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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.

Currently the world's No. 14 team, the U.S. must finish in the top two among Germany (No. 2), Portugal (No. 5) and Ghana to advance. Another group will pit England against Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica. The tournament begins in Brazil in June.

The funny live tweets coming from frozen supermarket pizza giant @DiGiornoPizza were a tasty highlight of the Sound of Music Live broadcast on NBC. Bad puns, silly lyric changes, and just plain clever comments earned the company more than 2,000 new followers in a single night.

The auction house Christie's sold a Sunburst Fender Stratocaster guitar Friday for a whopping $965,000. It's the guitar behind what some consider a watershed moment in music history — the moment that Bob Dylan picked up an electric guitar on July 25, 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival.

Nelson Mandela served as president of South Africa for five years, elected in the country's first free election with voters from all races. But in deciding not to seek a second term, Mandela set the stage for a modern democracy. On the day his successor took office, Mandela spoke about his country's path to joining the "community of free nations," and remembered how it had "averted a blood bath, which most observers believed inevitable."

For the first time, scientists have figured out where we sit on the global food chain. Although humans are clearly top chefs of the world, we're not the top predator. Instead, our ranking is closer to a small, smelly fish that we put on pizzas and salads.

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.

BP is challenging hundreds of millions of dollars in claims that were filed after the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, saying some have no connection to the spill. But legal experts say the claims don't have to be spill-related and BP is relying on a friendly court to limit how much it will pay.

During a 20-minute eulogy, Obama said Mandela was the "last great liberator of the 20th century."

Lacing a sugar-free candy with the right kind of bacteria might one day help fight off tooth decay, a study suggests. The experimental mint lowered the levels of cavity-causing bacteria in volunteers' saliva. But the microbe candy still has a long way to go before it reaches shelves at Walgreens.