Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 27 – Fourteen people were reportedly killed after heavy rainfall caused severe flooding in southeastern Iranian provinces of Sistan-Balouchestan and Hormozgan. Ten people were found dead near Sarbaz region in Sistan-Balouchestan after rains there caused rivers to flood.

UPI: Landmines left over from the Iran-Iraq war exploded in western Iran killing three people over the weekend, official reports said Monday. The Iranian News Agency said the incidents took place in the city of Dahlaran, on the Iran-Iraq border, also wounding two people.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 27 – The head of the Iranian Nurses Union said Iran’s nurses would stage nationwide protests on January 18, 2005, if the authorities continue to ignore their demands. Mohammad Sharafi Moghadam reiterated that the authorities have thus far refused to issue permission for a rally and therefore a protest had been organised instead.

Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 27 – More than 200 workers from Iran Pars Garment plan to hold a rally over back pay in Tehran this week. They will begin a march from the city of Rasht (northern Gilan province) to the Iranian capital, the state-run news agency ILNA said. The workers have not received their salaries for the past seven months and Gilan Workers’ Union demands for government action have proven fruitless.

Financial Times: Trade talks between Iran and the European Union are set to begin on January 12 as the EU drive to improve ties with Tehran gathers pace. France, Germany and the UK have been keen to offer Iran incentives to restrict its nuclear programme, which the US suspects is intended to develop atomic weapons.

BBC: Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said the death sentence on writer Salman Rushdie for alleged blasphemy will remain in force. He rejected the author’s repentance and recent decision not to publish a paperback edition of the novel The Satanic Verses which was deemed offensive to the Islamic faith.