Congress today played down reports of blame game among its Maharashtra leaders, including former chief ministers, on Adarsh housing scam. "No chief minister has levelled any allegation against the other.

Every CM is simply verifying his position which is being interpreted by people as blame game," party spokesperson Rashid Alvi told reporters, refusing to comment further on the issue, being probed by a Commission of Inquiry and CBI.

"I will not comment on any issue which is being probed by a court, a commission or an investigation agency unless a final decision is taken," he said.

The CBI is likely to file its first chargesheet in the Adarsh Housing scam tomorrow against some of the members of the upscale society, 18 months after a case was registered in this connection. The scam had fuelled a political storm in Maharashtra that led to the resignation of Ashok Chavan as Chief Minister.Chavan is among the 14 accused in the case in which Union Ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde are also under the scanner.

Also see our 13:10 pm post: Chavan: Signed Adarsh intent letter in good faith

The Kingfisher Airlines management held a meeting with its employees in Mumbai this evening.

This morning, Captain Rajesh Chhoda said, "We are here to demand immediate payment of our two months' salaries, though we have not been paid since February. We are meeting chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal here this evening to press for our demands."

The Delhi High Court today asked Air India and its pilots, who are on strike for nearly two months over their demands relating to career progression, to amicably settle the issue out of court and said the airline should adopt a "parental attitude". 

Justice Reva Khetrapal asked the counsel, appearing for the national career, as well as the pilots to inform it by tomorrow if there was any possibility to settle the dispute by the parties out of court. 

"You counsel can sit together, then talk to your clients and inform the court tomorrow if there is any possibility of settlement," Justice Khetrapal said. "We would like to see the matter settled. We want to see Air India prosper as the best airline in the world and the airline should adopt a parental attitude...," the court said. 

The court was hearing an application filed through counsel Sanjiv Sahay by the Indian Pilots Guild (IGP), the pilots union, seeking a direction to the management to reinstate the sacked pilots and also revoke derecognition of their union.

The deterioration in the flood situation in Assam is posing a major threat to national security, as a portion of international fencing along the Bangladesh border here has been damaged due to soil erosion.

Reportedly, over 200 metres of the border fencing were damaged and a number of Border Outposts (BOPs) were shifted to safer places. Locals are leading for safer places in boats, as water has entered their homes and fields, destroying the stored paddy crop. The villagers have been forced to take shelter by the roadside as all their household items have been washed away in the flood.

As the death toll in the Assam floods continue to rise, the army, overseeing rescue and relief operations, has stepped up its efforts here. Interacting with mediapersons here on Monday, Red horns division GOC Major General RN Nair said that the army had begun the relief efforts as soon as they received a warning from the civil administration.

He added that there were several people who were unwilling to leave their villages, but those who were sick and not in their best of health were the most vulnerable.

"We have sent our mobile columns to several districts. We started evacuating stranded people. There were some people who were not willing to leave the villages, there were some who refused to be evacuated, but those who wanted to leave, those who were sick were those who were most vulnerable,' Major General Nair said.

Also read: 81 dead in Assam floods; PM announces Rs 500 cr aid

A panel set up by Congress to look into Friday's encounter between security forces and the Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Bastar area has said that the encounter "seemed to be fake" and demanded CBI enquiry into the incident.

Nineteen Naxals were killed in the encounter in Sukma-Bjjapur area on June 29. State Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel said here today that the 12-member panel was yet to submit its report, but it "seemed from the inspection of the spot that it was a fake encounter.

"The panel has sought a CBI probe, he said, adding that the probe panel found that there were some women and children among those slain at Sarkeguda village of Basaguda area. Police had claimed to have killed 17 ultras there.

Chief Minister Raman Singh, however, refuted the allegations, saying that weapons and ammunition were found alongside bodies of the Naxals killed in the encounter.

Also read on rediff.com: Anti-Naxal operations: A monumental blunder in Chhattisgarh

An expedition to find out what happened to celebrated US woman pilot Amelia Earhart is setting out from Hawaii on Monday, 75 years to the day since she took off on her last flight. Researchers will dive around the uninhabited Pacific island of Nikumaroro looking for clues.

More on the bbc.

Six Naxals and 11 tribals have been arrested at the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border near Vizag district. The tribals have been held for supporting the Naxals.

Cash worth Rs 1 lakh and ammunition have also been recovered from them.

Rating agency Crisil today said it expects the rupee, which has been at the receiving end for quite some time and hit an all-time low of 57.32 to the dollar
recently, will regain the 50 level by March-end subject to the government taking measures to revive growth. The domestic currency will appreciate to touch the 50 level by next March provided certain measures are taken by the government urgently, the rating agency's research wing said in a note.

Early days yet to plan that holiday in May 2013.

 Physicist Vivek Sharma hasn't had much sleep over the past week because of a mix of work and excitement as he and his colleagues prepared to announce the latest results of the world's longest and most challenging search for a subatomic particle. The scientists, working in a research centre near Geneva, Switzerland, will at 9am local time on Wednesday issue what is expected to be a historic "update' on their search for the Higgs boson, at times called the "God particle'.

Read the report on the Telegraph, Calcutta.

Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf''s personal residence has been installed with special power line within hours of him taking up office. According to Express Tribune, the newly elected premier''s house now has a special electric line and transformer for his house, which has been graciously provided by the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO), an official revealed on condition of anonymity.

No one else in the posh locality has access to the line and continue to experience blackouts throughout the day, the official added.In order to install the line, the Capital Development Authority also re-carpeted the street where Ashraf''s private residence is located.

We told you earlier in the day that scientists will announce that the elusive Higgs boson 'God Particle' has been found at a press conference on Wednesday. Physicists are set to announce the latest results from the Large Hadron Collider, but what exactly is the Higgs boson, why do people call it the 'god particle' and what would its discovery mean for physics?

Find out

Though dogged by accusations of sexism and racism, Enid Blyton's adventures starring Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy remain UK adults' top childhood reads, says a survey,

Read it if you're familiar with the Famous Five.

The Kingfisher Airlines management has decided to hold a meeting with its employees in Mumbai this evening. "We are here to demand immediate payment of our two months' salaries, though we have not been paid since February. We are meeting chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal here this evening to press for our demands," Captain Rajesh Chhoda said after a meeting with the airline employees. 

"We have no intention to disrupt the operations, which as of now are normal," Chhoda further said. Earlier, the representatives of pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground handling staff held a meeting at the airlines' office here.

Kingfisher cancelled four flights out of Mumbai today.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal, who is the official representative of Pranab Mukherjee for the Presidential elections said he and Home Minister P Chidambaram had met Pranab today. 

PA Sangma and the BJP today sought the cancellation of Pranab Mukherjee's nomination as the UPA presidential candidate under the Office of Profit rules on the ground that he is still the Chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI).

Bansal said Pranab had told them that he had resigned on June 20 from the ISI, a week before he filed his nomination. Pranab Mukherjee will be filing a written reply to the Returning Officer by 3 pm tomorrow, when the nomination papers will also be scrutinised. Bansal added that Sangma's claim was therefore factually incorrect, legally ill-conceived and untenable.

Salman who has been drumming up support for the release of Sarabjit Singh, jailed in Pakistan for his alleged involvement in a terror attack there, says it's a case of mistaken identity. He confidently told mediapersons that the name of the person is Manjeet and not Sarabjeet.     

On Sunday Salman met Dalbir Kaur, Sarabjit's sister and promised to get him released. Incidentally, Salman's film, Ek Tha Tiger, is set for an August 15 release.  

Salman Khan backs Sohail Khan in the accident that killed a homeless woman today. He says allegations that Sohail was in the car were completely false. The actor said all the three brothers would be at the woman's funeral, and are trying to find out who her family was.

The vicitm was crushed to death by a Lexus being allegedly driven by actor and filmmaker Sohail Khan's driver in suburban Bandra late last night. The car belongs to Sohail's brother Arbaaz Khan, also an actor. The driver has tested negative for alcohol and has been released on bail.

 Pranab Mukherjee is likely to meet Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in Mumbai on July 13 to thank him for backing his candidature, Sena sources said here today. 

"There is a strong possibility of the two leaders meeting", a senior Sena leader said. Thackeray recently broke ranks with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance on the Presidential issue, saying his party would vote for Mukherjee in the Presidential poll slated on July 19.

Having declared his party's support for Mukherjee in the Presidential poll, Thackeray recently described him as 'super power' in the UPA government and said the Opposition should be happy that with his election the government will become a 'lame duck'. 

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray today hit out at former president APJ Abdul Kalam for making a statement after so many years that he was ready to swear in Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as the Prime Minister after the 2004 polls; calling him "hypocrite" and "shallow". 

Another NDA member, JD(U), had targeted Kalam over the issue yesterday.  "After saying that he was ready to swear in Italian Sonia Gandhi as the Prime Minister, Kalam has become a laughing stock", Thackeray claimed in the editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana. 

In his recently published book `Turning Points', Kalam has revealed that he was ready to swear in Sonia Gandhi in 2004, despite intense opposition from some quarters. 

"By making this disclosure after so many years, Kalam has lost the place he had in people's hearts and from their point of view, he is now a hypocrite and shallow", Thackeray said. "Till now, it was widely speculated that Kalam, as the President, had stopped Sonia Gandhi from becoming Prime Minister. Due to this single act, he was admired by the country, and the admiration continued even when he was no longer the President", Thackeray said.

Home Secretary RK Singh denies allegations that the 19 people killed by CRPF men in Chhattisgarh were encounter deaths of innocent people. Singh says there will be no probe in the matter. Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh defends the CRPF saying that if villagers are killed, Naxals will be blamed and says the Congress is politicising the deaths. The CPM have demanded a probe in the matter.

The killing of 19 persons alleged to be Maoists in Sarkeguda in Chhattisgarh on June 29 in a major operation by the Central Reserve Police Force has sparked off a major controversy, with villagers crying foul and calling the entire operation fake, in which innocents were killed. Read Vicky Nanjappa's report.

Haven't spoken to the fly on the wall inside Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia's office, but what we hear is that RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani today met him for nearly an hour. Reliance Industries is facing penalty for falling gas output from its KG-D6 fields. It has also demanded tripling of its KG-D6 gas price from April 1, 2014 after the current below-market rate of USD 4.205 per mmBtu expires. Besides, RIL is seen as a bidder in the forthcoming auction of telecom spectrum. 

Ambani, the richest Indian, did not interact with the media after the meeting saying that he would not take any questions, and rushed out of the Yojana Bhawan, Ahluwalia's office. Ahluwalia too did not respond to the media queries about his discussions with Ambani, saying that it was just a courtesy call.

Battles within the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka are a routine affair. However, this time around there was a twist to the tale. While everyone was chasing the revolting B S Yeddyurappa faction there was one person missing -- Shobha Karandlage, the power minister who is considered to be extremely close to the former chief minister. Among the nine ministers she was the only one who did not hand over the resignation personally to Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda. In fact, the resignation was faxed.

Read Vicky Nanjappa's report.

A debt fund operated by the Kolkata-based Srei Infrastructure Finance today said it has bought out the entire exposure of ICICI Bank, worth around Rs430 crore, in the crippled Kingfisher Airlines. Srei Infra Finance group chief financial officer Sanjeev K Sancheti confirmed the deal and described the asset as "a good buy as it is a fully secured debt." 

When contacted, an ICICI Bank spokesperson said, "We have recovered the entire debt exposure of Rs 430 crore and currently we do not have any debt exposure to the Kingfisher Airlines." However, the country's second largest lender still holds around 3 percent stake in the airline.

Dr Manmohan Singh in Assam says: "I am making a commitment to provide an ad-hoc Central support of Rs 500 crore. The Centre will also extend assistance for reconstruction. I have been informed that sufficient quantities of foodgrains and other essential goods are available for the victims.

"Over 4000 persons have been rescued, 400 personnel transported and 22 tons of relief material delivered by the Air Force. I am satisfied that rescue and relief operations are being conducted speedily. About 4.84 lakh people have been moved to relief camps."

It may be remembered that Jaya Bachchan was disaqualified as a Rajya Sabha member in 2006, while Congress President Sonia Gandhi resigned at the same time, as member of the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli amid a controversy involving office of profit.

Gandhi was at that time head of the National Advisory Council (NAC), a post since exempted from the purview of the office of profit. Recently, noted film maker Shyam Benegal, who is a nominated member, had sought the permission of the Chairman in the wake of his appointment as a member of the Prasar Bharti Board.

Article 102(1)(a) says that a person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of either House of Parliament, if he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State, other than an office declared by Parliament by law not to disqualify its holder.

Our Delhi sources tell us that the BJP has challenged the nomination of former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee for office of the President of India as he is the chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, and therefore can be debarred under the office of profit clause.

The scrutiny over Pranab Mukherjee's nomination, allegedly for holding an office of profit, was also raised by P A Sangma's aides, the other contender for the post of President. The scrutiny of the nomination papers which was supposed to have been held today, will now be held at 3 pm, tomorrow.

Under the Constitution, a person shall not be eligible for election as President if he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State or under any Local or other Authority subject to the control of any of the State Governments.

Italian fashion designer Donatella Versace says she sleeps in her freezer every night to ensure she continues looking youthful. The 57-year-old said that she has had Botox but only on her face and the rest of her youthful look is the result ofhard work such as a nap in her deep freezer, reported The Telegraph online.

"How do I keep young? Haven't you heard? I sleep every night in the deep freezer," Dontella said. The Vice President of Versace group also said that sheis surprised to have befriended fellow Italian designer Miuccia Prada, the granddaughter of Mario Prada, the founder of Prada. 

"It surprises me. We just talk, talk, talk. She's so inspiring. We make fun of each other and teach each other. She says, 'I could never make sexy clothes, but I love them.' And I say, 'Well, I love what you do'," she added.

Allying apprehensions over the possibility of deficit rainfall this monsoon season, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today saidit is too early to reach the conclusion that something adverse is happening.     "...as of now there is no reason to reach  a conclusion that something adverse is happening," he replied when asked about monsoon delays that could lead to deficit rains, hitting economic growth.Monsoon has missed its date this year with granary states of Punjab and Haryana. 

"It is true that monsoon is late...may be a week to 10 days late. Just because monsoon is one week late does not mean that it is gong to have hugely negative effect," Ahluwalia said. India's crucial monsoon rains have been 31 per cent deficient so far but the weather office has forecast increase in rainfall for the peninsular region and fall in temperature for the northern region over the next four days. 

The country has received 119.3 mm rainfall, as against the normal of 172 mm, since its onset last month till July 1, as per the data released by the weather office yesterday.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan again deposed before the two-member judicial panel probing the Adarsh Housing Society scam today, his second deposition since Saturday.

Chavan today blamed the Principal Secretary Revenue saying he signed the letter of intent in good faith.

On Saturday he blamed his predecessor Vilasrao Deshmukh, saying as revenue minister during the latter's tenure it was beyond his jurisdiction to allot land to the society. 

Just in: The Centre tells the Supreme Court that alternative alignment for the Sethusamudram project is not economically or ecologically feasible.

The Supreme Court in March dusted out the controversy over a shipping channel through Sethusamudram having mythological significance by asking the Centre to specify within two days its stand on grant of national monument status to it.

A bunch of petitions, including by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy and Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa, had questioned the Sethusamudram shipping channel alignment on the ground that it was breaching the mythological bridge, mentioned in epic Ramayana.

While Swamy had sought declaration of the present day remnants resembling the mythological bridge as a national monuments other petitioners had sought realignment of the project to save Sethusamudram from dredging for the channel to open a short shipping route via the Palk Strait.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's interior ministry chief Rehman Malik demanded on Sunday that India should apologise for sending Surjeet Singh to spy in Pakistan. 

Also on the Daily Mail

Several persons who returned to India from Pakistan after completing their sentence for spying have decided to approach the government for compensation for the years they spent behind bars.  They claim they were on a 'spying mission' for Indian intelligence agencies and that the government discarded them once they got arrested in Pakistan.

Read more on the Daily Mail.

Scientists at Cern will announce that the elusive Higgs boson 'God Particle' has been found at a press conference next week, it is believed. Five leading theoretical physicists have been invited to the event on Wednesday - sparking speculation that the particle has been discovered. Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider are expected to say they are 99.99 per cent certain it has been found - which is known as 'four sigma' level.

More

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, accompanied by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, today made an aerial survey of flood affected areas in Assam. 

The three leaders made an aerial survey by helicopter of Majuli island, Jorhat, Sibsagar, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts, which were among the worst-affected in the floods, senior officials said. They were also expected to survey the Kaziranga National Park, which has been completely submerged by flood waters. 

Earlier, Singh and Gandhi reached Jorhat's Rowriah airport from New Delhi by a special flight at around 11am. Later in the day, the two leaders would reach Guwahati and discuss the latest situation with ministers and officials. Singh and Gandhi are scheduled to leave for New Delhi from Guwahati in the afternoon.

The Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has in recent times been living in a fanciful world in which, as he recently claimed, India could grow at 8-9 percent for 20 years. At a time when the wheels were coming off the India growth story, and with policy action all but frozen in the UPA 2 government, such exaggerated claims, perhaps intended to signal self-confidence to assure foreign investors, only gave rise to derision.

More on Firstpost.com

Despite floods in Assam and Meghalaya, reports say that 83 per cent of India has deficit rainfall. If the rains don't arrive in real earnest by this week, expect water cuts across the country, along with power cuts. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that every year, in spite of ambitious plans to increase electricity generation, India hasn't met its targets. The monthly peak power shortage '" the gap between demand at its highest and available supply '" is around 7.5% at the moment, but has gone as high as 12% in recent months, according to the Central Electricity Authority. More

An elderly woman was crushed to death by a high-end car being allegedly driven by actor and filmmaker Sohail Khan's driver in suburban Bandra late on Monday night, the police said. The car belongs to Sohail's brother Arbaaz Khan, also an actor.  The driver has tested negative for alcohol.

Preliminary reports suggested that Sohail was not present in the car at the time of the accident. According to police, the Land Cruiser, allegedly being driven by Dhananjay Pimple mowed down the woman, identified as Chandan Bala, about 70 years of age, near St Andrews Church, Bandra. The woman was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead, police said, adding the driver was arrested and further probe was on.

The Maharashtra police department, in a security audit of President Pratibha Patil's post-retirement house at Pashan, Pune, has cited its "uncomfortable proximity to the hills' to make the point that the 2,500-square feet house on a one-acre plot, is "unsafe".

More on the TOI.

Slamming Pakistan for refusing to cut ties with the Haqqani network of militants, a leading US daily here has said the military of the 'crippled and chaotic' state continues to play a "double game" of accepting aid from America while enabling the Afghan Taliban.

The New York Times said in the editorial piece titled 'Crippled, Chaotic Pakistan' that for years, Pakistan ignored the Obama administration's pleas to crack down on militants who cross over to attack American forces in Afghanistan. Recent cross-border raids by Taliban militants who kill Pakistani soldiers should give Islamabad a reason to take thatcomplaint more seriously, it said. 

"Fighting extremists should be grounds for common cause, but there is no sign that Pakistan's military leaders get it.They see the need to confront the virulent Afghan-based insurgency that threatens their own country and has killed thousands of Pakistani soldiers and civilians.

Last week, just for fun, I ran a simple poll on my public Facebook page. The question i asked was simple. Who should be India's PM? The choices were simple too - Rahul Gandhi,Narendra Modi and none of the above. There was no intention to imply any bias. Over 10,000 votes were polled. Rahul Gandhi received 5% of the votes. Narendra Modi had 82%, beating the crown prince an astonishing 16 times; 13% of the voters wanted neither.

That's Chetan Bhagat's column for the Times of India. Read more (And yes, the protagonists in the column have ensured he's trending on Twitter). 

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi have reached Assam where they will be visiting flood-affected areas. The state is witnessing its worst flood disaster in eight years, with over 77 people dead, six missing and 19 lakh affected.

Twenty-three of the state's 27 districts are said to be under water. The neighbouring state of Meghalaya has not been spared either, with 75,000 people homeless in the floods. The Brahmaputra and the Kapili rivers are said to be flowing above the danger mark at various places. The Kaziranga and other wildlife sanctuaries in Assam are submerged.

The IAF has dropped 4000 kilos of food packages.

Just in: The BJP has just issued a statement in the aftermath of former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa's supporters deciding to withdraw their resignations. The BJP told the rebels that appropriate decision will be taken at appropriate time on the Karnataka issue.

Read more on rediff.com on the resignations.

The Supreme Court today asked the government to stop the exploitation of the Jarawa tribals in the Andaman Islands and in effect put an end to all tourism-related activities close to the tribal reserve areas in the Andamans. Port Blair, the capital of the Andamans, has also been placed under the buffer zone.

In January 2012, two British dailies had released videos showing semi-naked Jarawa men and women dancing before tourists as part of alleged 'human safari'. In the video, the tourists were seen throwing money, food and bananas at the tribal people. It had forced the government to order an inquiry.

The case before the Supreme Court related to setting up of a resort in the buffer zone of the reserve forest, which occupies 80% of Andaman Island. But the Centre was reluctant to allow any private operators from functioning so close to the Jarawa habitat.

This is the Guardian video that finally made the government sit up

For those of you still flying Kingfisher, heads up...  

Four Kingfisher flights from Mumbai were cancelled today due to the strike by a section of airline pilots. The flights have been cancelled since morning due to
non-availability of pilots, airport sources said. The flights include Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Mangalore and Mumbai-Khajuraho. Around 200 pilots including captains are on strike since yesterday protesting non-payment of salary, which they have not received for the past five months.

India's 1600-km long Western Ghats mountain chain, which has forests older than the Himalaya mountains, has been added to list of world heritage sites by the United Nations.   

The Western Ghats mountain chain is recognised as one of the world's eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity. The chain's forests, which are older than the Himalaya mountains influence the Indian monsoon weather pattern. 

The ghats, which start at the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra and runs through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala ending at Kanyakumari, was added to the World Heritage list by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).    A historic opera house in Germany, a border town and its fortifications in Portugal, and eight interconnected lakes in Chad are some of the other sites that have been added to the list.

The two-day talks between the Foreign Secretaries, beginning on July 4, are expected to be dominated by Ansari's arrest and subsequent claims by Indian authorities, the report further said. The Foreign Office official said Pakistan will ask India to share details of Ansari's arrest. 

"India has yet not shared anything with us about this arrest," the official said. Pakistan had been saying that the Mumbai attacks would not have been possible without help from Indian nationals, he claimed. The official further claimed Indian authorities had "always been reluctant to give us the full picture" of the investigation into the Mumbai attacks.

Days after terror suspect Zabiuddin Ansari's revelations about the Mumbai attacks being controlled and facilitated from Karachi, Pakistani authorities have
claimed 40 Indian nationals were involved in the terrorist incident.

"Our information is that there were at least 40 Indian nationals who helped the attackers. We want India to come clean on this," an unnamed official of Pakistan's Foreign Office was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.
Pakistan will "push" India to share details of the recent arrest of Ansari alias Abu Jundal when the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries meet in Delhi this week, the report said.