THE two men accused of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing on Wednesday failed in their effort to persuade judges that a newspaper article was in danger of prejudicing their forthcoming trial. Lawyers acting for Abdel Basset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah had argued that a front page story in the Sunday Times a month ago was in contempt of court. The article claimed that the two Libyans, who are awaiting trial in the Netherlands, had planted the bomb on Pan Am flight 103 on the instructions of the Libyan leader Colonel Gadafy, who wanted revenge for an American air raid on Tripoli two years earlier. Counsel for the Libyan suspects had asked the judges to issue an order preventing publication of future stories which may be in danger of affecting the fairness of their trial, but the chief justice, Lord Cullen, declined to issue the blanket ban. In recognition of the media interest which will surround the trial not just in Scotland but worldwide, Lord Cullen said contempt rulings on any future publication would depend on the content and circumstances of the story.