World Briefing

SPORTS
Florida Warms To a New Sport

Long the destination of college kids on spring-break benders and retirees seeking warmer climes, Broward County, Florida, is positioning itself to attract a new demographic: international cricketers. The county plans to invest about $30 million in a 100-acre park in the city of Lauderhill, the crown jewel of which will be the nation's first professional-grade cricket grounds. The United States of America Cricket Association says that about a third of its 10,000 members live in South Florida. Credit the area's large, cricket-loving Caribbean population. But the stadium plan goes well beyond recreational play. With Lauderhill, the county has set up a committee which includes Windies cricket legend Lance Gibbs to lobby the International Cricket Council to name the county as host to some of the 2007 Cricket World Cup matches, which will be based in the West Indies. Construction of the stadium, which could seat up to 30,000 fans, should start next year and run through 2006.

BANKING
Any Interest in Coffee?

Here's a jolt from the Dutch bank cooperative Rabobank: a savings account that pays interest in coffee instead of cash. Rene de Jong, the managing director of the company's branch in Leiden, brewed the Coffee Savings Account as a way to support coffee farmers in developing countries, staying true to the company's agricultural-banking roots. Customers have to put away a minimum of about $1,000 for a three-year term to collect the annual interest of 12 bags of coffee, each of which contains 250 grams, about 8.8 ounces. That roughly amounts to a 4% return, says the bank, which beats the 3% yield on standard savings accounts. The downside: you're locked into that rate for three years. The coffee option, offered in 13 of Rabobank's member institutions in the Netherlands, pays out organic, Fair Trade coffee from Ethiopia, Honduras and Peru. Next: CDs that yield doughnuts?

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Mile-High Yoga Club

Looking for a way to avoid the dreaded plane drain of business trips? Airplane Yoga, by journalist Rachel Lehmann-Haupt and yoga instructor Bess Abrahams, presents Hatha yoga inspired exercises designed to fight flight fatigue. The guide gives flyers ways to stretch and relax at each leg of the journey, from security to baggage claim. Exercises include Heavy-Luggage Hand Stretches, Red-Eye Foot Flexes and Deplaning Pep Walks. Drawings accompany the easy-to-understand text, and many moves use available props like waiting-area chairs, meal trays and barf bags (the last are wrung to release wrist tension). The stretches are effective, yet the book's attitude stays light (a benefit of the Mile High Thigh Tone is that it develops "sexy stewardess legs"). One quibble: we would prefer a spiral-bound version, given that there's not enough room at most airline seats to hold the book open while reading the directions.

INNOVATION
Sitting in the Lap of Luxury

This fall is going to be a great time to sit down. Toilets and airline seats are both getting a kick up the luxury ladder, thanks to Japanese toiletmaker Toto and Virgin Atlantic Airways, among others. In September Toto will introduce the U.S. to Neorest, left, a combination bidet-toilet that may very well be smarter than you are first thing in the morning. It knows when you're ready to use it (the lid lifts as you approach) and when you're done (the lid closes, and the toilet flushes). It even knows what has gone on in between: for liquid-only waste, Neorest uses 1.2 gal. of water to flush and for other episodes, 1.6 gal. The conservation-minded toilet also includes a heated seat, an air deodorizer and a warm-air dryer, among other features.

The leather-upholstered airline seat, right, in Virgin Atlantic's new Upper Class Suite needs a little more prompting (you actually have to push a button), but then it does a pretty nifty trick of its own, flipping over to become an 80in. foam-mattress bed. It's the latest weapon in the seat wars airlines are waging for coveted business-class passengers. Each of the aisle-only chairs comes with a customizable lumbar support and an ottoman, just in case you need to conduct an onboard staff meeting or order up an in-flight beauty-therapy treatment. Virgin is spending about $81 million to retrofit its planes this summer through next fall in an effort to land the Concorde crowd.