Mrs Rowland, however, continued her court action over the value of the collection of 20 emeralds, seven rubies and four tanzanite stones.Mr Fayed had said the stones were worth only about half the claimed sum. He and his three associates have also consistently denied they were responsible for the break-in.Mr Moger told the court that because of Mr Fayed's capitulation Mrs Rowland would receive a further £1,402,220 for the stones. Included in that sum was interest and her estimated legal costs of £100,000, which Mr Fayed had agreed to pay "The result is that ... together with the general and special damages the claimant has made a total recovery in excess of £1.65m in respect of the defendant's unlawful conduct."Mr Moger told the court that Mr Fayed had "flatly denied" he was involved at first, but by submitting to judgment in the previous hearing he had admitted he was responsible for the three break-ins, which date back to December 1995. Mr Moger claimed Mr Fayed gave the instructions to break into the box to try to find information he could use against Mr Rowland's interests.Christopher Carr QC, representing Mr Fayed, said that although his client had agreed to pay the compensation, the defendants had done so "expressly on the basis that they had no personal responsibility for taking or stealing the stones". He said they did accept responsibility for the opening of the box and the loss of the various items.. Three of Scotland's most senior judges were ordered to stand down from an appeal hearing yesterday after one of them wrote a newspaper article criticising the country's newly enacted human rights legislation.

Three of Scotland's most senior judges were ordered to stand down from an appeal hearing yesterday after one of them wrote a newspaper article criticising the country's newly enacted human rights legislation. The appeal by four foreign drug smugglers will now have to begin again, adding £250,000 to the Scottish taxpayers' costs.Lawyers for the appellants argued before the Scottish Supreme Court in Edinburgh that Lord McCluskey's comments meant the tribunal was no longer impartial. Three new judges will have to be appointed to replace Lord McCluskey as well as Lord Kirkwood and Lord Hamilton, who, the lawyers argued, have been tainted by association.The four Dutch nationals are serving prison sentences totalling 48 years for their part in a £10m cannabis-smuggling racket. The men were jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh in1997.Their appeal is being heard in sections. The first part went before the old tribunal in January and the second was due to be heard earlier this week with another five days of court time set aside for the case.But the drug dealers' lawyers challenged the presence of Lord McCluskey as the chairman of the bench, arguing that his views on the European Convention on Human Rights expressed in Scotland on Sunday in February meant he could not be impartial in their case.Part of the Dutchmen's appeal relied on the convention, which was introduced in Scotland last May under the Human Rights Act.The three members of the Supreme Court panel - the Lord Justice-General of Scotland, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Sutherland and Lady Cosgrove - said that they would uphold the challenge brought against the original appeal bench. Lord Rodger, Scotland's senior judge, said: "In light of the submissions made today we are satisfied that future stages of this appeal should be heard by a differently constituted bench."We are also satisfied that the decision of January 28 must be set aside and a fresh hearing held to consider the grounds of appeal dealt with in that decision."The decision means the earlier phase of the legal challenge, which took up 10 days of the Court of Criminal Appeal's time and resulted in a 79-page judgment rejecting some of the grounds of appeal, will not stand.The legal challenge follows Lord McCluskey's attack on the convention, which has already had a significant impact on the Scottish legal system, including a ruling outlawing temporary sheriffs.In the article, Lord McCluskey said he had not changed his views since a Reith lecture he delivered in 1986 on Canada's bill of rights, which is modelled on the convention. He said: "I warned [that] the Canadian Charter would provide a field day for crackpots, a pain in the neck for judges and a gold mine for lawyers."He also said that if you canvassed opinion on the convention since it was introduced to the Scotland in May last year you could expect "a somewhat jaundiced reply."So far, it is not clear that anyone has benefited from the cases, other, one has to say, than the lawyers and a fair number of persons who have been spared the necessity of appearing in court to answer criminal charges," Lord McCluskey said.. The Lord Chief Justice today reversed a ruling which gave hundreds of cash-strapped pupil barristers the right to be paid the national minimum wage by the chambers which train them.

The Lord Chief Justice today reversed a ruling which gave hundreds of cash-strapped pupil barristers the right to be paid the national minimum wage by the chambers which train them. Lord Bingham, sitting in the Court of Appeal with two appeal judges, said today in a judgment that a pupil barrister was not "a worker" under the terms of the National Minimum Wage Act.A High Court judge had ruled in September last year that the pupils, many of whom receive little or nothing from their chambers and have to rely on parental support or earnings from part-time employment, are "working under contracts of apprenticeship" within the Act.Mr Justice Sullivan allowed a claim by pupil Rebecca Edmonds, 31, of Byrne Road, Balham, south London, in a "friendly" test case against her head of chambers, Michael Lawson QC.Mr Lawson's chambers, based in Essex Street, central London, opposed the claim, which only affects pupils over the age of 26, and was granted leave to take the case to the Court of Appeal.Miss Edmonds was selected by the legal profession to bring the case - backed by the Bar Council - over the status of pupils, who must spend 12 months with a practice of barristers before they are fully eligible to enter the profession.The Bar Council wanted to know whether chambers were legally obliged to pay pupils over 26 a wage at or above the national minimum, now standing at £3.70 an hour.Pupils under that age are excluded from the Act by provisions relating to young apprentices.The council recommended a payment of £6,000 a year, but there was no obligation and 43% of pupils were either unfunded or paid below that level.Lord Bingham said Miss Edmonds, an Oxford English graduate, began working in Information Technology, but transferred to the law, passing examinations at the University of Westminster and the Inns of Court School of Law.After deciding to specialise in the criminal law, Miss Edmonds was offered an unfunded pupillage at the Essex Street chambers.Lord Bingham said: "While chambers undertake to provide a closely prescribed curriculum of education and training, the pupil no longer pays any fee and does not in our view undertake to do anything beyond that which is conducive to his or her education and training."If a pupil carries out work such as making factual summaries, legal research or taking a note in court, they are learning and applying professional skills under the tutelage of a pupil master."If the pupil produces any work of real value, whether to the pupil master or any other member of the bar, the beneficiary is under a professional duty to remunerate the pupil," said Lord Bingham.But there was no obligation or duty on the pupil to do anything for the pupil master which was not conducive to his or her own professional development.This did not amount to a contract of apprenticeship, said Lord Bingham.Permission to take the case to the House of Lords was refused.. Belfast shipbuilder Harland & Wolff was left dangerously close to going under early today after failing to win a £400 million order to build the world's largest ever cruise liner. Belfast shipbuilder Harland & Wolff was left dangerously close to going under early today after failing to win a £400 million order to build the world's largest ever cruise liner. The contract is set to go to a French company which signed a letter of intent with the American owner Cunard.It is a devastating blow to Harland's and the firm's 1,745 workforce which is now on 90-day protective notice because of an empty order book. Work is due to run out in June.A spokesman said today: "We are obviously disappointed and we now have to consider the implications of this decision, but the battle on the part of the company to bring future work and guarantee the company's future is far from over."Provided the final construction contract is agreed in three months time, the Queen Mary II liner will be built by Chantiers de L'Atlantique.The British Government had earlier agreed to offer loan guarantees and intervention aid to help secure the contract for Northern Ireland. The Belfast yard had tendered competitively to build the vessel with guarantees to meet the delivery date by 2003.But the Harland spokesman admitted: "The overall financial package which the Government was able to offer was too little, too late.

It clearly wasn't enough to satisfy Cunard.Closure of the shipyard will have an enormous impact right across the Northern Ireland economy, and Downing Street will face massive political pressure to try and make sure the yard stays afloat.But management which was involved in negotiations with senior executives of the Miami-based Cunard until late last night may now have to seriously consider the worst if the work dries up completely.Harland has bid for a number of contracts with the Ministry of Defence and the offshore sector, but there is little likelihood of any deals being signed, sealed and delivered by the time the company can start issuing redundancy notices on June 7.The company has not given up hope however, according to a spokesman. He said: "There are other opportunities which will be pursued aggressively."Apart from the financial package which was on offer, Cunard was also clearly nervous of possible union disruption in Belfast.Yesterday at a mass meeting, most of the workers agreed to accept a management call for a three-year dispute free agreement to prevent industrial action during construction work on the liner.At the same time the Government confirmed a positive response in terms of financial support.The Department of Trade came in first to announce that, understanding the importance of securing the order, it had offered a funding package including an offer, in principle, to provide the loan finance necessary for the yard to compete. It would effectively mean guaranteeing a loan of 80% of the cost of the contract.But the deal was not good enough to persuade the Americans to have the liner constructed at one of the UK's most famous yards and where the Titanic was built.East Belfast MP Peter Robinson, who is expected to have urgent talks with the firm's management later today, said he was shattered by the announcement which shocked his constituency which includes the vast Queens Island Yard with its two towering cranes dominating part of the city's skyline..He told PA News: "I am gutted. Its a devastating blow for the thousands of people who depend on Harland and Wolff for their livelihoods."It is obviously the best and most important opportunity for the long-term future of the yard and there will be some people who'll tell me of my refusal to face up to reality. But I'm not prepared to give up."There are other possibilities, though maybe less obvious, which require government movement to bring forward MoD contracts to assist."It is believed that the bid from the French company could have been as much as £90 million lower than that put forward by the Belfast yard.Union leaders expressed shock at the decision and said they would do all they could over the next few days to try to save the yard.Roger Lyons, general secretary of the MSF union, which represents many workers at the shipyard, said the fight to win the Queen Mary contract was not over."The last word hasn't been heard yet. We are going to continue lobbying for as long as it takes," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme."This plant is at the heart of the Northern Ireland economy - it's not a fluffy dot-com company, it's probably 2,000 direct jobs and another 2,000 indirect - and it needs the full backing of Government."We want to at least match the French offer and we hope there will be a meeting with the president of Cunard next week."Sir Ken Jackson, general secretary of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union, said the Cunard order was an "essential lifeline" for the Belfast yard.But he added: "I am not without some hope for the future and I cannot believe there is not a way of producing some work to ensure that so many skilled jobs are maintained."We need to discuss with the Government what measures it can take and this must be done quickly."Roger Lyons, general secretary of the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union which represents hundreds of white collar workers at the yard, described the lost order as a "devastating blow" to Ulster's economy."I will be seeking an urgent meeting with the company and with Government ministers to try to rescue this great yard."We will not give up hope that new work can be won.".

Rival loyalist and nationalist parades scheduled to take place next week in Lurgan, Co Armagh were tonight rerouted by the Parades Commission. Rival loyalist and nationalist parades scheduled to take place next week in Lurgan, Co Armagh were tonight rerouted by the Parades Commission. The commission said it was not allowing the parades to follow their planned town centre routes because of "the prospect of serious disorder in sensitive areas".Members of the loyalist Apprentice Boys will not be allowed to follow their chosen route on St Patrick's Day and the Lurgan Martyrs Flute Band is being rerouted two days later.. Beside the "gun-dog binoculars" stall, a tiny Yorkshire terrier, its head festooned in paper curlers, is carried in triumph by a huge truck driver in a lumberjack shirt. Beside the "gun-dog binoculars" stall, a tiny Yorkshire terrier, its head festooned in paper curlers, is carried in triumph by a huge truck driver in a lumberjack shirt. The dog, like all miniature dogs at Cruft's, looks faintly indignant and holds up its bonsai paws with a gesture of 18th-century - La, my lord - protest To no avail. Soon, it will suffer the shame of being led around a green carpet by its alarming owner, examined by a headmistressy dame the dead spit of Susan Kramer, the Liberal Democrat candidate for London mayor, (but then all dog judges resemble Susan Kramer) and forced to trit-trot about in a way that is expressive of perky intelligence.