Clinton returns to work after illness

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton returned to work today, five days after being released from a hospital for treatment of…

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton returned to work today, five days after being released from a hospital for treatment of a blood clot.

A meeting with former US ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney is among nearly a dozen meetings in her week-long schedule released by the US state department yesterday .

Mrs Clinton (65) began her week with closed-door meetings with assistant secretaries of state. The US state department released a photo showing her meeting with top department officials this morning.

She is scheduled to meet with Afghan president Hamid Karzai later in the week.

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Her first White House meeting this week will take place tomorrow and will include US secretary of defense Leon Panetta and national security adviser Tom Donilon.

Mrs Clinton was released from New York Presbyterian Hospital last Wednesday, after a stay of several days during which she was given blood thinners to treat the clot in a vein behind her right ear. She has been resting at home in New York since then.

Mrs Clinton has suffered a series of ailments over the last month, including a stomach virus and a concussion.

Her doctors have said they expect her to make a full recovery.

The US state department said Mrs Clinton has been keeping up with her work by talking to her staff and receiving memos.

Mrs Clinton is expected to step down in the next few weeks. US president Barack Obama has chosen former Democratic presidential candidate senator John Kerry, who is chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, to succeed her.

Reuters/Bloomberg