WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton, already the front-runner in the minds of many Democrats for the 2016 U.S. presidential election, is writing a memoir about world affairs and her time as secretary of state that will likely fuel more speculation about her political future.

The presidential prospects of Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, are a subject of feverish speculation in Washington and elsewhere as Democrats look to see over the horizon past President Barack Obama.

The book, her fifth, is to be published next year, and a tour to promote the memoir in 2014 would serve only to generate more guessing about her plans for 2016.

Her inner circle insists Clinton has made no decision one way or the other. This has not stopped the formation of a "Ready for Hillary" political action committee to promote her potential candidacy and seek volunteers and monetary contributions.

Among the subjects Clinton will explore are the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the overthrow of the Qaddafi regime in Libya, the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, diplomacy pertaining to Iran and North Korea and relations with U.S. allies.

"Hillary Clinton's extraordinary public service has given her a unique perspective on recent history and the challenges we face," said Jonathan Karp, president and publisher of the Simon & Schuster Publishing Group who will edit Clinton's as-yet untitled book.

The book will also address trends in economics, energy and climate change, democracy and human rights, the critical role of women and girls, technology and innovation and health and human development, Simon & Schuster said on Thursday.

When she left the State Department February 1, Clinton, 66, had been suffering from a blood clot near her brain. She said she needed some time to rest and to settle on ways she can help women and children in the United States and around the world.

She is now re-emerging. Last month she announced that she now supports marriage rights for gay Americans. Back when she ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 she had backed civil unions for gay couples.

On Tuesday night in Washington, she spoke about global women's rights at an event held by the non-governmental organization Vital Voices, sharing the stage with a potential 2016 rival, Vice President Joe Biden.

She will give her first paid speech in Dallas on April 24, the day before she attends ceremonies there marking the opening of George W. Bush's presidential library.

Polls show Clinton as the runaway frontrunner at this stage among Democrats for their party's 2016 presidential nomination and that she leads all potential Republican contenders, including former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

(Additional reporting by Chris Michaud in New York and Susan Heavey in Washington; editing by Jackie Frank)

Capitol Hill hearings this Wednesday on the deadly 9/11 consulate attack by jihadists will feature three compelling witnesses, all State Department veterans: Gregory N. Hicks, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya and highest-ranking U.S. diplomat in the country at the time of the Benghazi jihad attacks; Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine who now serves as deputy coordinator for operations in the agency's Counterterrorism Bureau; and Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was the top security officer in Libya.

Nordstrom first testified last fall about how State Department brass spurned his requests for increased security at the compound. Hicks and Thompson are coming forward publicly for the first time this week with more damning evidence contradicting Team Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's claims about the administration's response the night of the attack and in the ensuing months of cover-ups.

According to the House Oversight Committee, Hicks reportedly will refute Team Obama's claims that nobody was told to stand down and that all military resources available were used in the rescue efforts. As Special Forces prepared to fly from Tripoli to Benghazi to save lives during the attacks, Hicks says the team received a phone call from the U.S. Special Operations Command Africa telling them "you can't go" and that the decision was "purely political."

The State Department press office already has accused Victoria Toensing, attorney for one of the Benghazi whistleblowers, of "lying" about administration pressure on her clients. Left-wing operatives funded by billionaire George Soros have taken to Twitter to mock reports of fear and intimidation among the new witnesses. White House press secretary Jay Carney continues to sing "Long, Long Ago" and deny all wrongdoing.

And one anonymous State Department official told Fox News reporter James Rosen that Hicks and Thompson have "axes to grind."

Gee, who wouldn't have an "axe to grind" if your bosses lied to you, blocked you from saving your co-workers and friends, and lied shamelessly and repeatedly to the American public about the reasons for their deaths?

It's this corrupt and vengeful White House that wields the sharpest axes and biggest grindstones. The casualty count in Obama's war on whistleblowers is double-digit.

ATF insiders who testified before Congress about Obama's Fast and Furious gun-running nightmare faced systemic retaliation and harassment — both from government supervisors who openly declared witch hunts against them and from liberal media water-carriers.

Maverick journalist Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News faced White House retaliation of her own over her Fast and Furious investigations. Department of Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler "was just yelling at me," and White House spokesman Eric Schultz "literally screamed at me and cussed at me," she told radio talk show host Laura Ingraham in 2011.

Former DOJ attorney J. Christian Adams, who blew the whistle on Attorney General Eric Holder's rule of law-perverting, race-baiting reign, was basely smeared as a "liar" and perjurer by DOJ proxy and Washington Post tool E.J. Dionne — who ignored Adams' stellar career record at DOJ and unassailable sworn testimony.

Gerald Walpin, former AmeriCorps inspector general, was pushed out of his job by the Obamas after exposing fraud and corruption perpetrated by Democratic mayor of Sacramento and Obama friend Kevin Johnson. The White House baselessly questioned the veteran watchdog's mental health and never apologized for slandering him.

The Pleasanton (CA) Weekly was bullied by the White House press shop over a benign article that irked the administration because it made Michelle Obama look snooty. The San Francisco Chronicle was punished by the White House because a print pool reporter used a cellphone to record video of protesters at an Obama Bay Area fundraiser.

And in case you needed reminding: Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius threatened to crack down on health insurers for candidly tying Obamacare mandates to rising premiums — something that Sebelius herself now acknowledges. Team Obama lambasted other whistle-blowing companies such as Deere, Caterpillar, Verizon and ATT for speaking out about the cost implications and financial burdens of Obamacare — and then cheered from the sidelines while Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman attempted to haul the firms up for a congressional inquisition.

If you thought Chicago-on-the-Potomac was dirty, you ain't seen nothing yet. No stone will be left unturned in the effort to slime, sully and squelch the Benghazi truth-tellers. Mark my words: This is how Obama's thugs roll.

Michelle Malkin is the author of "Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks and Cronies" (Regnery 2010). Her e-mail address is malkinblog@gmail.com.

COPYRIGHT 2013 CREATORS.COM

Wednesday, May 8

FC Lausanne-Sport 1 Sion 3

Luzern2 St Gallen0

FC Zurich 3 Basel1

Tuesday, May 7

Young Boys4 Grasshoppers 0

Standings PWDLFAPts

1Basel 31 17 9555 30 60

2Grasshoppers31 16 9637 29 57

-------------------------

3St Gallen 31 15 8844 29 53

4Sion30 12 9936 36 45

-------------------------

5FC Zurich 31 12 712 49 41 43

-------------------------

6Young Boys31 10 912 42 40 39

7Thun30 10 812 36 40 38

8Luzern31 712 12 31 41 33

9FC Lausanne-Sport 31 6916 25 43 27

-------------------------

10 Servette29 4817 22 48 20

1-2: Champions League preliminary round

3-4: Europa League

5: Europa League depending on domestic cup

10:Relegation

Next Fixtures (GMT):

Thursday, May 9

Servette v Thun(1745)

Saturday, May 11

Luzern v Young Boys(1745)

St Gallenv Sion(1745)

Sunday, May 12

Baselv Servette(1145)

Thun v FC Lausanne-Sport (1145)

Grasshoppers v FC Zurich (1400)

"Locating offices in these regions is a very important step in IAP's international expansion strategy as we continue to grow our business and compete in today's ever-changing marketplace," said IAP President Spence Wickham. "By having a presence in these areas, we will be able to work more closely with our customers and provide better value as we partner together to solve the many complex challenges they face today."

These are just the next steps in IAP's expansion in the Middle East and Africa, which is coupled with the Dubai office which is the hub in the Middle East operations. "The Dubai office became a viable springboard for tapping new opportunities for growth and expansion," said Mr. Wickham. "After talking with our customers in the other regions, we determined that now is the right time to expand our footprint even further in Africa and the Middle East."

IAP is a leading international contractor providing a broad spectrum of services and solutions to commercial industries, the U.S. and multi-national government agencies and organizations. A world-class leader in providing seasoned program management, IAP leverages and integrates its capabilities to provide safe, innovative, and reliable solutions to meet customers' diverse and complex challenges.

IAP's corporate headquarters is located in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the company operates in over 120 locations worldwide. The Company also maintains corporate offices in Panama City, Fla., and Arlington, Va. For more information, visit IAP ator .

Contact: Arlene Mellinger321-784-7147

SOURCE IAP Worldwide Services, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt predicted on Tuesday that there will be more than a billion smartphones in use featuring its Android software within the next six to nine months.

Schmidt also noted that Google had no intention of blocking access to a new app from Facebook Inc, saying he was "phenomenally happy" with the app from Google's rival, which replaces the homescreen on Android phones.

The new Facebook Home app was released on Friday and gives the social networking service prominent placement on Android phones.

Removing Facebook Home from Google's app store would be counter to Google's "public statements, our policies, our religion," Schmidt said at a conference in New York on Tuesday organized by the technology blog AllThingsD.

Because the Android software is open source, companies are free to tinker with it and customize it to their needs. Facebook's Home app prominently displays Facebook's newsfeed and messages on the homescreen, stealing the spotlight from Google's own services such as Web search and maps.

The five-year old Android software has been a huge hit for Google, giving the Internet search company a strong footing with consumers who increasingly access the Web from mobile phones rather than from PCs. Android is now the world's No.1 mobile phone software, with more than 750 million mobile devices featuring Android in use across the world.

At the current rate, Schmidt said that Google should cross the 1 billion mark within six to nine months and will be "nearing 2 billion in a year or two."

Schmidt also said the European Union antitrust regulators were not looking at Android issues and he noted that regulators could be done evaluating a proposal to settle an investigation of the company within the year.

"If that proceeds think it will be a pretty good outcome for everybody," Schmidt said.

The European Commission, which began investigating Google's business practices in 2010, said Google may have violated antitrust rules by pushing its own services over those of rivals, copying travel and restaurant reviews from competing sites without permission and restricting advertisers from moving to competing services.

The world's most popular search engine formally submitted a package of concessions to European regulators last week. Neither the Commission nor Google have given details of the proposals. But people familiar with the matter have told Reuters these could include Google labeling its own services to differentiate them from rivals', and also imposing fewer restrictions on advertisers.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Alden Bentley)

The project will be run through C40, a coalition of major cities around the world that united to study the impact of climate change on their municipalities. The group, chaired by Bloomberg,with the Clinton Climate Initiativean offshoot of Clintons philanthropic foundation.

Known as the C40 Risk Assessment Framework, the "climate risk" project, as Bloomberg referred to it, would develop a consistent set of measures by which cities could assess their risk of a natural disaster, including hurricanes and floods.

Cities simply cannot afford to close their eyes and hope for the best, Bloomberg said, as he and Clinton unveiled the project during a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in Manhattan.

If you cant measure a risk, you cant manage it, Bloomberg added, warning that a damaging storm like Sandy could happen again.

Bloomberg and Clinton argued that having a consistent measure of risk would help lawmakers prioritize on where to spend money to ward off natural disasters and sell voters on why infrastructure is necessary. Among other things, the framework would examine a city's potential for flooding or other issues related to the environment.

A framework "gives legislators something to hang their hats on ... an independent measure of what the risks are, Bloomberg said.

The mayor added, Its like a rating on your bonds. People will believe it.

Their joint appearance also had the feeling of a political lovefest. Before Bloomberg took the stage, Clinton praised Bloomberg for his work in trying to combat climate change and for his leadership before, during and in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Bloomberg, for his part, praised Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had appeared on stage a few minutes before to announce that she and her husband plan to hold a CGI meeting in Brazil this fall to focus on development in Latin America.

To wild applause, Hillary Clinton noted that this CGI meeting was her first as a private citizen.

Afterwards, Bill Clinton took the stage and praised both his wife and their daughter, Chelsea, for taking greater roles in his philanthropic foundation. And he was followed by Bloomberg, who also paused in his remarks to praise Hillary Clinton, a former Democratic senator from New York whom to be his successor at City Hall when he leaves later this year.

But Bloomberg made no mention of those overtures as he praised Hillary Clinton "as the real star of the show" at the meeting. "I am honored to welcome Secretary Clinton back to New York City," Bloomberg said.

Thats the provocative question behind an ambitious project by four undergraduate engineering students from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, presented at this weekend's Cornell Cup in Orlando, Fla. Over the course of a school year, the Amherst team built a prototype black box for humans that you could carry around wherever you went, and could be activated to record audio of your surroundings in case you ran into trouble.

That audio recordingheavily encrypted, completely tamper-proof and admissible as evidence in a U.S. courtroom, per the Amherst teamwould hypothetically serve as an unquestionable, unbiased on-the-scene account of a contentious dispute between opposing parties, say, or of a persons untimely final moments. And while that may seem dark, the necessity of such a recording device reveals itself in painful detail given the projects inspiration: The .

Indeed, the precise particulars of Martins death remain shrouded in mystery due in part to the lack of audio or video at the scene of the crime. Had Martin been carrying some kind of always-on recording device, per Amherst engineer Brett Kaplan, much of the uncertainty may have been mitigated.

that a large crowd had gathered to watch Roy zip-line 600 feet, which would have broken his own record. But Roy made it about halfway before he stopped.

Photographer Balai Sutradhar, who was covering the stunt, told the BBC, "He was desperately trying to move forward. He was trying to scream out some instruction. But no one could follow what he was saying. After struggling for 30 minutes he became still."

Doctors later said he had suffered a massive heart attack.

It took authorities almost 45 minutes to get Roy down from the line. There were no emergency crews on site, according to the BBC.

A friend of Roy's said that Roy's wife "used to urge him to quit doing dangerous stunts. Mr. Roy convinced her that crossing the Teesta River would be his last. Unfortunately, that became his last stunt."

Roy's younger brother, Benoy, told : "We were proud of his bravery. He was sure to win but destiny has taken his life, and the most beloved member of our family as well."

In 2011, Roy captured the world record for traveling the longest distance on a zip wire hanging only from his hair. He was also known for lifting heavy objects attached to his mustache, and for pulling the Darjeeling Himalayan train (nicknamed the "Toy Train" because it's so narrow) with his ponytail.

"One of the extraordinary measures of progress that we've seen in this country has been the recognition that the LGBT community deserves full equality - not just tolerance, but a recognition that they are fully a part of the American family," Obama told a news conference.

"I think Americans should be proud that this is just one more step in this ongoing recognition that we treat everybody fairly ... and we judge people on the basis of their character and their performance, not their sexual orientation."

Obama, an avid basketball fan, called Collins on Monday to tell him he supported his decision.

First lady Michelle Obama also tweeted her backing for the the National Basketball Association player, who acknowledged he he is gay in Sports Illustrated magazine.

"So proud of you, Jason Collins! This is a huge step forward for our country. We've got your back!" she wrote. (Reporting By Gabriel Debenedetti; editing by Christopher Wilson)

(Reuters) - A New York judge said on Monday he was leaning toward allowing a group that wants to roll the Empire State Building into a real estate investment trust to force any holdouts to surrender their holdings for a fraction of their value.

New York Supreme Court Justice O. Peter Sherwood said he would issue his written decision regarding Malkin Holdings' plan for the landmark building by the end of Tuesday at the latest.

Under the plan, the Empire State Building - owned by Empire State Building Associates LLC, an entity controlled by Malkin - would join at least 18 other properties in the REIT called Empire State Realty Trust Inc and launch an initial public stock offering.

The plan requires support from 80 percent of each of the three groups of investors who as early as 1961 put money in the entity that became the limited liability company. For four decades after its completion in 1931, the building ranked as the world's tallest building.

Last month Malkin filed regulatory documents that said it had garnered about 95 percent of the investor votes it needs to cross the 80 percent threshold.

Once Malkin reaches that threshold, it claims the right to force any remaining investors to sell back their stakes for $100 each unless they drop their opposition. The units, now held by 2,824 investors, could be worth more than $320,000 apiece if the REIT becomes publicly traded.

The decision under consideration by Justice Sherwood involves that provision. Opponents of the REIT plan contend that Malkin lost the right to force holdouts to sell their holdings in 2001, when he converted Empire State Building Associates into a limited liability company from a partnership.

A REIT is a property or mortgage company that is exempt from corporate income taxes if it distributes at least 90 percent of its taxable income to shareholders in the form of dividends.

(Reporting By Ilaina Jonas; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Andrew Hay)

(This story was refiled to change three-quarters to 95 percent in the In fifth paragraph)