In short

>> The Zambian Parliament has amended the Mines and Minerals Act allowing the government to levy higher taxes on mining companies by abolishing all existing agreements. Mining companies operating in Zambia had opposed the amendments and threatened to suspend operations.

>> Officials in southern China have sealed more than 4,000 boxes of contaminated milk powder and asked the manufacturer to recall another 2,700 boxes after 119 children fell sick on drinking the milk product.

>> Engineers breached a hydroelectric dam in the US state of Montana to clean up toxic sediments captured from years of mining in its upstream. The reservoir behind the Milltown dam held 55 hectares of sediment laden with arsenic, zinc, copper and other heavy metals.

>> Tanzania's government suspended mining in Mirerani, after at least 75 miners went missing following heavy rains on March 29. The rains flooded eight mines in the region.

>> WHO has confirmed the first case of human-to-human transmission of bird flu in Pakistan. A poultry worker in Peshawar passed the disease on to his family members.