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President Obama ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff until Monday — a symbolic gesture of a nation in mourning. It's a tradition observed by countries around the world, one that began as early as the 17th century.

To an African-American coming of age in the late 1970s, there seemed two certainties: Nelson Mandela would die in prison in apartheid South Africa and no black person would become U.S. president in his lifetime. So much for youthful predictions.

The U.S. and Afghanistan have been at odds over a security agreement that allows U.S. troops to remain in the country past 2014. Hagel also met with leaders of Gulf nations to assure them the U.S. is not abandoning those ties in favor of a nuclear deal with Iran.

As they mourn the iconic anti-apartheid leader who shepherded South Africa to multiracial democracy, South Africans are experiencing mixed emotions. Some feel at peace with Nelson Mandela's death. Some are in disbelief, and some are anxious about a future without his guidance.

More than 100,000 troops left the service with other-than-honorable discharges in the last 10 years. The consequences of a bad discharge can last a lifetime, disqualifying veterans from benefits and health care. Host Rachel Martin speaks with NPR's Quil Lawrence about his series on these former members of the military.

The visit is the first test of an interim deal Iran struck with the West in November. International inspectors have not visited Iran's Arak heavy water production plant in more than two years.

Most revolutionary political figures consider compromise a dirty word and a sign of weakness. Yet Mandela consistently preached pragmatism, and many of his defining moments involved acts of flexibility, reconciliation and magnanimity.

California-based Moon Express just unveiled the design for a small robot spacecraft about the size of a coffee table that it says could move about the moon's surface powered only by solar panels and hydrogen peroxide.

Jive-talking, jazz-loving "hep cats" from the 1930s and 1940s are the great-grandparents of today's hipsters. The interest of white fans in black music helped fill Harlem's nightclubs and prompted derision. Hipsters were criticized for being the equivalent of a "pretentious poet laureate."

With an unstable host, a reluctant sidekick and a house band oblivious to its surroundings, The Eric Andre Show has been described as "the weirdest show on TV." For all its inappropriateness, the show has generated a rabid fan base and has been renewed for a third season.