News in Short

• Germany shut down half of the six nuclear plants it still has in operation, a year before the country draws the final curtain on its decades-long use of atomic power.
• The decision to phase out nuclear power and shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy was first taken by the center-left government of Gerhard Schroeder in 2002.
• The three reactors now being shuttered were first powered up in the mid-1980s. Together they provided electricity to millions of German households for almost four decades.

• The Indian Air Force is likely to complete the deployment of the first regiment of the S-400 Triumph missile system at an airbase in Punjab.
• The first regiment of the missile system is being deployed in such a way that it can cover parts of the border with China in the northern sector as well as the frontier with Pakistan.
• In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, despite a warning from the Trump administration.

• China opened an embassy in Nicaragua for the first time since 1990, acting just over three weeks since President Daniel Ortega’s government broke off relations with Taiwan.
• Ortega established relations with China in 1985, but after he lost the presidential election in 1990, the government of Nicaragua’s new president, Violeta Chamorro, recognized Taiwan.
• The Nicaraguan government broke relations with the Taiwanese on December 9 and last week it seized the former embassy and diplomatic offices of Taiwan.

• Alka Mittal has been appointed interim chairman and managing director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)—the first woman to head the country’s largest oil and gas producer.
• Ms. Mittal replaces Subhash Kumar, another interim head who retired after reaching superannuation age on December 31.
• Nishi Vasudeva was the first woman to head an oil company when in 2014 she took over the reins of oil refiner and fuel marketing company Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).

• Devas shareholders have seized $6.8 million worth of Airport Authority of India’s (AAI’s) property following permission from a Canadian court.
• The shareholders had sought the right to seize all sum or moveable property of India and/or AAI being held by the International Air Transport Association.
• The PCA ruled in favour of Devas shareholders in 2016 finding India in breach of the obligation to accord fair and equitable treatment leading to unlawful expropriation of Devas’ business.