FIRST IMPEACMENT IN 40 YEARS IN s kOREA Seoul: South Korea’s parliament on Saturday impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his martial law decree. Parliament passed the motion 204-85. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered near the parliament roared in jubilation. Yoon’s presidential powers and duties were subsequently suspended and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo took over presidential powers | AP | P9 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l Sunday l december 15, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city edition CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI PM: Cong tasted blood, wounded Constitution rare first when vishy saw gukesh Accuses previous govts of amending statute 75 times in six decades Five-time world champion V Anand posted a TNIE page grab dated 18.03.2017 on X with the title: Can you spot Two World Champions? Going by Anand’s tweet, this was the first time he noticed D Gukesh (2nd from L) during a Chennai workshop. R Praggnanandhaa participated. Here’s a clearer picture | D Sampathkumar Italy sings viva cricket ahead of 2026 T20 WC G o m e s h S @ Brisbane WITH THIS ISSUE Southern Terrors PLUS 12 PAGES Italy, known for its footballing pedigree, is slowly turning its attention to another game — cricket. It is encouraging talents from other countries, especially Australia, to move to Italy and help them qualify for the 2026 T20 World Cup. Remember Joe Burns? The hard-hitting Queenslander who made his Test debut along with K L Rahul during the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia 10 years ago? He is now leading the Italy team. The country may lack a proper cricket ground and their practice may be confined to the middle of a tomato field, yet Burns and his teammates are going all out to qualify. Though many in the team are from Australia, there a few from the subcontinent, too. Burns’ grandpar- ents were born and brought up in Italy before migrating to Australia after World War II. Burns has a dual passport. Though he had been longing to play for Italy in 2008-09, Burns took the call this year. His brother, Dominic, had passed away in February and Burns took on his jersey number (85), while making a commitment to honour his Italian heritage. He made his debut for Italy in the T20 World Cup European Regional Qualifier, and ensured its qualification for the Europe Regional final with a century against Romania in the final. “My story is very similar to a lot of Italians my age,” Burns tells TNIE. He is not alone in harbouring this longing. Since the time he joined the team, Italian Cricket Federation has received a flurry of requests from Australian cricketers with ItalP11 ian roots.  EXPRESS READ Vizhinjam: CM writes to PM to withdraw VGF norm T’Puram: In an effort to get unconditional viability gap funding (VGF) support for the Vizhinjam seaport project, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his urgent intervention. Pinarayi urged PM to withdraw the Union finance ministry’s norm making it mandatory for the state to repay VGF. “If the Centre insists on repayment, the assistance provided would be a loan. It’s contrary to the intent of the scheme,” the CM stated. P5 Question paper leak triggers controversy T’Puram: Question papers for the second term Christmas examinations in government schools have leaked, kicking up a controversy. General Education Minister V Sivankutty lodged a complaint with the police chief and the general education department will hold a meeting on Monday to discuss the matter. So far, there has been no decision on re-examination. P5 Rahul’s Savarkar poke at BJP-rss P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi In a no-holds-barred attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the grand old party having , ‘tasted blood’, repeatedly tampered with the Constitution, adding that the party can’t wipe off the taint. In his reply to the two-day debate commemorating 75 years of the adoption of the Constitution, Modi accused the previous Congress governments of amending the Constitution 75 times in the last six decades. “The seed was planted by the first PM, was followed by another PM Indira Gandhi. Disregarding the Supreme Court’s decision of 1971, she amended the Constitution to clip the wings of our judiciary to give complete power to the Parliament,” he said. “Whenever democracy is discussed in the world, this sin of the Congress will never be forgiven... The Constitution was torn apart when it was celebrating 25th anniversary he added. ,” Recalling the dark days of Emergency Modi said that the , country was turned into a prison, citizens’ rights were snatched and press freedom curtailed. “When Indira Gandhi’s election to the Lok Sabha was turned down, she imposed Emergency to save her position in 1975. She also ensured that Justice Khanna, who gave the order against her election, was Narendra Modi, prime minister Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi launched a broadside against the BJPRSS, saying Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar considered Manusmriti superior to the Constitution. He quoted Savarkar as saying that there was “nothing Indian about our Constitution.” Ridiculing the BJP, he said, “when you speak about defending the Constitution, you are defaming Savarkar.” | P7 not made the CJI,” Modi said. Continuing his attack, he said former PM Rajiv Gandhi disregarded Supreme Court’s order in favour of Shah Bano, and pursued vote-bank politics. Their next generation is also into the same game, he said in a swipe at Leader of Opposition in the House Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. In a veiled reference to Rahul, the PM said an ‘arrogant’ person tore the decision of the Cabinet when the Congress-led UPA government headed by the then prime minister Manmohan Singh was in power. The National Advisory Council, which was headed by Sonia Gandhi, was put above the Cabi- net during the UPA rule, he pointed out. Referring to the Uniform Civil Code, he said it was a topic debated by the Constituent Assembly and they decided that the decision should be taken by subsequent governments. “Today we are committed to bring about a secular code in the country Modi said. ,” While the makers of the Constitution took a considered decision to disallow reservation on the basis of religion and faith in the interest of the country’s unity and integrity, the Congress in its ‘greed for power’ and to ‘appease its vote bank’ pushed for it in violation of the constitutional spirit, the prime minister charged.  P7 Jumla is a favourite word of the Congress. The biggest jumla in country’s history was Indira Gandhi’s slogan of garibi hatao, which was used by their four generations