History professor and political newcomer Gudni Johannesson (48) has won the 2016 Presidential election in Iceland. 
•    He will succeed Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who served as President of Iceland for 20 years i.e. four five year terms as the head of state. 
•    In the 2016 Presidential election, as an independent Gudni Johannesson was able to secure 39.1% votes. 
•    He defeated Halla Tomasdottir, a businesswoman without party affiliation, who was able to secure 27.9% votes. 
•    While David the former conservative party Prime Minister and Central Bank Governor David Oddsson was placed third and he won just 13% votes.
•    Gudni Johannesson is historian and lecturer at the University of Iceland, Bifrost University and University of London. 
•    He is the son of teacher and journalist Margrét Thorlacius and sports instructor Jóhannes Sæmundsson.
•    His brother Patrekur Jóhannesson is a former Icelandic handball national team player.
•    He has also studied German and Russian at a university level.
•    In 1999, he completed an MSt degree in history from the University of Oxford.
•    In 2003 he received a PhD in history from Queen Mary, University of London.

Nepal on 24 June 2016 banned its citizens from working in strife-torn Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya. The decision was made at a cabinet meet after 13 Nepali security guards were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul.
Nepali nationals killed in Afghanistan were employed as security guards in the Canadian embassy in Kabul. They were killed when militants exploded a bomb in a minibus on 20 June 2016.
•    It decided to suspend issuing labour permits to Nepalese nationals in four conflict-hit countries, namely Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya.
•    It also decided to hold diplomatic talks with the Afghanistan government in order to guarantee the security and safety of the Nepalese in Afghanistan and also to provide necessary support for those willing to return home.
•    It will provide 10 lakh Nepalese Rupee as compensation to families of the victims.
•    It has also made arrangements for the treatment of those injured in the attack by Taliban.
•    It also decided to ask the Canadian government to provide compensation to the families of the dead.
•    As per reports, the killed Nepali security guards were not directly employed by the embassy but were hired by a British agency. In total, 147 Nepalis were working as security guards in the Canadian embassy in Kabul.
•    Nepal government also evacuated 24 other Nepalese nationals who were working as security guard in the Canadian Embassy in Kabul following the terror attack.

The European Union on 22 June 2016 reached agreement to set up a new Border and Coastguard Force to curb the influx of migrants.
To tackle the crisis from which the EU is suffering from, the force have the right to intervene in front-line countries like Greece and Italy.
•    The agreed subject that was endorsed by the negotiators for the 28 EU member states and the European Parliament was a proposal from the European Commission, the bloc's executive. It wanted to set up the force by the summer.
•    The parliament is expected to vote on the issue in a key committee in fourth week of June 2016.
•    Making of the force will represent an expansion of the size and tasks of the existing Frontex border agency, based in Warsaw.
•    In December 2016, EU leaders set a 30 June 2016 as a deadline for agreement on the new force, for tackling the flow of the migrants.
•    Several countries have reintroduced border controls that were eliminated years ago as part of Schengen as the EU deals with a record flow of more than one million migrants and refugees since the start of 2015.
•    Under the deal member states would still manage their borders on a daily basis but could call on emergency support from a pool of at least 1500 border guards.

The Colombian government and the leftist FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels on 23 June 2016 signed a historic ceasefire deal. This ceasefire deal helped in ending more than five decades of conflict, which is regarded as one of the oldest wars of history.
•    The signing ceremony held at Havana was witnessed by Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, FARC chief Timoleón Timochenko Jiménez, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, Cuban president, Raúl Castro and Venezuela’s head of state, Nicolás Maduro.
•    The announcement is seen as one of the last steps before a full peace deal is signed, which is expected within weeks via a referendum. The formal peace talks for the deal were started three years ago, in October 2012, in the Cuban capital.
•    The peace talks between the government and the rebels were hosted by the Cuban president, Raúl Castro; while Venezuela that had the observer status played an important role in encouraging FARC to the negotiating table.
•    The core area of discussion focused on five main areas that island reform, the rebels' future role in political life, a definitive end of hostilities, fighting the illegal drug trade and the situation of the victims.
•    The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army (FARC-EP) is a left wing militant organization established in 1964.
•    It is Colombia's largest rebel group and Latin America's oldest left-wing insurgency. It is active in Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador.
•    Like any left-wing militant organisation, its aim is to overthrow the government in power.
•    It was established as a communist-inspired peasant army fighting for land reform and to reduce the gulf dividing rich and poor in the Andean country.
•    It resulted in killing of an estimated 2.2 lakh people and displaced almost seven million.

The Prime Minister of United Kingdom David Cameron on 24 June 2016 announced his resignation hours after the Brexit vote that favoured leaving the European Union (EU).
•    During the campaign, Cameron-led Conserve Party advocated for remaining with the EU. In the referendum that was held on 23 June 2016, 51.89 percent of the voters preferred to leave the EU.
•    Among the 46.5 million people who registered to vote, only 48.11 percent voted to remain in the grouping. However, the result must still be approved by the UK Parliament to become effective.
•    Cameron will step down in October 2016 at the Conservative Party Conference to make way for a new Prime Minister to guide the UK in the new direction for the country.
•    This British politician was first elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 2001. At present, he represents the Oxford shire constituency of Witney.
•    Following the election of a hung parliament in the 2010 general election, he became Prime Minister as the leader of a coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
•    He was re-elected as the Prime Minister in the 2015 election, when his party won a parliamentary majority for the first time since 1992.

People of Britain in a historic referendum on 24 June 2016 voted in favour of leaving European Union (EU). The referendum ‘to leave’ or ‘to be a member’ of EU saw 51.9% votes in favour compared to 48.1% in against. 
•    Referendum turnout was higher than at 2015 general election.
•    Northern Ireland, London and Scotland voted strongly to stay back with the EU while the Wales and the English shires backed Britain exit (Brexit) from the EU.
•    Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation from his position.
•    The pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 as the markets reacted to the results. It fell by 3% within moments of the first result showing a strong result for Leave in Sunderland and fell as much as 6.5% against the euro.
•    The departure of the bloc's second biggest economy would weaken Europe's unity and stability which is already grappling with the Greek financial crisis and a massive influx of refugees.
•    It triggered fall in major markets like Japan’s Nikkei fell by 7.5% whereas Singapore’s Strait Times fell by 2.5%. Even the stock markets of China, Taiwan and South Korea registered a fall between 2-4%.
•    Internationally, prices of oil tumbled but the prices of gold rose sharply.
•    The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex index fell as much as 4.04 percent or 1090.9 points in early trade to a day’s low of 25,911.33 points.
•    The Indian rupee fell to 68.14 against the dollar, its lowest level since February 2016, later it crawled to 67.79.
•    Productivity and GDP per person of the UK would be lower as the costs would substantially outweigh any potential benefit of leaving the EU.
•    It may lead to disintegration of United Kingdom as an entity because Scotland may again ask for a referendum to be a part of EU as it had a referendum on 19 September 2014.
•    Other nations of the 28 nation bloc, now 27 with exit of Britain, may call for a referendum giving rise to protectionism and ultra-nationalism which is getting hardened across the world.
•    IMF said in an April report that "a U.K. exit from Europe's single market would also likely disrupt and reduce mutual trade and financial flows, curtailing key benefits from economic cooperation and integration, such as those resulting from economies of scale and efficient specialization.
•    It would likely result in a massive rebalancing of currencies. Investors would likely dive out of the British pound and into cash that's perceived as safe — the Swiss franc, the Japanese yen, the U.S. dollar. The euro could also see some weakening if investors are worried about the fate of the EU.

India is offering Commonwealth citizens fully funded training courses across a range of areas, including rural development, IT, telecommunications and renewable energy, in association with the Commonwealth Secretariat.
•    The courses are sponsored by the Indian government and delivered by Indian institutions through the Indian Technical and Economic (ITEC) programme, the Commonwealth Secretariat here said.
•    ITEC is part of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Third Country Training Programme, which aims to build capacity in member countries by providing specialist training in key areas of development work.
•    This is a fantastic opportunity for those in the public and private sectors, as well those who work with NGOs. 
•    India has allocated 30 places for participants from Commonwealth member states for the 2016-2017 program
•    In general, a Commonwealth citizen is a person who has that status under British nationality law and may enjoy some privileges in the United Kingdom and less commonly, other Commonwealth countries. 
•    Each country can determine what special rights, if any, are accorded to non-nationals who are Commonwealth citizens. 
•    The term is largely confined to British nationality law and is not used in many other Commonwealth countries such as Australia.

Leading member of the populist anti-corruption Five Star Movement (M5S) of Italy, Virginia Raggi (38) was elected as first female mayor of capital city Rome.
Virginia Raggi, a leading member of the populist anti-corruption Five Star Movement (M5S), on 20 June 2016 was elected as Rome’s first female mayor.
•    She is also the first candidate from that party, M5S to be elected to Rome's mayoralty.
•    Raggi, who will turn 38 in July 2016, is also the youngest mayor in Rome's history.
•    A lawyer and local councilor, Raggi was elected to the post for the Italian capital after winning 67% of the vote in a runoff ballot against the Democratic Party’s (PD) Roberto Giachetti.
•    Apart from her, Chiara Appendino another M5S candidate won the mayoral elections in Turin.
•    M5S is a political party which was founded by comedian-turned politician Beppe Grillo. 
•    With this win in Rome, the party also emerged as the main opposition to centre-left Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi.

Baltimore’s National Aquarium on 15 June 2016 announced its plan to create an Oceanside dolphin sanctuary. This will be first of its kind sanctuary for the marine mammals in North America.
The aquarium will move its colony of eight Atlantic bottlenose dolphins to an outdoor facility with natural seawater by 2020. Of the eight bottlenose dolphins (six female and two male), only one has ever lived in the open ocean.
•    Decided venue for the dolphins will be a protected coastal habitat, where the animals will continue to live under human care.
•    The venue will lie in a tropical or subtropical location will also contain natural stimuli for the dolphins, such as fish and sea plants.
•    Bottlenose dolphins are the one of the most common species of marine mammals, with colors ranging from light gray to black.
•    They range in size from 6 feet (1.8 meters) to more than 12 feet (3.6 meters) in length, and adults can weigh up to 1,400 pounds (635 kg).
•    Of the eight bottlenose dolphins, only one dolphin, female named Nani, has ever lived in the open ocean as she was born in wild in 1972.
•    They have never felt the rain on their dorsal fins, neither they ever chased a mullet along a mangrove shore or teased a startled crab.
•    These dolphins will have to learn the acts of being ocean-dwelling dolphins with its sets of skills to fight against problems like pollution, noise, jellyfish and red tides.
•    They will have to learn to survive in the new habitat that will be much larger than their current habitat.
•    The new habitat will also have more fish and marine plants as compared to the present habitat.

Justice Rakesh Ranjan Prasad, the senior-most Judge of the Manipur High Court on 13 June 2016 assumed charge of the Chief Justice of the High Court.
He succeeded Justice Laxmi Kanta Mohapatra who relinquished the office on 9 June 2016.
•    Earlier on 9 February 2016, Justice Prasad was transferred from Jharkhand High Court to Manipur High Court. He was transferred by President of India in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of article 222 of the Constitution of India.
•    Clause (1) of Article 222 of the Constitution empowers the President to transfer a judge from one high court to other high court, which can be done after consultation with the Chief Justice of India.
•    Born on 1 July 1955, Prasad did his schooling and graduation from Bihar.
•    He is a Science graduate and obtained his LL.B. Degree from Patna Law College, Patna.
•    He was enrolled as an Advocate in Bihar State Bar Council, Patna on 17 September 1980 and practiced in the area of Civil, Criminal and Writ matter at Patna High Court, Patna.
•    He joined into Superior Judicial Service as Additional District Judge on 6 May 1991 and was promoted to the post of District Judge on 8 June 2001.•    He was joined as Registrar General, High Court of Jharkhand on 8 June 2001.