World Briefing

By Chris Taylor; Smita Madhur; Charles P. Wallace; Wilson Rothman; Hugh Chow; Kristin Kloberdanz

COKE'S FLAT TONES

As if Coca-Cola didn't have enough trouble with flat sales volume in the U.S., its fledgling online-music business in Europe is also losing fizz. In Britain back in January, the soft-drink company inaugurated Mycokemusic.com which has so far sold about 530,000 tunes for $1.46 to $1.84 a pop. But then in June, Apple launched iTunes in Britain, France and Germany, offering a wider selection of songs for less money ($1.44 each). In its first week in Europe alone, iTunes sold 800,000 tracks. Napster and the Sony Connect store also have competing music sites, and WalMart and EasyGroup, parent company of EasyJet, are looking to launch their music-download services. Coke execs are debuting their site in Austria and promoting it heavily on the sides of cans, but they must be wishing for the days when Pepsi was all they had to worry about. --By Chris Taylor

India's Olympic Hope

A billion-plus people and so far only three individual Olympic medals. As India awaits glory in Athens, its star athlete, markswoman Anjali Bhagwat, is peeved that she had to pay for a coach on her own. Such stories puzzle Andrew Krieger, a U.S.-based financial executive, who believes India isn't living up to its potential. He wants to help change that. Krieger, who studied Hindu philosophy, is pouring $120 million into a planned sports facility in the Indian tech hub of Hyderabad, where international coaches will groom future champions in all sports. It will be a replica of IMG Academies, a coaching center in Bradenton, Fla., that has produced the likes of tennis champ Maria Sharapova. India "is a land of entrepreneurs," says Krieger, "and sports is the greatest entrepreneurial system, as it teaches you to invest in yourself." --By Smita Madhur

Spanish Treasure Hunt

Emilio Botin, chairman of Banco Santander Central Hispano, Spain's largest bank, is a lover of big-game hunting. Indeed, hunting trophies line his office wall. But his latest prize won't quite fit on the wall--the $14 billion acquisition of British mortgage lender Abbey National. The deal is the largest cross-border bank deal ever in Europe and creates the Continent's fourth largest bank. "This is a unique opportunity to enter a very interesting market," Botin said after unveiling the Abbey deal. Botin, 69, is an experienced hand at buying banks. He merged family-run Santander with two Spanish rivals and then snapped up competitors across the border in Portugal. Santander is heavily invested in Latin America, where it has a network of some 3,900 branches and 52,200 employees. In buying Abbey, Santander gets crucial diversification as well as entry into Europe's most profitable loan market. A potential worry for Botin: the British deal is so sweet, a rival bank may try to grab Abbey from his grasp. --By Charles P. Wallace

Security in a Vein

Iris and fingerprint scanning, onetime biometric techniques of the future, may soon be things of the past. The newest trend in high-tech identification scans the veins in your hand. Scientists noticed that vein patterns in the fingers and palm stay in the same place from birth, and the arrangement of veins in each person is unique. By shining a light at the hand or finger and then capturing an infrared digital image, devices developed by Fujitsu, Hitachi and other Japanese firms can ID people in an instant. The first systems will soon appear in Japanese banks to verify the identity of people withdrawing money at ATMs and teller windows. --By Wilson Rothman

NO-FRILL ZONE

Singapore threw its weight behind the nascent Asian low-budget airline industry last month when it approved a new terminal at Changi Airport dedicated to discount carriers. There will be no bells and whistles: travelers will have to walk across the tarmac to board planes after the $26 million terminal opens in 2006. Low-fare carriers have been promised savings of about 20% on terminal-related costs. So far only Tiger Airways has signed on, but authorities hope the terminal will handle about 2.7 million passengers a year. Singapore, however, will face competition from neighboring Malaysia, which is finalizing plans for its own no-frills terminal. --By Hugh Chow

Wine by the Box

Throw away that corkscrew. This month U.S. wine producer Three Thieves releases Bandit Bianco, an Italian white, in a 1L brick. It is the first widely marketed varietal wine in the U.S. to be packaged in Tetra Pak aseptic cartons--layers of polyethylene, paper and aluminum foil more commonly associated with milk. Europeans and South Americans have been drinking wine from them for years. In 2003, packaging company Tetra Pak, based in Switzerland, sold 1.6 billion wine containers globally. They're cheaper than bottles to make, and unopened they keep everyday wine fresh for a year. The time may be ripe for more convenient packaging. Last year the average U.S. adult consumed 2.68 gal. of table wine, an all-time high. Plus, with the recent success of the Sofia Mini can from Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery in nightclubs, it seems the younger crowd is open to bucking tradition. --By Kristin Kloberdanz