At least 7 fire tenders, including one from Army, were employed to douse the flames, they said adding that the fire was brought under control around 6 PM today. There was no loss of life in the incident.

"Congress is trying to create an atmosphere of violence and fear among opposition parties as it is in a troublesome position over the UPA government's anti-people policies and unfulfilled promises in the constituency," CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose said.

"A company (DLF) which itself has a loan to the tune of Rs 22,000 crore and paying an interest of 15 per cent thereon, was extending interest-free loans worth Rs 65 crore to Vadra," BJP national spokesman Prakash Javadekar told reporters here while demanding a probe into the matter. 

Asked why the party did not raise the issue earlier, he said the BJP had given notice in Parliament, but was denied permission (for discussion). 

A nine-year-old girl died due to dengue late last month. Most of the 12 zones in the jurisdiction of South, North and East Delhi Municipalities recorded dengue cases, a statement issued by the civic bodies said. However, no deaths were reported today. Out of the 202 cases, three originated from outside the capital.

Police officials said DMK MP Ritheesh also appeared before the District Police, and sought time for replying to their questions. Police had asked Dayanidhi's wife Anushka if he had contacted her anytime, sources said. Police had also issued summons to Anushka's father and other relatives.

"An emiri decree was issued to dissolve the 2009 parliament," said state-run Kuwait television. The dissolution of the assembly has been a main demand of the opposition and the action paves the way for snap polls for the second time this year and the fifth in just over six years in this Gulf state plagued by a chronic political crisis. 

The 2009 pro-government assembly was dissolved in December following protests amid allegations of corruption against some of its members and former prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah who also quit.

Gilani was convicted of contempt and disqualified as a lawmaker by the Supreme Court in June after he refused to act on orders to revive graft cases against Zardari in Switzerland. He was replaced by Raja Pervez Ashraf as Premier. "I am not happy with the government (led by Ashraf) for its inability to avert the arrest of my son, Ali Musa, in the premises of the Supreme Court and for changing my team of bureaucrats," Gilani said.

The US led the invasion on October 7, 2001 to topple the Taliban government for harbouring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The Taliban were quickly routed, but launched an insurgency that grew in strength over the years until NATO had some 130,000 troops from 50 countries defending the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

In the charge sheet, which is expected to be filed in a fortnight, the investigators would mention that Jundal, who had completed first year Masters of Arts in Hindi (MA-Hindi) course from Beed, was given a task of teaching Hindi to the arrested terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab and nine others, a senior crime branch officer told PTI.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) regularly uses unmanned drones to target militants in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen. The US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently flew two modified RQ-4 Global Hawk drones in close proximity to simulate mid-air refuelling.

Reacting to Vadra's remarks that he and Prashant Bhushan were maligning him and his family to "gain cheap publicity", Kejriwal said, "Robert Vadra has questioned our motives that is not important. He has not replied to the questions that we have raised." 

Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, dismissed as "utterly false, entirely baseless and defamatory" the allegations over his property dealings with DLF and that Congress governments favoured the company after it provided him benefits.

Putin flew to his native northwestern city of Saint Petersburg to spend the day with "friends and family", according to his spokesman Dmitry Peskov. However his supporters went out of their way to wish him the best and his birthday figured prominently in each newscast of the day on Russia's state television channels.

"I am a private law abiding citizen who has been engaged in business over the last 21 years. The allegations levelled against me by Kejriwal and Bhushan are utterly false, entirely baseless and defamatory", Vadra, Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, said in a statement, two days after charges made by the civil society activists at a press conference here created a political storm.

Robert Vadra on Sunday also said that he is a law abiding citizen and all his financial transactions are transparent.

Twenty more patients suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome have been admitted to various hospitals of Gorakhpur and Basti divisions during the period, official sources said. Additional director (Health) Diwakar Prasad said 282 people suffering from encephalitis are being treated in these hospitals. 

This year, a total of 2,535 encephalitis patients were admitted to different government hospitals of the region of which 400 died.

The country's largest paramilitary force and the mainstay of anti-Naxal operations, CRPF, has started the practice of disbursing this 'risk fund' amount in such a manner. 

The home ministry has now asked all the forces to evolve a uniform mechanism in this regard, as till now the 'next of kin' of a married trooper, which is the spouse in most cases, used to get the funds in case of death on duty.

The space agency also aims to deploy its own version of the Global Positioning System by putting into orbit a constellation of seven satellites which would form the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System.

According to the 12th Five Year Plan, approved by the Cabinet last week, ISRO plans to add 400 transponders to the existing 187 to meet the growing demand from DTH operators, satellite mobile communications and new generation broadband VSAT systems. 

An indicative plan outlay of Rs 39,750 crore for the 12th Plan has been made for the department of space.

"The cruise missile was test-fired from guided missile frigate INS Teg -- the Indian Navy's latest induction from Russia off the coast of Goa early morning," sources told PTI. 

They said the missile performing high-level manoeuvres successfully hit the target ship which was still on fire.  

INS Teg, which has been built at the Yantar shipyard in Russia, had fired the missile successfully during pre-induction trials in Russia last year. The two remaining warships of the project namely INS Tarkah and INS Trikand, will also be armed with the lethal missile in vertical launch mode.

Realty major DLF has rejected the allegations that it had given unsecured loans to Robert Vadra as a 'quid pro quo' for favours and said it had transparent dealing with him as an individual entrepreneur. 

In a statement, the company said it had given Rs 65 crore as "business advances" out of which Rs 15 crore was fully refunded and Rs 50 crore was used for purchase of land. 

Rejecting the allegations made by activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan that the company favoured Vadra, DLF said it neither received any undue benefit from any state governments nor was it alloted any land by Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan governments.

DLF also dismissed the charge that the company sold properties to Vadra and his companies at a throwaway price. 

"We would like to state that the business relationship of DLF with Mr Robert Vadra or his companies has been in his capacity as an individual entrepreneur, on a completely transparent and at an arm's length basis," DLF said.

DLF said the business relationship with Vadra has been conducted in the highest standards of ethics.

"We wish to categorically state that the DLF has given no unsecured loans to Mr Vadra or any of his companies. An amount of Rs 65 crores was given as business advances for the purchase of land in two transactions," it added.

Turkey hit back against what it said was a fresh round of mortar fire from Syria, as monitors said rebels seized a Syrian border village after a fierce battle that left almost 30 dead.

Syria, for its part, said four Turks were among a convoy of "terrorists" killed in fighting in the heart of Aleppo, just hours after UN condemnation of deadly jihadist bombings in the commercial capital.

Turkish officials said they were sure a mortar round that struck on Saturday morning were fired by pro-government forces, and not rebels who have been fighting for nearly 19 months to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

The round prompted fresh retaliatory fire after reprisals on Wednesday and Thursday for the previous shelling, the Hatay provincial governor's office said. 

"A mortar round struck today (on Saturday) at 7:00 am about 50 metres inside Turkish territory in an open space about 700 metres from the village of Guvecci and about 300 metres from a police station."

No casualties were reported.

The Turkish army responded with four mortar rounds, the governor's office said, adding that the Syrian fire had come from loyalists who were firing at rebels near the border.

In a major boost to his re-election bid, US President Barack Obama raised a whopping $181 million last month, nearing the the record-breaking billion dollar mark in the run up to the polls. 

So far the Obama Campaign has raised nearly $947 million this election cycle with a month to go for the November 6 presidential election.

This would be for the first time that any candidate would raise more than a billion dollars in an election cycle.

"More on what it means that 1,825,813 people raised $181 million for the campaign and combined committees in September," Obama announced on the social networking site Twitter, where he has more than 20.5 million followers.

"We not only surpassed 10 million donations so far in 2012 to the campaign and the Democratic Party -- a historic record for grassroots politics. We also raised $181 million in September from 1.8 million Americans -- more than 567,000 of whom gave for the first time. That's by far our biggest month yet," Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina said in an email to his supporters.

The average donation was $53 and 98 per cent of their contributions were $250 or less.