Baghdad - The Iraqi government on Thursday denied media reports about an alleged coup plan by security officials, al-Arabiya news channel reported.

Earlier on Thursday, media reports said Iraqi security forces arrested 35 high-ranking security officials whom they said were attempting to revive the Baath Party of former president Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Abdel Kareem Khalaf confirmed the arrests, but said that "nothing will be clear until investigation ends", the Dubai-based channel quoted him as saying.

Riga  - The management of the Latvian national airline, airBaltic, will buy out the 47.2-per-cent stake of the company currently owned by Scandinavian airline SAS, the companies said Thursday evening.

An official airBaltic source confirmed the news to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa after an SAS company statement said a deal had been reached.

Washington  - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has ordered aides to begin drawing up a plan to close the prison for suspects in the war on terrorism at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Gates wants to be prepared to move quickly if president-elect Barack Obama, who has pledged to close Guantanamo, makes it an earlier priority after taking office on January 20, spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

Berlin - Germany's parliament rejected Thursday an attempt to stop the sale of three submarines to Pakistan, with pro-government speakers defending the sale.

Last year, the transaction was approved in the first phase of Berlin's review of the sale by the German warship-building consortium.

Germany's opposition Greens party asked parliament Thursday to intervene, but the large government majority rejected the motion. However several speakers in government parties voiced some misgivings at the sale.

New York  - The world's largest cruise line company Carnival Corporation on Thursday cut its profit outlook for the year as the economic downturn cuts into the budgets of holiday travellers.

For the 2008-09 business year, the company lowered its outlook to 2.25 to 2.75 dollars per share from an early 2.50-to-3-dollar prediction.

Vilnius - The governing body of Lithuanian basketball announced Thursday that it was suspending this weekend's programme of matches in protest at government tax proposals.

In a press release, the Lithuanian Basketball League (LBL) said no national championship games would take place until December 29 in the face of "catastrophic and draconian taxes" planned by the recently-elected government of Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius.