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Also: Jennifer Szalai on the problem with "guilty pleasures"; Mike Tyson denied entry into the U.K.; portrait of Jane Austen sold at auction.

South Africans are paying their respects at a hilltop amphitheater in Pretoria, the spot where Mandela was sworn in as the country's first black president nearly 20 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps millions, are expected to come over the next three days.

The court said only Parliament can change the colonial-era law. The decision, which reverses a landmark lower court ruling that decriminalized homosexual acts, is being called a major setback to gay rights in the country.

Governments at all levels are trying to save money by scaling back retirement benefits. Public employees may still end up with more generous plans than their private sector counterparts, but the days of feeling totally secure about their pension income may be numbered.

Three people were killed and more than 150 were injured when the South Korean passenger jet crashed at San Francisco International Airport last July. As the NTSB holds an all-day hearing, there's word that the pilot was worried about making a visual approach to the runway.

The U.S. is suspending non-lethal aid because of infighting among the various factions opposed to President Bashar Assad. The rebel Free Syrian Army, which has lost ground in recent days to an Islamist group, criticized the decision. the U.K. also has reportedly decided to halt aid.

As Nelson Mandela is laid to rest, guest host Celeste Headlee asks if there's another activist who might galvanize the world in the same way. She speaks with Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times and Human Rights First's Brian Dooley.

Fresh Air's book critic says it's just a fluke that 9 of the 11 titles she picked this year were written by female authors. Her favorites include a jumbo-sized Dickensian novel, a biography of Ben Franklin's sister, a comedy of manners, a stunning Scandinavian mystery and more.

Twenty-four items sold for $530,000 this week in Paris. The Los Angeles-based Annenberg Foundation turned out to be the buyer, and says it stepped in after a French court rejected efforts to halt the auction.

Deceptive Cadence host Anastasia Tsioulcas talks with All Things Considered host Audie Cornish about three essential classical and world music releases from 2013 from very different parts of the globe: Bartok's Hungarian dancing, a percussion epic from Alaska and sweaty Nigerian funk.