BBC News with Jerry Smit

President Obama has announced America’s first-ever federal regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from power stations. In a speech at Georgetown University, he also unveiled plans to expand renewable energy projects, improve flood resilience and work towards a new global climate treaty. In an attempt to bypass his opponents in congress, the president said he would use his executive powers to enforce the new roads without going through congress. He said there was no longer any question about the need for action.

“The question now is whether we will have the courage to act before it’s too late and how we answer will have a profound impact on the world that we leave behind not just to you but to your children and your grandchildren. As a president, as a father and as an American, I’m here to say we need to act.”

President Putin has confirmed that the fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden is still in the transit area at Moscow airport. The whistleblower is wanted in America for leaking details of a secret surveillance program. Mr. Putin insisted Russia had no prior knowledge of his arrival.

“Mr. Snowden has indeed arrived in Moscow for us it was completely unexpected. He came as a transit passenger and he does not need a visa or other document. As a transit passenger he has the right to buy a ticket and fly wherever he wants to. At the same time he is not crossing the state border so he does not need a visa. And any accusations against Russia are nonsense and rubbish.”

The United Nations officials say an international peacekeeping force will start operations in Mali on the first of July. Mali has been in turmoil since March last year when Tuareg rebels and Islamist militants took control of the north of the country. French forces intervened in January to halt a rebel advance on the capital Bamako. Nadia Dahabiyeh reports from the UN.

The force will be the United Nations third largest peacekeeping operation with the size of 12,600 troops by the end of this year. African forces already in Mali will make up nearly half of the mission. The peacekeepers will be supported by 1,000 French troops who’ll remain to carry out anti-terrorism operations. One of their immediate responsibilities will be securing presidential elections planned for July 28th.

An international team of astronomers say they’ve discovered a group of planets 22 light years from earth which are orbiting around their sun in what’s known as the goldilocks zone, the area which could make them capable of supporting life. Using data and observations from telescopes around the world, the researchers believe the planets may be rocky and have water on their surfaces.

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Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda say they’ve agreed to build two pipelines across East Africa to serve existing and newly discovered oil and gas fields. One of them, the extension of an old one will link Rwanda with the Kenyan port of Mombasa while a new pipeline will be built from South Sudan to Lamu and Kenya where a port is under construction. The latter will allow landlocked South Sudan to circumvent Sudan in its oil exports.

The Irish government is to open an investigation into the bailout of Anglo-Irish Bank in 2008. The move comes after a newly discovered telephone recordings allegedly show former directors playing down the true scale of the bank’s loses. The recordings obtained by the Irish Independent Newspaper show how top executives misled the Central Bank of Ireland into believing that Anglo-Irish required only 7 billion Euros for the bailout. Taxpayers ultimately give 30 billion Euros of support to the bank which brought Ireland to the brink of bankruptcy.

Police in Brazil say at least nine people have died following a gun battle against drug dealers in a favela in Rio De Janeiro. The clashes began after a demonstration on Monday. From Rio, Julia Cornell reports.

It was one more of the many demonstrations that have been happening in Brazil in the past weeks. But as it came to an end, police say a criminal gang arrived and started robbing pedestrians and drivers on one of Rio’s main expressways. The situation is tense in the favela with several shops and schools closed. The confrontation happened amid suspicion that some criminals are using the ongoing demonstrations in Brazil to act.

A court in Los Angeles has charged the singer Chris Brown over alleged hit-and-run accident. Mr. Brown who is still on probation for assaulting his former girlfriend, the pop star Rihanna is also accused of driving without a licence. The two offences could carry a sentence of a year in jail.

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