovered at the time showed that MI6 was involved in a second operation in which another Libyan dissident, Sami al-Saadi, was kidnapped and flown to Tripoli along with his wife and four children, the youngest a six-year-old girl. Al-Saadi settled his claim against the British government with a payment of £2.2m.

Belhaj has offered to settle his claim with a payment of just £1 from each of the defendants, but insists that they must admit their guilt and apologise to him, and particularly to his wife.

Despite being visibly pregnant, Bouchar was allegedly chained to a wall when detained by the CIA in Bangkok before being taped head and foot to a stretcher for the 17-hour flight to Tripoli. She was then held for several months while her husband was being interrogated and allegedly tortured nearby.

Such an apology is unlikely to be forthcoming, however, as the two UK-Libyan rendition operations are the subject of a Scotland Yard investigation ? one of four police investigations into the activities of British intelligence officers in the years after 9/11.

The high court case was adjourned until October, when the government will argue that the case cannot be tried in an English court, as the events took place outside the UK, and involved foreign intelligence officers.

Were this to be accepted by the courts, Hermer argued, "then whenever agents of the British state are involved in joint operations with agents of a foreign state, they enjoy complete immunity".

The kidnap, torture and arbitrary detention that the couple suffered were offences not only in English law, but "fundamental breaches of international law".

Straw and Allen are also arguing that they are unable to respond to the allegations because of the restraints of the Official Secrets Act.

Tim Cook warns Congress that he would refuse to repatriate $100bn stashed offshore unless US severely reduced its 35% tax rate

Apple has called for US corporate tax rates to be slashed after it admitted sheltering at least $30bn (£20bn) of international profits in Irish subsidiaries that pay no tax at all.

In a dramatic display of how threats from multinational corporations are driving down taxes across the world, chief executive Tim Cook warned Congress that he would refuse to repatriate a total of $100bn stashed offshore unless it acted to slash the 35% US rate.

Cook said the tax rate for repatriated money should be set "in single digits" to persuade companies to bring it back. Standard tax for US profits should be, he said, in the "mid 20s".

He also revealed that Apple had struck a secret deal with the Irish government in 1980 to limit its domestic taxes there to 2%.

Three subsidiaries based in Ireland are also used to shelter profits made in the rest of Europe and Asia but are not classed as resident in any country for tax purposes ? a tactic dubbed the "iCompany" by critics.

Cook's testimony to a Senate sub-committee investigating multinational tax practices largely confirmed its findings that Apple had taken tax avoidance to a new extreme by structuring these companies so they did not incur tax liabilities anywhere.

Phillip Bullock, the California company's head of tax, estimated that just one of these subsidiaries ? Apple Operations International ? had channelled $30bn in global profits over the last five years without filing a single income tax return.

The only taxes paid were on the interest earned by the cash pile and small sums in local markets. Senate investigators allege a total of $70bn has been sheltered this way in four years.

Despite heated exchanges with committee chairman Carl Levin, Apple largely shrugged off criticism of the practice, insisting it was acting "in the letter and the spirit of the law".

An independent tax professor, Richard Harvey, testified that its tax avoidance was "probably legal" and could have been much more aggressive.

The Apple chief used his appearance to renew lobbying for Congress to cut a deal with multinationals to encourage them to bring back, or repatriate, the billions of dollars kept offshore to avoid tax.

Cook said he had no plan to bring back the $102bn built up by Apple at current tax rates, and recently opted to return money to shareholders by borrowing money instead. "I have no current plan to do so at the current tax rates.

"Unlike some technology companies, I am not proposing a zero rate," he said. "My proposal is that we have a reasonable tax for bringing back money from overseas.

"A permanent change is materially better than a short term tax holiday."

Cook said he "personally doesn't understand the difference between a tax presence and a tax residence".

He was even defended by some members of the committee who accused Levin and Republican John McCain of "bullying" Apple. "I am offended by the tone and tenor of this hearing," said fellow Republican and presidential hopeful Rand Paul.

The hearing was seen as a watershed in the increasing tense clashes between governments and multinationals, particularly technology groups such as Apple, Amazon and Google.

Edward Kleinbard, professor of law at USC Gould School of Law, said: "Apple is not an outlier in its efforts to produce 'stateless income' ? income that is taxed neither in the United States nor in the countries where its foreign customers are located ? but it is an outlier in the baldness of its strategies. Apple shifted tens of billions of dollars of income without even breaking into a sweat.

"The hearing will forcefully remind policymakers that international tax reform will require the implementation of really thoughtful anti-abuse rules, ideally developed in conjunction with other OECD member states.

Every country is the worse off when they facilitate multinationals aggressively pursuing stateless income strategies, just as every country is worse off when they all engage in trade wars."

Corporate tax expert Jennifer Blouin at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school said the Apple revelations were "extraordinary but not surprising".

"We have seen versions of this with Microsoft and with Google," she said. "I hope it gooses the notion that we need to fix the worldwide system."

She said Apple was working within the law but that the law was written before huge profits could be made by companies that trade not in goods and manufacturing but in ideas.

"I have worked in this area for years and it's been largely an obscurity. But it's at the forefront now, and it needs to get fixed."

First major revamp of Xbox since 2005 integrates TV, internet and gaming in what Microsoft describes as 'rocket-science stuff'

Microsoft revealed a new Xbox console on Tuesday that not only integrates TV, internet and gaming, but also will measure your heartbeat and recognise your voice.

The company said the Xbox One will revolutionise its users' lifestyles by integrating the cloud, voice control and gesture technology into a simple, intuitive machine.

"It changes everything," Marc Whitten, an Xbox executive, told a packed hall of technology journalists at the company's campus in Redmond, Washington. "This is rocket-science stuff."

Analysts who had wondered whether the company could follow up on the success of its Xbox 360, first unveiled in 2005, said its successor offered a complete entertainment system designed for the family, not just gamers.

"The Xbox One really looks to advance the state of video game technology and entertainment in a way that we haven't seen before," said Brian Blau, a director of Gartner Research.

"The Xbox One is a real advancement, one that will transform the way we experience TV, games, music, movies and more. From what we can see so far Microsoft has met and far exceeded expectations for the Xbox One. This is Microsoft branching out into the living room to reach more of a family audience rather than a core gaming audience."

Fred Huet, a managing partner at Greenwich Consulting, said Microsoft had thrown down the gauntlet to Sony's PlayStation and other rivals. "The Xbox One is set to mark the beginning of a new generation of games, TV and entertainment."

The Xbox One, which will be available from the end of the year, will be powered by 300,000 servers, more than the entire world's computing power in 1999, said Whitten.

An improved, ultra-sensitive Kinect sensor will track wrist and shoulder rotations and be able to read users' heartbeats. "This is human control for a human experience." Its main camera can record 1080P RGB video at 30 frames per second.

Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi wowed the audience by calling out commands and using minimal hand gestures to manipulate content on the Xbox One. He said "a new set of universal gestures to control your TV" would banish the fumbling confusion many feel with existing remotes. TechCruch called it a "massive, massive upgrade" from the original model.

A "snap mode" similar to Microsoft Windows 8 experience allows users to run two activities ? such as watching TV and browsing the internet, or using Skype ? simultaneously. It offers a second screen.

The Xbox One has 8GB of Ram, along with a Blu-ray drive, 64-bit architecture and a 500GB onboard hard drive. Microsoft also unveiled a new version of its camera-based Kinect system with better motion and voice detection. It showed how users can watch live sports on TV while getting updates on fantasy leagues on a split screen. In an effort to stay ahead of rivals, Microsoft said new content for the popular Call of Duty game can be downloaded on the Xbox One before any other system.

Microsoft said more games would be shown at next month's E3 video game conference in Los Angeles.

The previous model, the Xbox 360, was launched eight years ago, and has been the leading games console for the past two years.

IMF chief seeking to clear her name in case that could undermine her future ambitions on world stage

She is the straight-talking first woman head of the IMF who is considered by some to be a potential future French president. He is a flamboyant crooner-turned-business-tycoon, whose bewilderingly eclectic career has included chatshow host and star of a TV cop-show after serving as a government minister under François Mitterrand and doing time in prison for football match-fixing.

Together, the odd couple of Christine Lagarde and Bernard Tapie are at the centre of a legal investigation into alleged complicity in embezzlement of public funds and abuse of power over a multimillion euro state payout that could expose the unhealthy friendships between high French politics and the world of business.

Lagarde will jet back to Paris on Thursday to be questioned by court judges, hoping to clear her name in a case that could undermine her future ambitions on the world stage.

When Lagarde, 57, the French finance minister, international business lawyer and former synchronised swimming champion took over from Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2011 after he was disgraced by an arrest over the alleged attempted rape of a New York hotel maid, the Washington-based IMF was clear it didn't want any more scandal. Now, after months of investigation including a police raid on Lagarde's Paris flat, she will be questioned over alleged "complicity in the embezzlement of public funds".

Under consideration is whether Lagarde, as finance minister to Nicolas Sarkozy, broke the law by authorising a private arbitration and an out-of court settlement over a business deal involving the sports giant Adidas, which resulted in Tapie getting a ?400m payout from the French taxpayer - allowing him to take home over ?200m, after tax and costs.

"Do I look like the sort of person to be pally with Tapie?" the haughty Lagarde has said of the case.

Tapie, who himself faces no charges in the case, is a cartoonish character in French political life. He was born into a poor family in northern Paris, wanted to be a racing driver, became an unsuccessful 1960s crooner, then turned to business, eventually making his fortune by buying up failing companies. Spruced and perma-tanned, with bouffant hair and a silk hankie in his breast pocket, he spent his cash on a Paris historic mansion and huge yacht. He bought the club Olympique de Marseille, signing promising young players including Eric Cantona, but would later be sentenced to eight months in prison for match-fixing.

After local politics in Marseille, Tapie was made a minister under Mitterrand in 1992, and was advised to offload his business concerns. One of these was Adidas, the sports brand which wasn't doing well. He tasked the state bank Crédit Lyonnais with selling the company for him, but soon realised that through an opaque setup of secret deals, the bank had made a fortune from it that he had not. Tapie sued the bank and for over 15 years the legal action ricocheted back and forth through the highest courts of the land, unresolved.

In 2007, Tapie, still a colourful figure appearing in stage-shows, backed Sarkozy's presidential campaign. Soon after, Lagarde, Sarkozy's new finance minister, took a decision to end the Tapie-Crédit Lyonnais legal wrangling by sending it to private arbitration. The vast out-of-court settlement, paid for from state coffers, was much higher than any previous court ruling. The Socialist opposition was outraged.

Tapie has since sparked controversy by buying a major stake in the Marseille newspaper La Provence, sparking speculation that he might want to run for mayor of Marseille, and has bought a new yacht called The Reborn.

Investigations are now looking at whether Lagarde's decision was corrupt and an abuse of power, and whether, as political opponents say, it was a payback to Tapie for his support for Sarkozy.

Lagarde flatly denies any wrongdoing, calling her decision the "best solution at the time". There is no question of her personally enriching herself over it, but the scandal has damaged the right and fuelled a feeling among the electorate of cosy deals with rich friends. Some feel Lagarde could be made to pay for an arbitration that was more likely Sarkozy's idea.

Cyrille Lachevre, author of a key book on Lagarde, said: "She's still one of the most popular politicians on the right in France. People like the idea of a French woman playing a major role on the world stage, a fluent English speaker, and elegant figure with a big impact. Through Lagarde, it's clearly Sarkozy who is being targeted, not necessarily by the judges but by the political class."

If she's charged, Lagarde is not likely to have to resign from the IMF, but it could weaken her standing. In March, the IMF, said it supported her.While some on the right wonder if she could be a potential candidate for first female French president, notably because she has stayed outside the UMP party's vicious in-fighting, Lagarde has never expressed a desire to run for president. But she is expected to continue on the world stage, perhaps in Europe.

List of eight candidates allowed to run in race to succeed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad excludes two leading figures

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the leading opposition-backed candidate in Iran's presidential election, was disqualified on Tuesday from standing in a blow to those hoping for significant change when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leaves office.

Iranian state-run television broadcast a statement by the interior ministry on Tuesday night announcing the final list of candidates. It did not include Rafsanjani or President Ahmadinejad's close ally, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei.

Eight men were allowed to enter the race for the election on 14 June, including Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili; the mayor of Tehran, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf; and former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati. Hassan Rouhani, a reformist who is seen as having little chance of victory, was also allowed to run. Jalili is widely seen as the favourite candidate of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

More than 680 people, among them some 40 prominent figures, registered as potential candidates this month in the hope of succeeding Ahmadinejad, but the six clergymen and six jurists of the Guardian Council allowed only a handful to stand.

The council's spokesman, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, said on Tuesday the vetting process had ended and the final list of candidates had been sent to the interior ministry but did not name those qualified, the semi-official Isna news agency reported. The candidates were then announced on national TV.

Conservative websites and semi-official agencies had earlier reported that Rafsanjani, 78, who has won the support of the country's reformers, had been disqualified because he is seen as too feeble to govern the country. His supporters said the reports amounted to no more than rumours spread by rival camps.

"If an individual who wants to take up a high post can only perform a few hours of work each day, naturally that person cannot be confirmed," Kadkhodaei said earlierthis week, boosting speculation that Rafsanjani would be blocked. Two of the Guardian Council's 12 members are older than Rafsanjani.

The hardline Kayhan newspaper, whose director is appointed by Khamenei, ran an editorial on Tuesday calling on the Guardian Council to disqualify Rafsanjani, saying he had become the favourite candidate of the country's enemies and opposition.

"A divine and serious responsibility rests on the shoulders of the Guardian Council. It is to rescue Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani from a dangerous bait that has been set for him by foreign enemies and their domestic associates," wrote Kayhan's Hossein Shariatmadari. Rafsanjani's office fought back by issuing a statement saying his opponents had resorted to fabricating news in order to distort the old man's image.

Rafsanjani's disqualification would come as a surprise to many of his supporters, who thought it unlikely the Guardian Council would reject him, given his crucial role in founding the Islamic republic and his position as one of the country's great political survivors.

Ali Motahari, an influential MP who was appointed on Tuesday as head of a major campaign group supporting Rafsanjani, predicted that Khamenei might intervene to reinstate Rafsanjani.

"Rafsanjani played a significant role in founding the Islamic republic ? His disqualification will call into question the very principles of our revolution and the principles of the ruling system of the Islamic republic," he told the semi-official Isna news agency. Rafsanjani is head of Iran's expediency council, which mediates between the parliament and the Guardian Council.

Mashaei, who is seen as a nationalist figure, was widely expected to be barred despite Ahmadinejad's unwavering support. Supporters of Khamenei have accused Mashaei of putting Iran ahead of Islam and not showing enough loyalty to the supreme leader.

The Iran News Network, a pro-Ahmadinejad website, reported on Monday that a group of activists and campaigners sympathetic to Mashaei had been arrested and some summoned for questioning. Access to at least four pro-Mashaei websites was blocked last week. Analysts fear that Ahmadinejad might go out with all guns firing following Mashaei's disqualification. The president was reported to have cancelled three of his provincial visits this week to stay in the capital, Tehran.

Meanwhile, the Fars news agency, which is affiliated to the elite Revolutionary Guards, published a series of interviews with some leading clerics who called on people to respect the Guardian Council's decision.

Rafsanjani was a close confidant of Khamenei for much of the 1980s and 1990s but the pair fell out when the former lost to Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential vote. The rift between the two widened when Rafsanjani voiced moderate support for Iran's Green movement in 2009 while Khamenei stood firm by Ahmadinejad and denied any allegations of vote rigging.

Rafsanjani's last-minute entry in Iran's presidential race had revived hopes among the country's reformers for a change in the country's trajectory and infuriated hardliners who believed his candidacy would challenge Khamenei's authority.

Microsoft is showing off its new rival to Sony's Playstation 4 in first major revamp of Xbox since 2005. Follow live coverage here

66-year-old had four reconstructive surgeries since the attack which left him blind last year and 'is very content' right now

A homeless man whose face was chewed off in a cannibal-style attack on a Miami causeway a year ago is recovering well from his life-changing wounds, but will never regain his eyesight, doctors said on Tuesday.

Ronald Poppo, 66, "is very content with where he is right now," playing the guitar in his hospital room every day and enjoying following the Miami Heat's challenge for basketball's national championship, according to staff at the Jackson Memorial Perdue Medical Centre.

But after four surgeries to rebuild his face over the past 12 months, Poppo is refusing any more reconstructive work, and is happy to live a "simple" life in the long-term care facility.

"He can't see what he looks like, and it's not important to him how the world sees him," said Dr Urmen Desai, a plastic surgeon at the University of Miami/Jackson hospital.

"He wants the world to know he is not traumatised by this, and that he's grateful and happy. He's a simple guy who's happy just being alive."

Poppo lost one eyeball and suffered irreparable damage to the other in the attack on Miami's MacArthur causeway on 26 May last year. His naked assailant, a 31-year-old man called Rudy Eugene, also bit off Poppo's nose before he was shot dead by police who were called to the scene by horrified passers-by.

A press conference at the Jackson Memorial Hospital on Tuesday began with a short video of Mr Poppo, wearing a red and white baseball cap, playing his guitar and thanking medical staff and the community for taking care of him and supporting him.

Doctors and nursing staff painted a picture of a solitary man who had come to terms with the trauma he had suffered, and who had made great progress in his rehabilitation. But they said he was also not ready or willing to receive visits from family members, and was content to stay mostly in his room at the Perdue facility.

"He's a very private person, very pleasant and very respectful to people," said Adolfa Sigue, Perdue's nurse manager.

"What happened was very traumatic for him but he's never said anything negative about his situation. He told me everything that happened to him but he has no blame for the person who did this to him."

Poppo, who spent a month in intensive care for treatment for his severe facial wounds, has learned to dress himself, feed himself and use the bathroom, and is able to take showers and shave by himself.

He is now above 200 pounds, having gained more than 50lbs in recent months, said Patricia Copalka, a nurse who has become his near permanent companion at Perdue.

"Eating's the great love of his life, and following the Miami Heat," she said.
"He likes to spend time in his room listening to the radio and playing his guitar. He was in a band before and he hasn't played for four years, so this is very good therapy for him.

"We wanted to give him something that he liked to do, and he knows plenty of chords. He's really enjoying it."

She said she had invited him to her home to meet her family but so far he has always refused. "We try to get him to do things but he always says, 'not now'," said Kathy Anglin, his occupational therapist. "He never says no, it's always 'maybe tomorrow'.

"When you get him engaged, he's such a hard worker. He's very thought orientated. For a man who's blind he still has a great mind and uses it to the nth degree. He's a very smart man, he can be very humorous and can get you laughing in a heartbeat."

Nurses hosted a small party for his 66th birthday last Friday and brought him cake and ice cream, a simple celebration for a man who Dr Desai said was good company. "He has a special charm about him," he said.

Dr Woody Kassira, a fellow plastic surgeon, said Mr Poppo could still choose to have more surgery, but always said he did not want to. "We present him with the options every time we see him," she said. "There is still work that can be done but he's content with where he's at right now. When he first came in, one of his eyeballs was missing and we covered the other with skin and tissue in order to protect the eye.

"Unfortunately, over the course of the last 12 months there hasn't been any improvement in light or colour definition and his vision is completely lost."

Managers at Perdue said Medicare was covering all of Poppo's medical bills and that an additional fund of $100,000 was available to him, plus donations from the public. He can stay at the facility as long as he chooses, they said.

The reason for the attack, which appeared to be random, might never been known. There was speculation that Eugene had taken mind-altering drugs but toxicology tests revealed only the presence of marijuana in his system.

Index closes at 6803.87 ? just 130 points below peak reached on 30 December 1999 at height of the dotcom boom

The London stock market is within sight of its all-time closing high after another surge in share prices on Tuesday.

After drifting for much of the day, the FTSE 100 index of Britain's top companies made a late rally to close 48.24 points higher at 6803.87. This marked its best level for more than 13 years and left the index just 130 points below the peak reached on 30 December 1999 at the height of the dotcom boom. Since the beginning of the year the index has risen 906 points or more than 15%.

A revival in mining shares and positive reaction to updates from the likes of Marks & Spencer and Vodafone helped push the market higher on Tuesday.

But, as has been the case since the rally began last summer, the driving force was the expectation that central banks would continue to take action to boost the global economy through low interest rates, bond buying programmes and quantitative easing. Recent data has shown a pick-up in the economy, suggesting the measures are having the desired effect.

In the UK, better-than-expected inflation figures, which showed the consumer price index falling from 2.8% in March to 2.4% last month, left the way open for further easing from the Bank of England, particularly when new governor Mark Carney takes over in July.

Concerns that the US central bank might begin to ease off its bond buying programme had been growing ahead of testimony by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday. The Fed has been helping to support global markets by buying $85bn of bonds every month, and meets next month to decide its next move.

But just before the UK market closed, Federal Reserve member James Bullard seemed to allay fears of an imminent end to quantitative easing in a speech delivered at Goethe University in Frankfurt. He said the Fed should keep buying bonds while adjusting the pace of purchases depending on economic conditions. He said: "Quantitative easing? involves clear action and has been effective."

Despite the recent rally, the FTSE 100 is still lagging other global markets such as the US S&P 500 and Germany's Dax which have already reached record levels.

But the FTSE All-Share index, a broader measure, is at an all-time high having closed 24.80 points higher at 3587.85, its 14th daily rise in a row. Economist Ian Williams of City broker Peel Hunt pointed out that this run had only been beaten once ? over the 1986 and 1987 new year period ? since the index began to be calculated in the late 1960s.

The buoyant market is good news for the chancellor, George Osborne, as he tries to persuade voters his emphasis on public spending cuts is working. On Wednesday he will face a new test when the International Monetary Fund delivers its verdict on his austerity programme after two weeks of examining the UK economy. Last month the IMF called on Osborne to moderate the pace of deficit reduction.

Many analysts believe the FTSE 100 could soon break through its previous high and breach the 7000 level shortly after. But others sounded a note of caution. Alex Young, senior sales trader at CMC Markets UK, said: "In a technical sense markets are beginning to look a little over extended, and the potential for profit taking to trigger a market correction has to be a consideration for even the most fervent bulls. That said, as the cliché goes, markets can remain over extended for a lot longer than retail traders can remain solvent. As ever, caution is advised when fighting the trend."