Vitoria, Spain  - The 29-year rule of Basque nationalists in the troubled northern Spanish region was coming to an end Wednesday as the region's socialists and conservatives signed a historic agreement allowing socialist leader Patxi Lopez to become regional prime minister.

The deal signed at the Basque parliament in the regional capital Vitoria sought to unite Basque society and to favour political pluralism, socialist representatives said.

Vitoria, Spain  - Spanish police detained nine people overnight on charges of cooperating with illegal Basque political formations linked to terrorism, police sources said Friday.

The nine were held in several locations around Spain's northern Basque region.

The detainees were believed to have links with illegal separatist parties including Batasuna, which was banned in 2003 as the political wing of the militant group ETA, and ANV and PCTV, which were outlawed in 2008 as the successors of Batasuna.

Vitoria, Spain - Basque authorities will appeal to European tribunals against a ruling by Spain's Constitutional Court which blocked a planned referendum on the self-determination of the northern region, Basque regional Prime Minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe said Friday.

The Basque government "respected" the ruling, but regarded it as undemocratic and would not "resign," Ibarretxe said.

The Basque parliament had previously authorized the referendum-like vote to be staged on October 25. The Spanish government lodged a complaint at the Constitutional Court, the country's highest court alongside the Supreme Court.