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The excitement aroused by the World Cup soccer tournament in Germany in 2006 may have increased that country's birthrate as much as 15 percent nine months later. But the intensely emotional matches have now also been correlated with a spike in the number of cardiac emergencies.

A study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine examined the number of cardiac emergencies in the greater Munich area in the summer of 2006. It compared that number with the numbers in similar periods in 2003 and 2005, and for several weeks before and after the 2006 World Cup.

On days when the German team played, the incidence of cardiac emergencies was 2.66 times higher than during the comparison periods. For men, the incidence was 3.26 times higher; for women, it was 1.82 times higher. People with a history of heart disease were particularly affected.

The study's authors say emotional stress was the main trigger, but they add that sleep deprivation, excessive consumption of junk food and alcohol, and smoking might also be contributing factors. They suggest that spectators with heart problems should take preventive measures, such as consulting their doctors about increased medication dosages during intense sports events.

So should Americans be worried about this weekend's Super Bowl? Study author Gerhard Steinbeck says:

It's reasonable to think that something quite similar might happen.

Though if the Vegas odds-makers have it right, the greater danger on Sunday may turn out to be irate New York Giants fans.

Remember when French soccer star Zinedine Zidane shoved his head against Italian half-forward Marco Materazzi at last year's World Cup soccer finals? European and Latin American soccer fans certainly do, but Americans may have missed it.

Not to worry: Alabama state Senators Charles Bishop and Lowell Barron just staged a replay of that fight, and their dust-up was caught on camera. In stereotypical "hawks vs doves" fashion, Republican Bishop hit Democrat Barron in the head before bystanders pulled them apart.

"He called me a son of a b****," explained Jasper when the fistfight was over. "I responded to this comment with my right hand," he added. That follows the Zidane-Materazzi script, wherein Zidane accused Materazzi of provoking him by insulting his sister.

News of the Alabama Senate's fisticuffs has already been joyfully picked up by foreign news outlets. For once, the rest of the world gets a chance to lecture the United States on good democratic practice.

(If you enjoy stories about legislative rumbles as much as we do, check out this Passport post on Taiwan's rowdy parliament.)

French football star Zinedine Zidane has apologized for headbutting Italian player Marco Materazzi during Sunday's World Cup final, an infraction that sent Zidane off the field with a red card just minutes from his retirement. But does he regret it? Nope. Zidane stands by the move because, though he won't reveal exactly what Materazzi said, the Italian apparently insulted Zidane's mother and sister. And for this chivalric explanation, the French love Zidane once again.

Head over to The Register to see the email making the rounds about how the headbutt heard round the world was seen by different nationalities.

When the World Cup kicked off a month ago, there was a ton of controversy about Germany's legalized brothels and whether women had been trafficked into the country to service football fans. FP ran a piece at the time that took you inside a brothel and the scandal. So, we'd be remiss not to fill you in on the final score. 

Turns out that football, beer, and prostitutes don't mix after all. The Daily Telegraph's Berlin correspondent reports that the brothels didn't get anywhere near the business they were expecting. One hooker laments that the "fans were happier to celebrate with beer than sex." But there was one silver lining for these ladies of the night: Italy's progress. Indeed, the World Cup winners were such good customers that the owner of Berlin's biggest brothel even found himself willing the Azzurri on in their semi-final against Germany.

It's a pleasant surprise to find that Germany's brothels didn't get rich off the tournament. But it does make you wonder if they asked Sven-Goran Eriksson for advice on tactics.

Even though Germany has been knocked out of contention for the World Cup finals, much has been made of the way the tournament has let Germans feel comfortable with their patriotism again. As Constanze Stelzenmüller puts it in a piece for the IHT today: "Germans Feeling Good About Themselves and Not Apologizing For It Every Minute is not what we grew up with."

The trend is hardly lost on the people over at Deutsche Welle. For more than three months, the station's Web site has been posting daily additions to a series called, somewhat cryptically, "100 Reasons for Germany." The last, 100th reason will be posted on Sunday, the final day of the World Cup.   

Among the "reasons for Germany" are some obvious ones: Fairy tales, BMW, and Günter Grass. But what's more revealing--and a little hilarious--are the ones where the writers get a little desperate, even defensive. Have a look:

#6 Thoroughness: "Despite what some mean people have to say about them, Germans are actually a fun-loving people. It's just that the German idea of fun verges on the compulsive and does not always coincide with what people from other countries do when they want to kick back and relax."

The hilarity continues after the jump. 

The place to go for happy hour tonight is Berlin. There's going to be quite a party as the Germans celebrate beating Argentina—the favorites to win the World Cup—to progress to the semis. I'll leave the post-match analysis to the experts, but why on earth did the Argentine coach take out his most dangerous player, Riquelme?

But the more FP point I want to make is that Angela Merkel is as much a winner as the German team. Not only is Merkel getting great publicity with every Germany game (the TV cuts to her even more than it does to Posh Spice aka Mrs Beckham during England games), but she is also using the tournament to push through a series of controversial measures. The Times of London had a great article a few days ago about all the bills that Merkel is sneaking through while the public is captivated by the heroics of Ballack, Lehman et al.

These measures aren't small beer. The other day, she got parliament to endorse a 3 percent increase in sales tax. My friend Andrew Curry, who wrote the World Cup brothels piece for us and lives in Germany, tells me that this is the biggest tax increase since 1949. But there was hardly a whimper of public protest as everyone was too busy watching the football.

A survey warned UK businesses that one in seven workers were planning to take sick days to watch the World Cup this month. But around the world the global game is damaging more than just worker productivity.

In China, the matches are typically shown late at night or in early morning hours - perfect times to enjoy the game with a drink. At least three Chinese citizens have died from either drinking or high blood-pressure due to overexcitement while watching games.

Soccer-crazy Thai monks are also struggling to cope with World Cup fever. Many young monks are going hungry because they are staying up too late to recieve early morning alms. In Cambodia, the situation is worse. The government has threatened to defrock over 40,000 monks. "If they make noise or cheer as they watch, they will lose their monkhood," Phnom Penh patriarch Non Nget told Reuters this month.

On Saturday, Ghana defender John Pantsil pulled out a small Israeli flag and waved it around following Ghana's World Cup victory over the Czech Republic. The move sparked furor from some Arab nations and encouraging words from Israeli officials. 

A Ghana Football Association official noted that Pantsil, a member of Israeli soccer team HaPoel Tel Aviv, wanted to thank the Israeli fans who had traveled to Germany to see him play. Others saw the move as a potential political declaration of support for Israel by Ghana.

With the world's eyes focused on Germany, every action by the players is destined for scrutiny. Government officials should remember, however, that these men are athletes, not professional diplomats. In the scheme of things, the move was hardly offsides.

Winners

The ocean: Bush creates the world's largest marine reserve northwest of Hawaii. Baby seals everywhere rejoice.

Karl Rove: Bush's Brain escapes indictment in CIA leak case. As if the Dems could have had a worse week.  

Maoists in Nepal: Parliament is dissolved and rebels are invited to join new government. 

ICC: May issue indictments for Darfur war criminals soon. Someone has to take a stand. 

Losers

TB, malaria, guinea worm: Bill Gates will quit Microsoft in two years to tackle neglected diseases full-time.

Serbia & Montenegro: 6-0 loss to Argentina in today's World Cup match. Ouch.

Fake Show turkeys: The faux bird that accompanied Bush on his first surprise trip to Iraq in 2003 is left home alone. (Yes, the turkey was real. Thanks to everyone who wrote in about that. But no one ate it. It was a decoration.)

Guantanamo: You know things are bad when they kick the journalists out.

Apparently the world has a lot to learn from the World Cup. In a Monday op-ed for the Guardian, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan argued that if the international community was modeled more like the World Cup, we would see progress on many issues that are either stagnant or degenerating.

This is an event in which everybody knows where their team stands, and what it did to get there. They know who scored and how and in what minute of the game; they know who saved the penalty. I wish we had more of that sort of competition in the family of nations. Countries vying for the best standing in the table of respect for human rights, and trying to outdo one another in child survival rates or enrollment in secondary education. States parading their performance for all the world to see. Governments being held accountable.

It's a nice thought, and this piece isn't meant to be much more than that. However, for all of Annan's contrasting parallels, an obvious one is lacking: FIFA's efficiency in executing the World Cup vs. the UN's less than stellar record on many aspects of its mission and a slow process for much-needed internal reforms.

If you haven't been turned off the World Cup by the spanking the Czechs handed out to Team USA, you might want to check out this site from the World Development Movement. It tells you which team to root for in each game. Apparently, today you should be going for the Ukrainians against the Spanish, the Tunisians when they face the Saudis, and the Poles when they take on the hosts.

This site strikes me as slightly flawed—and I’m not just saying that because it calls England the 27th most supportable team in the tournament. I must admit that my loyalties are driven less by ethical considerations than by my gut.

But on the political issue of whether we should cheer for Iran, I come down on the "yes" side. I think whatever benefits the football-supporting Ahmadinejad may hope to derive from victory are far outweighed by the benefits of engagement, showing the Iranians that life doesn't have to be this way.

Winners

 Human intel: Nabbed the most wanted man in Iraq. <!--ro-->

Germany: May not get a huge economic bump from the Cup, but at least they won their first match.

Maliki: Sure, his cabinet is complete and Zarqawi is gone. But will he take the opportunity and run with it?

Diplomacy: Iran is given "weeks, not months" to consider the incentives offered. Still better than the drum beat of war.

Losers

Zarqawi: Whether he was a master terrorist or a marginalized wanna-be, this is his last appearance on the Winners & Losers.

Journalistic restraint: Was the text bubble really necessary?

Civility at the UN: Apparently, one shouldn't cross John Bolton.

China's environment: Government white paper says pollution could cost the country 10 percent of its GDP.

Germany may have had two goals up on Costa Rica today, but the country's economic boost from the World Cup may not be so winning. The German Insitute for Economic Research has warned that the tournament probably won't have "any appreciable economic effect" on the country's macro outlook. Sure, 1 million fans are expected to spend about 1.8 billion euros (or about $2.27 billion) during the tournament, but all those football hooligans have convinced other tourists to avoid Germany like the plague.  

But there may be a silver lining: a Center for American Progress report finds that though economic growth in World Cup years may be slower than expected for most host countries, the two years following the tournament are usually good years for growth. Nine of the last 13 hosts have had bumper years following World Cups.

But let's be honest. The two industries that are seeing a real bump in Germany right now? Television manufacturers and the sex trade.

Germany legalized prostitution in 2002, so there's been widespread speculation that World Cup fans visiting the country will be doing a little scoring of their own, albeit off the pitch. The major concern: Women being trafficked into Germany - many against their will - for that express purpose. Bordellos are also drawing the ire of fans from Muslim countries; one brothel that flew the flag of Saudi Arabia and Iran received bomb threats. So in a ForeignPolicy.com exclusive, Berlin-based journalist Andrew Curry takes us inside the German sex trade for a look at the heated debate over trafficking and legal ladies of the night.

The idea that politics and sport don't mix is one of the oldest clichés in the book. But it's a little bit like saying you shouldn't drink wine and beer in the same evening: Mixing is inevitable, if undesirable, and sometimes has disastrous consequences.

But this World Cup could determine Iran’s attitude to diplomacy, how long Tony Blair can stay PM in Britain, and whether Germany liberalizes its economy. (And no, I’m not just saying this to justify taking a long lunch to watch the 2nd half of today's opener.)

Just imagine the consequences if Iran gets knocked out thanks to a couple of dodgy decisions from the predominantly Western referees? An England victory could buy Blair some much needed breathing room. If Germany wins, Angela Merkel's rating will roar into the stratosphere. She'd then have the political capital to implement the kind of reforms that her razor-thin mandate knocked off the agenda. Politics and the pitch just go together.

World Cup countdown: Only two days to go. But for England fans, as before every major international footy tournament, there's the specter of hooliganism. During the 1970s and 80s, hooliganism was the English disease. The Heysel disaster in 1985, which left 39 fans dead, led to English clubs being banned from European competition for five years. Slowly, the problem was contained by a combination of legislative measures and the actions of genuine football supporters. There were still some appalling incidents though. In 1995, an England-Ireland game had to be abandoned because of a riot.

Part of the problem now is that foreign police fearful of the English reputation sometimes intervene prematurely and in a heavy-handed manner that causes trouble to escalate. It is all too predictable what could cause this in Germany: The country's harsh laws on references to the Nazi era. England fans in Germany are going to mention the war, no matter what they're told. (One of the more popular England songs involves whistling the tune to the Dam Busters and that old "Two World Wars and One World Cup" chant is bound to get an outing.) However, if any of them start giving—even mock—Nazi salutes, they can be arrested under German law. It is all too easy to imagine what could happen if German cops wade into a crowd of lit up England supporters to arrest people.

So, why can't the English leave the war out of this? Part of the explanation is a simple desire to rub the English victory in the Germans' faces. (See this story about a group of imbeciles planning to fund their trip to the World Cup by selling inflatable Spitfire planes.)

Everyone knows that the World Cup that gets under way in just three days is the most anticipated global sporting event since, well, the 2002 World Cup. Everyone, that is, except those of us in the U.S. of A. According to a recent poll by public opinion research firm Global Market Insite, only 44 percent of Americans polled could name the country where the revelry will take place (psst--it's Germany).   

I hate to pile on to reports that reveal how distanced Americans are from the rest of the world, including an excellent one in the current issue of FP. But am I the only one who thinks 44 percent seems kind of high? I can't wait to see the breathless CNN reports about how many Germans aren't following the upcoming NBA Finals, despite hometown boy Dirk Nowitzki's first appearance. Oh wait, that probably won't ever happen. 

Ok, needless jingoism aside, the GMI poll taken in 12 countries does have some great information and graphics, including this one, which points out that as many as 27 percent of respondents are planning to use holiday or sick time to watch the games. Which is great for us Americans, who can use the time that we won't be taking off to catch up to the rest of the world in science, math, foreign languages, and so on. 

The England football team flew to Germany today carrying the hopes of a nation and one man in particular: Tony Blair.

Blair has always been a lucky politician. Whenever he's been in real trouble something comes along to take the pressure off. With David Cameron's resurgent Conservatives ten points up in the polls and the press fixated on a "last days" narrative, Blair desperately needs something to change the public mood. And what could be better than England winning the World Cup on foreign soil for the first time?

The good news for Blair is that for every day England are in the competition, there will be less space in the media for—and less interest in—news of the failure to deport foreign criminals, internal struggles, incompetence in the NHS, and the like. Equally the PM can expect to be the indirect beneficiary of any feel good factor and economic bounce created by a strong English performance.

One week to go until the World Cup. This bridge of German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn is on the way to the Munich airport.

Let it be known that Iranian and Iraqi Shiites have profound policy differences. While Ahmadinejad loves kicking a ball around and just days ago lifted a ban on women in soccer stadiums, Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr much prefers other sports:

Why not go swimming? Swimming is encouraged, horse riding, fencing, so and so, these are games you can indulge yourself in; just like that distracts, these distract as well. Running! Run! Sport! Move your legs move your head move stuff, all organs move. Why everyone runs after a ball habibi?

Iraq the Model provides us both with the video and the translation of this enlightening analysis.

Actually, come to think of it, the split might have something to do with FIFA soccer rankings: Iran ranks a respectable 22nd, Iraq only 55th, behind powerhouses like Bahrain and Zimbabwe.