British school teachers are advocating for education reforms, including a return to an early 1980s style of teaching, characterized by a strong liberal education. In essence, teachers are calling for more hours for play and less rigid methods in teaching young Britons how to read. Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, told Guardian Unlimited, "Teachers want a return to a system which is liberal and flexible and not top-down and imposed by government. We want a return to a time when there was a potential for magic moments in the classroom. "

ilipino inventor Virgilio Malang invented a vitamin-enriched beer that has garnered awards and recognition worldwide even before it is commercially marketed. Malang's Vitamin Beer, fortified with Vitamin B Complex, became widely popular at the First International Inventors' Day Convention held recently in Bangkok, Thailand. It also won a gold medal at the European Union-sponsored Genius-Europe competition at the Budapest Fair Center in Hungary and it also won the Romanian Ministry Education and Research Cup few years ago.

Saying it could be offensive to Muslims, a government organization rejected a digital video based on the Three Little Pigs. The video, entitled 'The Three Little Cowboy Builders', was criticized by the education technology agency, Becta, saying "the use of pigs raises cultural issues".

orld-popular cartoon characters The Smurfs are now 50 years old and Belgians have prepared a big birthday bash starting early this week. The celebration will cover key European cities including Paris and Berlin. The Smurfs, the diminutive blue-colored forest dwellers, were created by late Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford, fondly called 'Peyo,' through a comic strip in the late 1950s-back then, they were still called Schtroumpf. In the early 1980s, Smurfs debuted on US television and became hugely popular worldwide since then.

No less than Pope Benedict XVI admitted that soccer (football) plays an important role in teaching young people the important lessons of life. The Pope said the game could teach youngsters about honesty, solidarity and fraternity, as these are important factors in any football team.