WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has returned to work after a month-long absence caused first by a stomach virus, then a fall and a concussion and finally a brief hospitalization for a blot clot near her brain.

Clinton presided over a senior staff meeting today, the first she has convened since early December before contracting the stomach bug after returning from a trip to Europe on Dec. 7. Her illness eventually forced a stay at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where doctors treated the clot with blood thinners. She was released from the hospital last Wednesday.

Clinton is expected to resign from the State Department soon. President Barack Obama has nominated Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry to replace her.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton has some extra protection -- if she wants to use it -- against another head injury.

As she returned to work today, the secretary of state was given a couple of gifts by her staff -- including a regulation football helmet bearing the State Department seal. She also got a blue football jersey with the name "Clinton" and the number 112. That's the record-breaking number of countries she has visited since becoming secretary of state.

Aides say she was delighted with the gifts but didn't try either of them on. Her meeting with senior staff then turned to matters of national security and diplomacy.

It was Clinton's first such meeting since she was sidelined -- first by a stomach virus, and then by a fall and a concussion -- and finally by a brief hospitalization for a blood clot near her brain.

Officials say Clinton told her staff today that she will testify before Congress about a review board's report on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya before she leaves office. No date for that testimony has been set, and Congress is in recess for two more weeks.

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