CHERRY HILL, N.J. - A single-engine aircraft has made an emergency landing on the New Jersey Turnpike and no one is injured, officials said Monday.

Turnpike Authority spokesman Joe Orlando said the Cessna 152 landed in the northbound lanes in Cherry Hill Monday morning, about five miles east of Philadelphia. The pilot and two passengers were unhurt.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Arlene Salac said the landing was precautionary because of a low oil pressure indicator.

The plane was hired to provide traffic reports for Philadelphia’s KYW-AM radio and KYW-TV stations, Metro Networks spokeswoman Christine Miller said.

A truck has been brought in to remove the plane from road.

Traffic on that stretch of the turnpike is backed up, with cars moving only in the left shoulder.

China’s state media has accused the United States of “arrogance” and “double standards” in pursuing arms sales to Taiwan.

The state-run China Daily and the Global Times also warned that China’s threats of retaliation were real.

The Obama administration approved the $6.4bn arms sale to Taiwan last week.

China has warned of “serious harm” to relations between the two powers, the suspension of military contact and sanctions against the firms involved.

The US has said it will go ahead with the sale anyway.

‘Cold war thinking’

China’s state media said President Barack Obama must have been “insincere” when he promised not to “contain” China.

The US move “exposes [its] usage of double standards and hypocrisy on major issues related to China’s core interests,” the China Daily said.

“Washington’s arrogance also reflects the stark reality of how a nation’s interests could be trampled upon by another,” it added.

The Global Times, which is run by the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s propaganda mouthpiece, said: “It’s time the US was made to feel the heat for the continuing arms sales to Taiwan.

“It would be folly to underestimate Chinese unity over the Taiwan question. Punishing companies that sell weapons to Taiwan is a move that would be supported by most Chinese.”

The People’s Daily said in a commentary that the arms sales showed Washington’s “rude and unreasonable Cold War thinking”.

“When it comes down to it, the United States is still drawing lines based on ideology and coming up with a million ways to stymie China’s development and progress,” the paper’s overseas edition said.

One China?

Taiwan has been ruled by a separate government from China since the end of the civil war in 1949, but China still considers the island to be part of its territory.

Beijing has more than 1,000 missiles pointed at Taiwan and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control if the island moves towards formal independence.

Defence ties between Washington and Beijing have been on ice for several years because of differences over Taiwan, though the two countries’ leaders pledged to improve them in 2009.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but it remains Taiwan’s biggest ally and is obliged by the Taiwan Relations Act to help in the island’s defence.

The US State Department said on Saturday that the weapons sale contributed to “security and stability” between Taiwan and China.

But China said the row would endanger co-operation with the US on “key international and regional issues.”

Ties between the US and China are already strained by rows over trade and internet censorship.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has begun a fresh round of talks aimed at reuniting Cyprus, saying “a solution is possible and within reach”.

He was speaking before talks with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. He is also due to meet Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias.

The two leaders have been locked in peace talks for the past 16 months.

Mr Ban said reaching a deal required “courage, flexibility and vision as well as a spirit of compromise”.

“I am under no illusion that the Cyprus problem is easy to solve or about the difficulties you face,” Mr Ban told reporters.

“At the same time I’m confident that a solution is possible and within reach,” he added.

‘Grindingly slow’ progress

Ahead of Monday’s talks with Mr Talat, about 50 demonstrators gathered in Larnaca chanting “We want peace now!”

Following Mr Ban’s talks with the individual leaders, the three men are due to hold a joint meeting.

A UN-administered boundary currently separates Cyprus

Peace talks were launched amid much optimism and fanfare in September 2008.

But progress has been grindingly slow and time may be running out to find a solution, says the BBC’s Europe correspondent Jonny Dymond.

Whilst agreement appears near on one issue - governance - others such as territory and property, let alone security, seem way out of reach, our correspondent says.

There are also concerns that talks could be shelved if Mr Talat, who is seen as a moderate, loses April’s leadership election in northern Cyprus to nationalist candidate Dervis Eroglu, who is currently leading in opinion polls.

Northern Cyprus is recognised as a state only by Turkey.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish forces invaded the island in response to a Greek-led coup apparently aimed at making it part of Greece.

The last attempt at a negotiated solution to the Cypriot problem - in 2004 - collapsed when Turkish Cypriots voted in favour of a UN settlement plan, but Greek Cypriots rejected it.

As a result, Cyprus - or the southern part ruled by Greek Cypriots - joined the European Union that year, while the north remained effectively excluded.

Israel has revealed it has reprimanded two top army officers for authorising an artillery attack which hit a UN compound in Gaza last year.

In the attack on 15 January 2009 the compound was set ablaze by white phosphorus shells.

The admission is contained in the Israeli response to the UN’s Goldstone report, which concluded both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes.

Both officers have retained their ranks, according to reports.

The Israeli army has not specifically said that the rules of engagement were broken over the use of white phosphorus.

During the 22-day conflict last year, media pictures showed incendiary shells raining down on a UN compound.

The officers were named in Israeli media reports as Gaza Division Commander Brig Gen Eyal Eisenberg and Givati Brigade Commander Col Ilan Malka.

“Several artillery shells were fired in violation of the rules of engagement prohibiting use of such artillery near populated areas,” the Israeli response to the Goldstone report says.

The officers were charged with “exceeding their authority” in ordering the use of the weapons in the attack.

An Israeli Defence Force spokesman said that the reprimand would be noted on their records and would be considered if they apply for promotion in future.

Brig Gen Eisenberg is still in command of Israel’s Gaza division, and Col Malka has been moved to the West Bank under the same rank, according to the Reuters news agency.

‘Evidence’

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the military was investigating about 150 allegations. There was enough evidence in 36 cases to pass those claims to military police for criminal investigations.

“In this particular case, it was not referred to criminal investigation, it wasn’t decided that there was evidence of criminal wrongdoing and a reprimand was warranted,” Mr Regev said, referring to the shells fired on the UN compound.

Criminal proceedings have so far been opened in one case, concerning an alleged theft of a credit card from a Palestinian family by an Israeli soldier.

The soldier used the card to withdraw hundreds of dollars, Israeli media reported.

Mr Regev said there would be “serious consequences” for soldiers found guilty of criminal conduct.

‘Hush money’

A Hamas spokesman said the disciplinary action was “further admission of Israel’s guilt” over alleged war crimes.

But he said he did not expect any further action to be taken against military officers.

He said Israel had paid the United Nations $10.5 million (£6.6 million) in damages to repair their compounds, which he called “hush money”.

A UN representative who was in the compound in Gaza city during the attack told the BBC he “expected full accountability from the Israelis”.

Two UN staff and two Palestinians sheltering in the compound were seriously injured, he said.

A doctor at Gaza city’s main hospital told the BBC he treated hundreds of Palestinians for phosphorus burns during the offensive.

UN demands

The BBC’s Paul Wood in Jerusalem says it is the first time Israel has revealed it reprimanded any officer for his actions during the offensive, named Operation Cast Lead by the Israeli military.

Our correspondent says the admission was buried in the document handed to the UN on Friday.

The UN General Assembly has demanded that both Israel and Hamas launch independent investigations into their conduct during the Israeli operation which began in December 2008.

An Israeli official said the submission to the UN was not intended to respond in detail to the allegations and incidents outlined in the Goldstone report, but to explain why the Israeli justice system was “reliable” and “independent”.

The Islamist movement Hamas has denied that its forces deliberately targeted civilians with rockets.

Both sides have until 5 February to respond in detail to the UN General Assembly’s request for independent investigations to be launched.

White phosphorus, which is used to lay smokescreens, is legal for use on open ground but its use in built-up areas where civilians are found is banned under international conventions.

A group of senior Sri Lankan military officers have been dismissed for what defence officials called being a “threat to national security”.

The defence ministry said the officers had been “sent on compulsory retirement”.

The move follows a bitter general election campaign in which incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa defeated former army chief Gen Sarath Fonseka.

Both have claimed there have been assassination plots against them.

The BBC Sinhala service has learned those dismissed included at least nine high-ranking officers.

A senior military source told the BBC they included three major-generals and four brigadiers.

A number of the officers worked for Gen Fonseka’s campaign in the recent elections.

‘Party politics’

National Security Director-General Laxman Hulugalle said the men had been “involved in party politics” and said that the officers had been dismissed to maintain the discipline and impartiality of the armed forces.

In a BBC interview, Mr Hulugalle said he saw no parallels between the actions during the election of the officers who had been dismissed and those of the president’s son, a naval officer, who campaigned for for his father.

Gen Fonseka has refused to accept his election defeat, saying his supporters had been intimidated and the result fixed.

What now for Sri Lanka? Hotel stand-off Sri Lankan views on election

A military source told AFP news agency the officers had been sacked to thwart any attempted coup by Gen Fonseka’s supporters inside the military.

In a statement, the defence ministry said an undisclosed number had been “sent on compulsory retirement” because they were considered a “direct threat to national security”.

President Rajapaksa and Gen Fonseka had been close allies during the military offensive that defeated the separatist Tamil Tigers last May.

But they subsequently fell out over who should take credit for the military victory.

There has been mounting concern in Sri Lankan media about a government crackdown on its critics.

“Now that the president has been re-elected, there appears to be a settling of scores with critics of the government,” Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said on Friday.

The BBC’s Charles Haviland in Colombo says the atmosphere in Sri Lanka since the election has been tense.

While the government’s critics have accused it of repression, the authorities have accused Gen Fonseka’s supporters of planning a coup and of plotting to assassinate the president and his family.

Ministers were warned of a “serious risk” the military would not have all the equipment it needed to invade Iraq, the inquiry into the war has heard.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the head of the armed forces, said defence chiefs “simply didn’t have enough time” to source everything they wanted.

It would have made a “significant difference” if the military had been given six months, rather than four.

A shortage of body armour was blamed for one of the first UK deaths in Iraq.

Sir Jock, who was the deputy chief of defence staff in charge of equipment at the time of the invasion, in March 2003, singled out problems with supplying enough body armour, desert combats and boots for frontline troops.

‘Additional time’

He said: “The problem of course was that we simply didn’t have enough time, as it turned out, to do everything we needed to do before the operation started.”

Asked whether having an extra two months to prepare for the war would have helped, he said: “I think it would have made a significant difference. That’s 50% additional time.

“We were finding that in a number of cases we were getting 100% delivery about a month or two after the operation started. So I think that the six-month assumption wasn’t a bad one.”

The inquiry has already heard evidence that planning for the war was affected by concerns that public military preparations could damage diplomatic negotiations.

Sir Jock insisted defence chiefs voiced their concerns to politicians about the tight time scale.

He said: “We made it absolutely clear to ministers that if we were not allowed to engage with industry - and that was the critical element - we could take these no further and that there was a serious risk that they would not all be delivered by the assumed start of operations.”

‘Not enough’

There had been problems with equipment shortages on the ground being communicated back to London, he said.

Sir Jock told the inquiry: “The other area where we could have done better is in terms of enhanced combat body armour. We didn’t have enough of that in theatre at the time.

“And I think, in part for both clothing and body armour, the issue was it was all done so rapidly at the last minute. No one was quite sure who had what.

“For example, just before the start of operations, the clear message that we were receiving in the Ministry of Defence was that all unit demands for enhanced combat body armour had been met.

“But quite clearly not everybody who needed it in theatre got it.”

The shortage of body armour was blamed for the death of one of the first British soldiers killed in Iraq.

Tank commander Sergeant Steven Roberts, 33, who was born in Cornwall and lived in Shipley, West Yorkshire, was shot dead by a comrade while struggling with an attacking Iraqi near the southern city of Al Zubayr on March 24 2003.

The 2006 inquest into his death heard he was left exposed by “serious failings” in the Army’s supply and training methods which meant he had to give up his body armour just three days earlier.

Former International Development Secretary Clare Short will give evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday.