Highlights: Strong winds sweep parts of Delhi, no heatwave conditions for 5 days

Strong dust-raising winds swept parts of Delhi on Thursday, while the overcast skies kept the maximum temperature in check at 36.9 degrees Celsius.

Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday filed a charge-sheet into the murder of a 30-year-old woman who was chopped into pieces allegedly by a man in central Kashmir’s Budgam district in March.

Light intermittent rains lashed Jammu and Kashmir including hailstorms in north Kashmir on Thursday as weather office predicted largely wet weather till the end of May.

The Kashmir valley experienced rains in major parts in the early morning while Jammu also witnessed showers bringing down the temperatures in the region. In the afternoon, evening rains as well as hailstorms wreaked havoc on fruit orchards including apple and agricultural fields in north Kashmir.

The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea filed by alleged conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar and his wife seeking a direction to authorities to shift them from Mandoli jail to a prison outside Delhi over security concerns, saying the writ petition was "without substance" and there was "no justification to grant indulgence" to the petitioners.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday announced that he will be visiting violence-hit Manipur soon and appealed for peace in the northeastern state. Addressing a rally in Guwahati, the union minister said that he will stay in Manipur for three days and talk to the people of the state to “establish peace”.

 Two more cubs of cheetah Jwala died on Thursday in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park. 

Second cub of Cheetah Jwala died during monitoring while being in weak condition amid sweltering heat at Kuno National Park. Cheetah Jwala had three cubs. Her first cub died on May 23.

The Centre has accorded 'Z-plus' category armed security cover to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in view of possible threats to him emanating from the country and abroad.

One person was killed and another injured in a fresh violence between suspected militants and a group of people in an area bordering Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts in strife-torn Manipur, police said on Thursday.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday appealed to opposition parties who are boycotting inauguration of the new Parliament to reconsider their decision for the sake of the people. The new Parliament in Delhi to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28 is a temple of democracy, said Sitharaman. “It’s the position of the opposition that they want to boycott the inauguration,” said Sitharaman. “Whether you like the Prime Minister or don’t like to see him, whatever it is, you have to respect the temple of democracy. My humble opinion is that it is not good to boycott the temple of democracy where we debate people’s issues. I request them to re-think their position. At least for the people, participate in the function.”

A man was killed while his wife was injured when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted in a forest by CPI(Maoist) in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district exploded, a senior police officer said on Thursday, PTI reported.

Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge on Thursday likened Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders with "loose cannons" and warned that they could not make irresponsible comments and get away with it, ANI reports. 

Meanwhile speaking on a possible rollback on the hijab ban in Karnataka, Priyank Kharge, who has been inducted into Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's cabinet as a Minister but is yet to be allocated a portfolio, today said that the party will review and if necessary reject any bill that is not in favour of the people or is unconstitutional.

Plea filed in Supreme Court seeking direction that President Murmu inaugurate new Parliament building, may be heard tomorrow

Kejriwal prayed for the speedy recovery of Jain saying, “May God give him the strength to fight against these adverse circumstances.”

Bangladesh will take steps to tackle and prevent unlawful practices or interference in its elections, authorities said on Thursday, a day after the United States threatened curbs on citizens of the South Asian nation who undermine them, reports Reuters.

Six drones were downed or blocked overnight in Russian-annexed Crimea, the region's Moscow-appointed governor said on Thursday, reports AFP.

"During the past night, six drones were shot down or blocked ... in different parts of Crimea," Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram, adding "there were no victims or injured".

The 80-year-old iconic Howrah Bridge, which connects the twin cities of Howrah and Kolkata over the Hooghly river, will undergo a detailed health checkup after a gap of 11 years, said a top official of Kolkata port that maintains the structure, PTI reported.

The comprehensive health checkup of the cantilever bridge will be done in consultation with IIT Chennai, Kolkata port chairman Rathendra Raman said.

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation has declared 524 buildings under its jurisdiction as dangerous after a detailed survey in the city limits, the civic body said on Thursday, reports PTI. 

Out of these buildings, 61 fall in C-1 category (most dangerous, unfit for occupation and require immediate demolition), 114 are in C-2A category (need to be vacated and structural repairs required), 300 in C-2B (need repairs without vacating) and 49 in C-3 (need minor repairs), Navi Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Narvekar said in a release.

A massive fire broke out early Thursday morning at Bhavani Peth in Pune, in which around 10 large godowns of plywood, wood, and laminates located in the Timber Market area. No person was injured in the incident.

According to Fire Brigade Department, at around 4:30 am, the fire brigade officials were alerted and promptly responded to the distress call. A swift response was taken with a total of 30 fire-fighting vehicles dispatched from the Pune Municipal Corporation, Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), and Pune Cantonment.

Amid high security, jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi was brought to Tihar from a Gujarat jail on Thursday wee hours, in connection with a case relating to the national investigation agency (NIA). Due to safety and security reasons, Bishnoi has been kept in a high-security cell of a jail in Tihar prison complex, the officials said.

Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-nation visit as a success, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi on Thursday said that the manner in which he represented India, its culture and its democratic values on the world platform bringing global admiration and respect for the country, reports ANI.

With India making testing of cough syrups before export mandatory from June 1, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has asked specified state laboratories to examine such samples from manufacturers on “top priority and issue the test report at the earliest”, reports PTI.

Cough syrup exporters will have to produce a certificate of analysis issued by a government laboratory before the product is exported, effective June 1, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asserted that he used every moment during his six-day tour across three countries for India's good as BJP workers and supporters accorded him a warm welcome on his return.

Pakistan lowered its GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal year, ending June 30, to 0.29% from 2%, the country's national accounts committee said in a statement, as a slowdown in the agriculture and industrial sectors curbed growth, reports Reuters.