'Next cloned baby due in Japan'

A religious sect associated with the company claiming to have produced the first human clone says the next clone will be Japanese, and is due to be born soon.

A spokeswoman for the Japan Raelian Movement, says the baby is a clone of a two-year-old boy who died in an accident 18 months ago.

She added the boy, whose parents are Japanese, is expected to be born in an undisclosed location outside Japan, as early as Monday.

The spokeswoman refused to confirm Japanese press reports that the boy's parents paid Clonaid £130,000 (€196,000) to make the DNA copy of their son last year. It was not clear if they were members of the Raelian group.