The post-mortem revealed that the thymus, spleen and lymphatic glands were not normally developed. The calf had been cloned from a single cell in the same way as the celebrated Scottish sheep dolly. Cells are ``starved'' for this purpose, losing their specific properties and reverting to their original condition.

Scientists now surmise that during this artificial process errors occur which disturb the normal development of the lymphatic system. There has already been a high percentage of miscarriages among animals cloned in this way they either miscarried or died shortly after birth, the scientistswrote. The proportion ranged from 40 to 74 per cent.

LONDON: NATO is moving away from plans for an oil blockade against Yugoslavia backed by the threat of force and will press instead for a voluntary agreement to halt fuel supplies, The Financial Times reported on Monday. The newspaper, quoting unidentified senior diplomats, said countries refusing to agree to stop oil deliveries and submit their ships to NATO searches might be subject to "naming and shaming" and multiple diplomatic protests. NATO was now likely to use the European Union oil embargo against Yugoslavia, agreed last month, as a model for the new policy, The Financial Times said.

"It will be an efficient regime. But, at the end of the day, this regime as it is now conceived...is not coercive." One diplomat was quoted as saying.

ISLAMABAD: The jailed husband of Benazir Bhutto today appealed to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to overturn his conviction on corruption charges. Bhutto, who is not in Pakistan, has also been convictedof corruption. She too will appeal to the Supreme Court say her lawyers. The deadline to file her appeal is May 17. Both Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, were sentenced last month to five years in jail, fined 8.6 million dollars and disqualified from politics. Their property was also ordered confiscated.

The couple deny the charges. They were found guilty of accepting kickbacks from a Swiss company and its subsidiary. The amount of the alleged kickback was not clear.

In his appeal to the Supreme Court Zardari accused the lower court of denying him a proper defence, refusing to hear witnesses and refusing to allow his lawyers to cross examine witnesses.

LONDON: British Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Derek Fatchett died Sunday in London at the age of 53, the Foreign Office announced. The cause of death was not given. Fatchett had held his job since Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour government came to power in May 1997. In particular, he was responsible for theMiddle East, Iran and Asian affairs. Foreign Secretary Robin Cook deplored Fatchett's "tragic and early death", adding that "he was not just a colleague but a close friend."