Aide: Hillary Clinton returning to work

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to be back on the job next week, an aide said Thursday.

"The secretary continues to recuperate at home. She had long planned to take this holiday week off, so she had no work schedule. She looks forward to getting back to the office next week and resuming her schedule," Philippe Reines told The Cable, a blog operated by Foreign Policy magazine.

Clinton's office announced Dec. 9 she was canceling a trip to the Middle East because of a viral infection. She later suffered a concussion from a fall related to the illness and was unable to testify before House and Senate committees investigating the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Rightwing pundits suggested Clinton's illness was well-timed, with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton calling it a "diplomatic illness to beat the band." But Clinton has promised she will appear before both committees in January, and Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have supported her.