NPR 2008-06-02

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has won the Puerto Rico primary by a two-to-one margin 1 over Barack Obama today. That leaves just two primaries left Tuesday in South Dakota and Montana. At a victory rally in San Juan this afternoon, Clinton said when all the votes are counted, the outcome of the Democratic race will still not be settled. “I will lead the popular vote. He will maintain a slight lead in the delegate count. The decision will fall on the shoulders of those leaders in our party empowered by the rules to vote at the Democratic convention.” Those leaders are the so-called "superdelegates" and Clinton would have to convince the vast majority of them to support her, something that even some of her own backers consider unlikely. 

 Australia has withdrawn 2 more than 500 troops from Iraq today, effectively ending that country’s combat role there. The decision to bring the troops home came after public support for the war eroded 3 in Australia. NPR’s Corey Flintoff has the story from Baghdad.

 Australia was among the first countries to commit troops to the US-led force in Iraq and it kept them there for more than five years. Former Prime Minister John Howard was considered a good friend and strong ally of President Bush. But his popularity at home crumbled 4 largely because of his support for Australian involvement in the war. Howard was defeated in his re-election bid last fall by Labor 5 Party leader Kevin Rudd, who made a campaign promise to bring the combat troops home by the middle of this year. Australian defense 6 officials say they will still keep hundreds of troops, a warship 7 and some surveillance planes in the region to help protect Iraq’s offshore 8 oil platforms, as well as some troops to provide security for diplomats 9 and officials. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Baghdad.

 A massive fire at Universal Studios near Los Angeles has destroyed sound stages, backlot sets and a huge vault 10 of videotapes of movies and TV shows. Patricia Nazario of member station KPCC says firefighters have finally gained the upper hand over the blaze.

 ‘”It is contained and it is still burning. Firefighters right now are just focusing their efforts on that one structure---the video library vault. All throughout the day, there have been about 500 firefighters on the scene. Now, there are about 300 to 350 on that one building. And they are focusing their efforts there. They, you know, it’s a, it’s a wooden building with the metal siding. And basically, the black smoke we are seeing is the plastic from the containers that hold those videos. ” Patricia Nazario reporting from the scene of the fire. Five firefighters have been injured battling the blaze.

 Legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent has died at his home in Paris at the age of 71 after a long illness. He was hailed as the most influential 11 designer of his times.

 This is NPR News in Washington.

 Myanmar’s military rulers are defending their response to the cyclone 12 that devastated 13 that country last month. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates today accused Myanmar’s government of "criminal neglect" for blocking large-scale international assistance to cyclone victims. Gates said it’s likely that four US navy ships loaded with supplies will be withdrawn from the region in a matter of days because Myanmar has so far denied permission for the vessels 14 to ferry their cargo 15 to storm-stricken areas. A UN official today said at least 200,000 cyclone victims have yet to receive any emergency food supplies.

 Israel has released a Lebanese man who had been jailed in Israel for spying for the Hezbollah group. Hezbollah later released the remains 16 of Israeli soldiers who were killed during the 2006 war. NPR’s Linda Gradstein has the story.

 Israel today freed Nasim Nisr after he completed a six-year jail term for spying for Hezbollah and transferred him to UN officials at the Israeli-Lebanese border. Shortly afterward 17, Hezbollah handed over the remains of an unspecified number of Israeli soldiers, although Israeli officials said this had not been expected. The exchange raised speculation 18 that a broader deal for the release of about ten Lebanese prisoners in Israel in exchange for two Israeli soldiers captured almost two years ago is imminent 19. The capture of those two soldiers sparked the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. There has been no sign of life from the soldiers. And Israeli officials now believe they were wounded during the capture and died soon afterwards. Linda Gradstein, NPR News, Jerusalem.

 The crew of the space shuttle Discovery has sent images of the orbiter’s wings back to Mission Control as part of a check to see if there was any damage from debris 20 that broke off during launch yesterday.