Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

khazen.org compiled articles from AP and retuers, click read more to access AP articles with full overview of president Akbar Rafsanjani bio

DUBAI (Reuters) - Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died in hospital in Tehran where he was taken after suffering a heart attack on Sunday, state media reported. State-run Press TV said Rafsanjani, 82, died despite efforts by doctors to save him. Residents said a crowd gathered outside the hospital where Rafsanjani was taken in the Tajrish neighborhood in northern Tehran.

Rafsanjani was an influential figure in Iran, and headed the Expediency Council, a body which is intended to resolve disputes between the parliament and the Guardian Council. He was also a member of the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that selects the supreme leader, Iran's most powerful figure. Rafsanjani has been described as "a pillar of the Islamic revolution." His pragmatic policies – economic liberalization, better relations with the West and empowering Iran's elected bodies – appealed to many Iranians but was despised by hardliners.

His death is a big blow to moderates and reformists, depriving them of their most influential supporter in the Islamic establishment. Since 2009 he and his family have faced criticism over their support for the opposition movement which lost that year's disputed election to former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian rammed his truck into a group of Israeli soldiers on a popular promenade in Jerusalem on Sunday, killing four people and injuring about 15 others in a deliberate attack, police and emergency services said. Police identified the driver as a Palestinian from Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem and said he was shot dead. A dozen bullet holes pockmarked the windscreen.

It was the deadliest Palestinian attack in Jerusalem in months and targeted officer cadets who were disembarking from a bus that brought them to the Armon Hanatziv promenade, a stone-laden and grass-lined walkway with a panoramic view of the walled Old City. "It is a terrorist attack, a ramming attack," a police spokeswoman said.

Police said the dead, three women and one man, were all in their twenties, without identifying them further. Soldiers' deaths are announced in Israel only after families are notified. Roni Alsheich, the national police chief, told reporters he could not rule out that the Palestinian was motivated by a truck ramming attack in a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people last month.

MP Hani Qobeisi

The Daily Star - BEIRUT: Amal Movement officials Sunday anticipated an extension of the current parliamentary term and echoed previous stances in favor of a proportional voting system, the National News Agency said - “A technical extension (of parliamentary terms) is possible,” MP Anwar Khalil was quoted by the NNA as saying during a visit to the south Lebanon border town of Deir Mimas. Parliamentary elections were postponed twice in 2013 and 2014 over security concerns. The coming June 2017 elections might be further delayed for technical reasons.