Arafat gets tough

Arafat orders an end to such operations

Following the latest suicide bombing in the Middle East, Yasser Arafat has ordered his security forces to "prevent all terrorist operations against Israeli civilians." But will anyone listen?

His credibility as Palestinian leader on the line after being holed up in his Ramallah compound for weeks, Yasser Arafat has today ordered an end to terrorist operations against Israeli civilians. It follows last night's suicide bombing in a snooker hall near Tel Aviv in which 16 people died. Then, this morning another bomber blew himself up at a bus station near Haifa.

The return of murder to the streets of Israel has brought the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, rushing back from America - and he and his ministers have immediately laid the blame at Mr Arafat's door.

Inside the snooker hall

They argue that Hamas, the militant group which claimed responsibility for the snooker hall bombing, does not operate without official sanction. The Palestinian leadership has denied this - and condemned the latest attacks, but Mr Arafat knows that this will convince no one on the Israeli side. Hence his new, stronger language today: but can the Palestinian security forces really do what he's promised?

On today's World At One we hear the latest.

Party donations

The Labour Party has once again been caught on a party donation hook. It's emerged that the businessman Paul Drayson, whose firm won the multi-million pound contract to supply smallpox vaccine to the Government, gave a further gift of £50,000 to Labour while negotiations were underway.

There has already been one flurry of controversy over the award of the contract to Powderject, when Dr Drayson's earlier £50,000 donation was revealed.

Now the Electoral Commission has confirmed the second payment - and that it was made just weeks before the Department of Health chose his firm to fulfil the smallpox contract, leaving Powderject's competitors to complain that they'd never been given a proper chance to tender. Labour's general secretary David Triesman told the programme there was no connection between the donation and the awarding of the contract.

To hear both interviews with Nick Clarke click on the audio links above.