National and World News from NPR

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.

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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

We're learning more about the American staff sergeant accused of killing 16 villagers in Afghanistan. Last night, his lawyer said the soldier did not want to go to Afghanistan, his fourth deployment for the Army. He had been wounded twice and he didn't think he was healthy enough to deploy. The attorney didn't release the soldier's name, but did say he was the father of two young children and added that the soldier's family was totally shocked by the allegations against him.

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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne with Steve Inskeep.

The heirs to one Latin America's biggest media conglomerates, a brother and a sister, spent years with their real identities in question. They've long been thought to be part of a group of children stolen from their birth parents more than 30 years ago. That was during Argentina's Dirty War, the terror campaign waged by the military junta then ruling Argentina against members of the opposition.

The United Nations estimates some 8,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began one year ago. One of them was Abdulrahman Abu Lebdeh, 24, who was killed in the town of Tal Kalakh last fall. His parents, his brother and one of his friends, who was also an activist, told the story of his life and death to NPR's Kelly McEvers and Lava Selo.

The Federal Trade Commission is looking at complaints raised last month when it was discovered Google was bypassing the privacy settings on Apple's Safari browsers to track user activity on the web. The agency wants to know whether the company "misrepresented" its privacy policy.

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And anyone listening in on yesterday's debate at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, you might have wondered whether the Cold War was really over.

At issue, whether to repeal trade a law aimed at pressuring the Soviet Union to allow Jewish emigration.

As Peter van Dyk reports from Moscow, remarkably it's a law that continues to have serious trade implications even today.

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The Israeli film "Footnote" has racked up a pile of awards - Best Screenplay at Cannes, nine awards at Israel's Oscars, and a nomination for Best Foreign Language film at the Academy Awards.

Film critic Kenneth Turan says it's all deserved.

KENNETH TURAN: "Footnotes"'s subject matter sounds dry, unlikely, even obscure. The film is set in Jerusalem's Hebrew University and deals with the implacable rivalry between two scholars of the Talmud, the complex and sacred text of the Jewish religious tradition.