Russia has done its best to conceal its activities from the world by trying to bar journalists and international aid agencies from access to the bombardment zones.But it is clear that Moscow is in breach of its commitments to human rights, as a new member of the Council of Europe. In the last few days, Russia has been bombarding the village of Samashki, where its troops conducted a massacre last year, and where thousands of residents are now said to be in hiding. Other settlements - Orekhovo and Stary Achkhoi, for example - have also been under fire.So what is Russia up to? Crucial is the presidential election, now only three months away. President Yeltsin has committed himself to ending the war before polling day. He fears he may lose if he fails to do so, although he is now reducing some of the large lead enjoyed in the polls by the Communist frontrunner, Gennady Zyuganov.The president claims to have worked out a peace plan with his Security Council, but is keeping it under wraps until this month's end. They wept as they spent more than an hour imploring him not to act. It was only after an official from the Moscow-backed regional government intervened with General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, Russia's military commander in the republic, that Katyr-Yurt secured a reprieve, albeit perhaps temporary.This, then, is how Russia is conducting its business in Chechnya.

He had an ultimatum: the village had a day to hand over 100 weapons and 10 prisoners of war or he would bombard the place, which was surrounded by his tanks. It was as simple and as brutal as that. "How would you feel in my place?" asked Ali Bashayev, the mayor, as he sat with a group of worried residents in a friend's home, "We can't sleep either night or day, because every minute we expect them to open fire." As he spoke, the windows rattled with the tremors of a nearby bombing as the Russians embarked on yet another attempt to force a Chechen community to bend to their will.Terrified that they would share the fate of others shelled by the Russians, the village sent a group of 100 locals, mostly women, to reason with the general. Not long ago a Russian general from the 58th Army, an angry-looking character, arrived in the fields on the outskirts and demanded to see the elders. Here's how they tell the story in Katyr-Yurt, a farming village on the plains of Chechnya.

One "Belgian" character said: "If you want to go to the European country which attracts the most foreign investments, you have to go to Great Britain."But the figures cited by Central Office, from the OECD, showed that Belgium, a country with a much smaller population than Britain, attracts almost as much foreign investment. The UK, with a population of 58 million, attracted $11.05bn (pounds 7bn) in 1994, while the Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union, with a population of 10.5 million, took $8.9bn.Per person, Belgium-Luxembourg attracted more than four times as much inward investment as Britain.. A party official said: "8.6 per cent is the lowest rate [for larger countries] Britain has that rate So does Germany. I think that statement stands up." But Andrew Smith, Labour's Treasury spokesman, said: "The Tories are peddling deception to try to support their false claims about the economy."The 8.6 per cent figure is the most recent International Labour Organisation measure for December 1995.Another claim in the broadcast, which featured actors playing foreigners shaking their heads over Britain's success, proved controversial.

The Conservatives were forced onto the defensive last night over a claim in their party political broadcast that Britain has the "lowest unemployment rate of any major European country". Figures produced by Tory Central Office appeared not to support the claim, showing that unemployment, at 8.6 per cent, is the same in Germany. They could follow vocational courses which might motivate them more effectively than academic study in which they were likely to fail.t Funding cuts have left universities with a stark choice between cutting student numbers or putting the quality of their courses at risk, the Higher Education Quality Council, set up to monitor standards, argues in a new report.. Instead, it said, qualifications such as the existing General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) should be given parity of esteem with the academic exams. Both should lead to the Advanced Diploma, which would be equivalent to two A-Levels or one advanced GNVQ, plus the extra "core skills".In addition to its plans for sixth-formers, Labour plans to reform education for 14 to 16- year-olds. Mr Blunkett said yesterday that 1 pupil in 10 left school with no qualifications at all, while in some schools the figure was as high as 30 per cent.These youngsters should be freed from some of the demands of the national curriculum so that they could spend a day or more each week at college, he said. Sixth-formers could spend up to 12 hours extra in lessons each week under a Labour government, while disaffected 14-year-olds could be sent to college to take vocational courses.

Under Labour's plans for 14- to 19-year-olds, published yesterday, both A-Levels and their vocational equivalents would lead to an "Advanced Diploma" qualification. But to gain this certificate, students would be expected to take extra courses in subjects such as information technology, maths and communication skills. David Blunkett, Labour's education spokesman, said that sixth-formers in England had only 18 hours of lessons a week, while their counterparts in France and Germany had 30.The party's paper, Aiming Higher, stops short of proposing the abolition of the A-levels. So they are seeking half a loaf now, hoping to secure the other half, the flour and the whole bakery, when they can."That is the objective of the European Parliament, of the Commission and of a significant number of continental politicians. They want to extend QMV now as part of a long-term ambition of building a federal Europe."But pro-European Edwina Currie, MP for Derbyshire South, said there were some Tories "who aren't nearly as frightened of QMV as the Government appears to be"."One of our fears if the vetoes are retained in the form that they are at the moment is that the enlargement process would bring in a number of small countries, who would also have the veto. Many of us on this side do not wish to be told by small countries new to Europe what to do," Mrs Currie said.The official opposition was kinder to Mr Rifkind, though Robin Cook, probably did not help the Foreign Secretary's standing with the sceptics by reminding them that, as backbencher, Mr Rifkind had told the Commons he believed a united states of Europe might be "a good thing".The Conservatives were "gearing up to fight the next election on the slogan of `Bring back King Canute'," the Labour spokesman said..