101.   Gonzalez has denied the allegations against him, based in part on testimony from a former senior Socialist Party official in the Basque country of northern Spain.

102.   He has little choice but to seek agreements with moderate nationalist parties, mainly from Catalonia and the Basque country, to form a stable minority government.

103.   His comments coincided with rallies by thousands of people in the Basque country to protest at the latest attack attributed to ETA.

104.   However the Basque National Party, which is in power in the Basque country, says unconditional negotiations should be launched with ETA.

105.   Idigoras was arrested Wednesday morning near Bilbao, the largest city in the Basque country.

106.   In exchange for his release the group wants Basque prisoners held in jails throughout Spain to be transferred to prisons in the Basque country.

107.   In the Basque country itself, police arrested three supporters of the separatist movement ETA overnight.

108.   In Pamplona, capital of Navarra, which neighbours the Basque country, hundreds of youths clashed with police during the early hours of Sunday.

109.   In the Basque country, the pacifist group Gesto for la Paz also sponsored hundreds of protest demonstrations across the region.

110.   Instead, the newspaper said, Rodriguez had his subordinates take bribes from people involved in contraband in the Basque country.