ETA lays down its arms

After nearly half a century of violence, the Basque separatist group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna; Basque  for Basque Homeland and Freedom) declared a unilateral end to its campaign of bombings and shootings, saying it wished to seize "a historic opportunity to reach a just and democratic resolution" of the conflict in the ethnically Basque areas of northeastern Spain and southwestern France.
The group's announcement of "the definite cessation of its military activity" came in the form of a written statement and an accompanying video that was made available to The New York Times and the BBC. ETA officials said they planned to release the statement simultaneously to two sympathetic Basque-language newspapers, Garra and Berria, both published in San Sebastian in Spain, the political center of the Basque homeland.