Gallic Guys Boast About Bedroom Skills • Skier Lindsay Vonn Injures Shin

• According to a survey, 40 percent of French men think they’re the best lovers in Europe. French women claim Italians are the most attentive lovers. •

• This week Marjan Kalhor will become the first Iranian woman to compete in the Winter Olympics. Kalhor heads a four-member team (the other three athletes are men) and will compete in the Alpine slalom and the giant slalom. Kalhor has long dreamed of being in the Olympics, and she is honored to be the first woman allowed to compete. “Skiing is a sport where you have to be fully dressed. So there is no problem with clothes. I shall observe the Islamic dress code,” said Kalhor in a recent interview. • Yesterday we learned that you can die of a broken heart; today the new thing in death-news is being (almost literally) bored to death. But apparently it isn’t the boredom that does it – it’s all the fun things you do to try and stave away the flat, nothingness of existence (like drinking!) • A teenager from the UK is suffering from a strange sleeping condition, known as Kleine-Levin Syndrome, that allows her to sleep for up to two weeks at a time. This has naturally earned Louisa Ball the nickname “Sleeping Beauty.” Fortunately, the condition generally fades after entering adulthood. • The ex-wife of Nancy Kerrigan‘s brother Mark told the Today show this morning that he was a “very angry man” who is prone to violence. Mark Kerrigan could possibly face charges stemming from the death of his father last month, which has been ruled a homicide. • Sad news: the World Wildlife Fund warns that tigers could become extinct in less than a generation. They have launched a campaign to save tigers from poaching and other dangers. There are only an estimated 100,000 tigers still living in the wild, the WWF said. • Skier Lindsey Vonn says she is coming to the Olympics “a lot more unsure than I was a few weeks ago,” thanks to an injury on her right shin. Vonn may skip some training sessions, but she says she is still planning to compete. “I can guarantee you that I’m going to do everything I can to be as ready as I can with this injury and still try to ski well,” she assured fans. • The Daily Mail features a story today about a poor dog who can only eat potatoes and porridge due to his extreme allergies. Joey is allergic to everything, including cats and meat. • Courts ruled on Wednesday that a 7-year-old girl should be allowed to play the role of the Carnival drum corps queen in Brazil. The state agency for child protection says they plan to appeal the ruling on the grounds that the role of the queen is highly sexualized and usually reserved for a much older woman. “The decision sets a negative precedent that will have implications across Brazil,” said the director of the state Council for the Defense of Children. • Two Indiana state lawmakers are hosting a baby shower for pregnant inmates at an Indianapolis women’s prison. The lawmakers have been collecting gifts for women involved in the Wee Ones Nursery program at the prison, which allows them to live on a separate unit with their infants. • A North Carolina Court has issued a temporary stay order after Andrew Young refused to go along with a judge’s demand that an officer go with him to pick up the tape from a safe deposit box in Atlanta. Young is still ordered to turn over the sex tape, which supposedly shows John Edwards engaging in sex acts with his mistress and was taken from the garage of Rielle Hunter. • For the past six years, an all-female team has been working to revolutionize the production of Ford cars with sustainable materials. Team-leader Debbie Mielewski did not intend to create an all-woman team, but she finds the dynamic more conducive to the type of work they are doing: “The people who work with me are brilliant, and I would be foolish not to take their input and work collectively.” • Laura Silsby, mastermind of the attempt to take children out of Haiti that landed her and nine other missionaries in jail, allegedly failed to pay several employees and a web design company back in Idaho. She also promised an Idaho couple that she was flying to Haiti to “pick up” children for them, even after they asked her not to. • A Wyoming man who broke into a woman’s apartment and raped her has pleaded not guilty, saying he was just responding to a “rape fantasy” Craigslist ad that turned out to be posted by her husband. • Researchers have found that mothers who are diagnosed with anemia during pregnancy are more likely to give birth to schizophrenic children. They believe the lack of iron may hinder the development of the child’s brain, and heighten their vulnerability to certain disorders. •