London, Jan 7 : Racy snowboards featuring giant pictures of naked women have created uproar - and initiated a debate on freedom of speech and sexism in Vermont, America's main skiing state on the East Coast.

The city leaders in Burlington, where the boards are manufactured, have asked to stop making the range, whose images are taken from 1970s Playboy magazines.

Parents, politicians and even the state''s Girl Scouts are protesting against the racy snowboards, reports the Telegraph.

However, there supporters insist that the right of people not to be offended out on the slopes is less important than the constitutional right to free expression.

London, Jan 7 : Former James Bond Sir Sean Connery believes that the language barrier between him and his wife has kept their marriage alive for 32 years.

The 78-year-old star has been married to Micheline for 32 years but says he can''t understand her native tongue French.

"She may be half my size, but she''s got a few snappy comebacks!" the Daily Express quoted him as saying.

" We''re total opposites - that''s what kept us together all these years.

Jakarta - An Indonesian court on Wednesday jailed two lawmakers for their

Stockholm - Sweden is to earmark 1.1 billion kronor (139 million dollars) for bilateral aid to climate change programmes in "high risk" countries over the coming three years, the government said Wednesday.

International Development Cooperation Minister Gunilla Carlsson said the programmes would target countries "at high risk in combination with high vulnerability."

These included Bolivia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Burkina Faso, and Mali as well as regions in Africa and Asia, Carlsson said in an article in Stockholm daily Dagens Nyheter.

Milan, Italy - Heavy snowfalls and rainstorms in northern Italy on Wednesday disrupted air and road transport and delayed the opening of many schools after the Christmas holiday break.

All flight activity at Milan's two airports, Malpensa and Linate, was canceled until 1400 GMT due to weather conditions which have also prevented ground staff from arriving to work, officials said.

Several stretches of the highway network connecting Milan and other major northern cities such as Turin and Genova were closed after the icy conditions were deemed dangerous for motorists.

Lahore, Jan 7 : Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik has said that he is ready to take the national team to the top of the cricket rankings after his tenure as skipper was renewed for an indefinite period.

The Pakistan Cricket Board last week opted to keep 26-year-old Malik on as captain for the foreseeable future, with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt saying there was "no reason to replace him" when his tenure expired on December 31.

The News quoted Malik as saying that the move had motivated him to take Pakistan to new heights.