Morning Edition

The student government at the University of California, Irvine voted Thursday night to call for the resignation of Dr. Hazem Chehabi, who is the chairman of its school's foundation. He also serves as the Syrian consul general in California. He is a personal friend of Syria's dictator Bashar Assad.

If you're trying to determine whether the ground chuck you buy in the grocery store contains so-called pink slime, or lean beef trimmings, you won't find it on the ingredient list. "It's not required to be labeled," explains Don Schaffner, a food scientist at Rutgers University.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Jiro Ono, 85, owns a small sushi restaurant in a Tokyo subway station. The 10 seats at the sushi bar require reservations months in advance. In the new movie, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, director David Gelb explores the chef's relationships with his sons and the art of sushi-making. Gelb talks to Renee Montagne about Ono's story.

The Department of Agriculture has announced it would give schools the choice to order ground beef that does not contain Pink Slime — otherwise known as lean beef trimmings. But beef trimmings aren't just found in school lunches.

In NCAA men's basketball action Thursday night, Iowa State defeated the the University of Connecticut 77-64. The Huskies were last year's champions. Also, VCU beat Wichita State 62-59 to advance to weekend play.

The Taliban has announced it is suspending peace talks with the U.S. At the same time, Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded the U.S. pull troops out of rural areas by next year following a deadly shooting spree by an American soldier. These signals have come at an already difficult time for the U.S. in Afghanistan and further complicate the U.S. exit strategy.

Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep talks to Francisco Goldman, of The New Yorker, about his article "Children of the Dirty War.'" More than 30 years ago in Argentina, children were stolen from their birth parents. it was a terror campaign waged by the military junta against members of the opposition.