Boko Haram gunmen attacked a Nigerian military base and adjacent police barracks in the northeastern town of Buni Yadi, killing 31 security personnel, security sources and witnesses said.

The attack occurred late on Monday in Yobe state, not far from where the Islamist insurgents shot or burned to death 59 pupils at a boarding school in February.

It was a hectic first day in office for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as he prepared himself to cope with multiple challenges, including criticism from various quarters about his choice of ministers and a near revolt by ally Shiv Sena, which demanded a meatier portfolio. A miffed Shiv Sena saw to it that Anant Geete, named heavy industries minister, did not take charge. Representatives of the party met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Rajnath Singh to seek a different portfolio. The negotiations stretched till late in the evening.

The Reserve Bank of India has directed Kotak Mahindra Bank to reduce its promoter shareholding to 40 per cent by September 30 this year and then to 30 per cent by December 31, 2016, the private lender informed the stock exchanges.

At present, promoter shareholding is 43.58 per cent. In this, 40.09 per cent is owned by individuals and a Hindu Undivided Family; another 3.49 per cent is held by the promoter through corporate bodies.

The Reserve Bank of India has notified Depositor Education and Awareness Fund Scheme, 2014. Banks will calculate balances in accounts (inoperative accounts and balances remaining unclaimed for 10 years) along with accrued interest a day prior to effective date (May 23).

Private insurer HDFC Life has got permission to set up a subsidiary in the West Asia region, from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda), the regulator.

With this, HDFC Life might become the first Indian private insurer to have an international presence. Though companies have set up representative offices in other countries, none of them have begun full-fledged operations in non-Indian markets.

In a bid to grow the distribution network while keeping costs under check, smaller private sector banks are looking at reducing the dependence on their own automated teller machines (ATMs) and instead relying on white-label ATM (WLA) network.

Thrissur-based Catholic Syrian Bank, which is in the process of restructuring, is planning expansion. It is likely to go for white-label ATMs for this purpose.

A case related to a company in Gujarat, Saurashtra Salt Industries, is coming up at the meeting of the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) in the Union environment ministry at the end of this month, many years after its lease expired and its files remained untouched in the government.

Saurashtra Salt Industries had applied for renewal of a salt lease on 679 hectares of forest land in the Jamnagar district of Gujarat in 2005.

William S Pinckney, managing director and chief executive officer of Amway India, the direct selling company for various consumer products, arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police at Gurgaon on Monday and taken to the southern town of Kurnool, was remanded to jail till June 7. His bail petition was posted for hearing on Wednesday.

A day after assuming office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday strongly raised with visiting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif the issue of terrorism breeding on Pakistani soil and pressed for expediting the trial of those responsible for the November 2008 (26/11) terrorist attack on Mumbai.

Having successfully implemented the 25 per cent free-float norm for private companies, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) now wants the government to pare its holdings in public-sector undertakings (PSUs) to below 75 per cent.

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