As a first step towards the ambitious goal, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) has announced its decision to sponsor a nanosat constellation trailblazer mission, a flight of three 40-pound microsatellites, in 2003. Standard current satellites weigh a ton or more, small satellites between 200 pounds and a ton, microsatellites between 20 and 200 pounds, nanosatellites 2 to 20 pounds and picosatellites less than 2 pounds, the report said.

Hot hot curry
LONDON: The curry craze seems to be hotting up among Britons, with hundreds of Indian restaurants here celebrating a National Curry Day on Tuesday in honour of the spicy Indian dish. Hundreds of Indian restaurants in Britain celebrated curry day offering gourmet delights from the subcontinent, which included the world's biggest nans, chapatis, bhajis and samosas. The function is aimed at raising funds for the needy families in the subcontinent.

Picasso work sold
NEW YORK: Pablo Picasso's portrait of his mistress Marie-Therese Walter, `Nude on a black armchair', was sold for over $ 45 million on Tuesday at a Christie's auction. The Catalan master's 1932 canvas painted at his home in Boisgeloup, Normandy, fetched 45,102,500 dollars in a telephone bid.

Considered by Picasso expert Robert Rosenblum as "one of the highpoints of surrealist poetry", the painting was part of a collection owned by the late Madeleine Haas Russel, great-niece and heir of Levi Strauss.

Sweeper's show
LONDON: Road sweeper Rudolph Mendoza's dream came true when an exhibition of his sculptures opened at a local gallery here. The break came when Mendoza fell into conversation with a shopkeeper while sweeping the streets with one of his own hand-carved brooms. He was then asked to exhibit one of his works at a local gallery. His work, a wooded mask, was promptly sold for 500 pounds.