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exchange of strikes in November.
• Yaalon's remarks came as two rockets fired from the coastal territory exploded at an Israeli border town, according to police. Code Red alarm sirens wailed in Sderot at about 7:30 a.m. local time warning of incoming rockets and forcing the town residents who were on their way to work or school to take cover. No injuries were sustained in the attack.
• Hours earlier, Israel struck targets in Gaza in response to Palestinian rocket attacks. It was the first time Israel retaliated for Gaza rocket fire since an informal cease-fire ended eight days of cross-border strikes between Israel and the Hamas-ruled territory in November. That round of fighting was triggered in part by almost daily Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel.
• Palestinians in Gaza have fired several rockets since an informal cease-fire took hold after the fighting. Two rockets were fired during President Barack Obama's visit to Israel two weeks ago.
• The Israeli military says that, of the five rockets fired in the past day, three hit Israel while another two exploded prematurely inside Gaza. "We will not allow shooting of any sort (even sporadic) towards our citizens and our forces," Yaalon said in a statement. He said he holds the Islamic militant group Hamas responsible for all rocket attacks from Gaza, which it has ruled since 2007.
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• JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- The power of ideas nourished Nelson Mandela during his confinement on Robben Island, but even this visionary might not have imagined the surreal scene planned for this month at the outpost where he spent 18 of 27 years as a prisoner of apartheid.
• Wind speed and direction permitting, a man in a harness will strap himself to 200 big balloons filled with helium, float off the island beneath a bulging latex column of color, and drift to the shores of Cape Town for a charitable cause.
• There are a few things he wants to avoid: an international airport, a major harbor, a nuclear power station, and the odd shark in the waters below.
• "Apart from all those hazards, there's nothing to worry about," said Matt Silver-Vallance, a South African-born manager at a medical device company who will pilot the whimsical craft.
• Civil aviation authorities say they are satisfied with safeguards for what should be a lazy meander in the breeze rather than an edge-of-your-seat stunt.

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