In brief: Hamas, Fatah continue fighting

Hamas and Fatah gunmen fought in Gaza City’s beachfront neighborhoods and around security compounds Saturday, ignoring renewed truce appeals and Arab mediation efforts. One man was killed, raising the death toll from three days of fighting to 26.

Bursts of gunfire alternated with periods of calm, and in areas of Gaza City not affected by the fighting, people tried to go about their lives.

President Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader, and Hamas’ supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, are to meet Tuesday in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for a reconciliation hosted by Saudi King Abdullah.

London

Underage troops were sent to Iraq

Fifteen British troops under the age of 18 have been “inadvertently” sent to fight in Iraq, violating a U.N. protocol on children’s rights, the government said today.

Defense Minister Adam Ingram, who gave the figure in a written statement to lawmakers, said the “vast majority” of the young troops had been within a week of turning 18 when they were deployed, or had been removed from the war zone less than a week after arriving.

Teenagers can join the British military at 16 with parental consent. In 2003, Britain signed an optional protocol to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child setting an age limit of 18 for compulsory recruitment and direct participation in hostilities.

Lusaka, Zambia

China chief offers to invest millions

Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday offered copper-rich Zambia a multimillion dollar investment package aimed at boosting ties with a longtime African ally.

Facing mounting accusations of Chinese exploitation of African labor and resources – an issue during last year’s Zambian presidential elections – Hu stressed that Beijing was motivated by partnership rather than purely profit.

The two-day visit to Zambia is Hu’s fourth stop on an eight-nation African tour intended to boost Chinese investment in – and returns from – the resource-rich but desperately poor continent.