Despite not finishing the event due to mechanical problems, Juan Pablo Montoya was very happy with the outcome of the Formula Smiles / Easykart Cartagena race. The event was a total success and Cartagena city was a complete party under the event. Drivers from F1, IRL, CART, F3000 & Karting celebrated under a street circuit. Brazilians Sperefico, Giaffone & Pizzonia finished 1, 2 & 3 respectively.

On October 11th 2003 Her Majesty Queen of Sweden and the Mentor Foundation Board of Trustees with its Chairman Fritz Kaiser, proudly presented the winning projects of Mentor's newly established "Prevention Awards" series at a Gala Evening at the Opera in Zurich, Switzerland. The Mentor Innovation Award honors an innovative and promising project for the prevention of drug misuse by children and young people. The Award contains a prize sum of Euro 100,000 for further project support and 1 year's mentoring support by a Mentor Foundation Ambassador.
Goals for a Better Life. The Colombianitos Soccer Club, Goals for a Better Life, aims to reduce drug addiction and crime and to promote education through participation in a community based youth soccer program. Soccer's popularity is tapped to encourage young people to leave the street life behind and to succeed in the classroom. Every participating youth must be enrolled and attending school. Three times a week each child has a soccer training session with professional coaches at the soccer field. Competitions among teams are held for prizes, and community and recreation events are organized on a regular basis. Kit and equipment is provided, giving each player a sense of identity as part of a team. The coaches provide the players with a strong role-model, and the game provides them with new ambition and alternatives to life on the streets. Having obtained access into an area which was hostile towards outside intervention, Colombianitos now uses its acceptance and facilities to allow other health services to provide basic care and education to the community.
Visit Colombianitos website by clicking here www.colombianitos.org.

The worlds first cloned endangered African wildcat has been born in New Orleans, Louisiana. The cat was born as a result of groundbreaking research conducted at Audubon Nature Institutes Research Center by scientists from Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species and Louisiana State University. One of the researchers of this milestone is a Colombian: Martha Gomez, DVM, Ph.D.
The cloning project is being conducted at Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species by Dr. C. Earle Pope, Senior Scientist, Audubon Nature Institute and Dr. Martha C Gomez, Assistant Professor of Research, Louisiana State University and Staff Scientist, Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species. The research program is under the direction of Dr. Betsy L. Dresser, Senior Vice President for Research at Audubon Nature Institute and Virginia Kock/ Audubon Nature Institute Endowed Chair in Species Survival and Conservation at the University of New Orleans. To create the cloned embryo, scientists took tissue samples from the male African wildcat, Jazz. These cells were grown in tissue culture to provide a supply of thousands of cells, each with the wildcats DNA. The cells were frozen in the Frozen Zoo. Then, DNA was removed from an egg of a domestic cat. Frozen-thawed cells from Jazz were inserted into the domestic cat egg cells. The egg was exposed to an electric current, causing the new DNA to fuse with the egg, which divided to become an embryo. The embryo was then implanted into the uterus of a domestic cat surrogate, who went on to have a normal pregnancy before giving birth to the cloned kitten.

SIERRA NEVADA, Spain, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Colombia's Felix Cardenas produced a devastating ascent of the 40-km final climb to Sierra Nevada to win the 16th stage of Tour of Spain on Tuesday.
The Labarca 2 rider caught lone breakaway Juan Miguel Mercado with 600 metres left of the 162-km stage which started in Jaen. Mercado held on to second place and fellow Spaniard Oscar Sevilla finished third.
"I had been looking for a win all the way through the mountain stages," said Cardenas. "I'm now delighted with this victory as it is very important for my career and for the team.
"I had told my team mates I would attack two kilometres from the summit and that's exactly what I did," added Cardenas, who was contracted by Labarca 2 especially for the Tour of Spain.

When Mary Roldan was working on her Ph.D. degree at Harvard University she decided that the topic of her doctorate dissertation would be the Genesis and Evolution of Violence in Antioquia 1900-1954. In order to develop her research she had to stay for long periods of time in Colombia, her parents' home country, collecting data. This effort was worth it because Mary's research was awarded by Harvard University as the best dissertation. Her research in this dissertation became the basis for a new book. Mary has just been awarded with another award given by the Fundacin Alejandro Angel Escobar in the Social and Humane Sciences category. Mary Roldan, Associate Professor (Ph. D., Harvard University, 1992) joined the Department of History at Cornell in 1991. She teaches courses in modern Latin American history. She is completing a book entitled, "Hegemony and Violence: Class, Culture and Politics in Twentieth Century Antioquia."

Colombian mezzosoprano Marta Senn joined her voice to the sounds of humpback whales' singing in the Pacific ocean in an unprecendented recitel at the Catedral de Sal in Zipaquir, Colombia. The recital title is Pacificanto, an experimental cantata whose goal is to combine sciene, technology, and art to send a message of harmony to the world. Today, scientists know more than ever about the song of the humpback. They know, for instance, that while both male and female humpbacks can produce sounds, only the males appear to produce organized songs with distinct themes and melodies, almost always on breeding grounds. As NATURE's HUMPBACK WHALES shows, the males often sing while suspended deep below the surface, their long front flippers jutting rigidly from their sides. The songs can last up to 20 minutes, and can be heard more than 20 miles away. The sound traveled from the deep sea to the surface of our land. The concert included the humpback songs transmitted via satellite live to famous Salt Cathedral of Zipaquir, close to Bogot, Colombia. This sound served as part of the background for Marta Senn's voice. Proceedings from this concert were dedicated to foundations for refugee children.

September 22, 2003 ZIPAQUIRA, Colombia (AP) -- Deep inside an Andean mountain, humans connect with the divine in an underground world of salt and temples. The Zipaquira Salt Cathedral is built into the walls of a salt mine nearly 600 feet into a mountain in this central Colombian town of 120,000 people. Winding tunnels descend into the Roman Catholic temple, passing 14 small chapels representing the stations of the cross, which illustrate the events of Jesus' last journey. Soft lights outline the chapels, carved with simple yet powerful strokes. Benches at each station appear to be marble but are really salt. Tourists and the devout kneel on the benches, breathing in a soft smell of sulfur as they pray. Moist bits of salt flutter like snowflakes in the distance of the tunnels, while stalactites of the mineral poke out of the white and gray walls. Walking in the semidarkness of the tunnels, where tons of salt have been extracted over the centuries, visitors reach a startling sight -- an underground dome with an intense blue aura. "This is where man meets God," says Stella Higuera, a guide at the cathedral, which has been open eight years. It's illuminated by a majestic cross nearly 53 feet high and 33 feet wide. Confessionals are built into the salt rock, but they are not in use -- the good acoustics of the space make privacy impossible, the guide says.

John Leguizamo back home in Colombia

Hollywood actor John Leguizamo was, for a few hours, in Bogot with his wife Justine and his children Allegra and Lucas. He went to famous nightclub Andrs Carne de Res. Leguizamo danced and enjoyed the party like in the old days. He was condecorated and recognized by the nightclub. Just the day before his visit to Colombia, John Leguizamo had finished shooting in Ecuador for his latest movie. He told the press he was proud of his origin.

Political Cartoons and the War on Terrorism: The Case of Colombia is the topic of Vladdo's lecture. Vladdo (aka Vladimir Florez) was born in 1963 in Armenia, a small town in Western Colombia. He has been a graphic designer and cartoonist since 1986. The author of six books, Vladdo has won the National Journalism Award in Colombia three times, and in 2002 he received the Award of Journalism, given by the Inter American Press Association. Vladdo divides his time between Bogota and Miami, where he is the Creative Director of the Zoom Media Group. His political cartoons are published in Semana, the most important weekly newsmagazine of Colombia.

WASHINGTON -- Biologist Cristian Samper will become director of the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution announced Wednesday. Samper will take over one of the world's most visited museums on March 31. A native of Costa Rica, the 37-year-old Samper has been head of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama since 2001. Samper holds dual citizenship in the United States and Colombia, where he was raised. He is a graduate of University of the Andes in Bogota, Colombia and Harvard University and is known for his work on the ecology of the Andean cloud forests. He takes over a museum with a staff of more than 300 and a $61 million annual budget. It was visited by more than 6 million people last year.

Cristin Samper is a distinguished teacher and research biologist who trained at both the Universidad de Los Andes and Harvard University. His professional interests include work on ecology and conservation of montane forest ecosystems and plant population biology. He has served as Director of the Environment Division of the Fundacin para la Educacin Superior (1992-1995), advisor to the Minister of the Environment of Colombia (1995), and Director General of the Alexander von Humbolt National Biodiversity Institute of Colombia (1995-present). He is Adjunct Professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the Pontificia Universidad Javeriuna, and received the Derek Bok distinction for excellence in teaching from Harvard University. Dr Samper has served as head of delegation for Colombia to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, and is currently Chairman of its Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA).

"Angel that radiates tenderness" was the title of the story with which 9 year-old Jess David Mndez won the state contest of story tellers that was organized by the Secretary of Social Development of Santander, Colombia. It is a double accomplishment for this handicapped boy who was born with no arms and legs to a poor country family of Guasca, a little town in the Colombian state of Santander. In his story, Jess David honors his parents and himself. It is a story written with a lot of love, tenderness, in a sea of "suffering and sacrifying", as explained his mother Miriam Sequeda.

The talent of Santiago Can, six year-old boy from Colombia, allowed him perform in a solo of cello with the Philarmonic Orchestra of Bogot in a concert of Vivaldi.

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