The Cassa di Risparmio kept its cross-border contacts during the cold war, says Roberto Verginella, the bank's chairman, and it was encouraged by the Croatian central bank to open the Zagreb subsidiary.

ECONOMIST: Borderline banking

They would make polite contacts and then take discreet cross-holdings in each other's companies to fend off hostile bids and shore up existing management.

ECONOMIST: Business in France

The software started life on Symbian and Series 40 devices before falling out of favor with Nokia, but this WP8 refresh enables cross-platform chatter between those older phones, the newer Lumia range and, as Yahoo Messenger contacts are supported, anything running that IM client, too.

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