Thursday, June 18, 2009

Clinton breaks her elbow, to undergo surgery

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fell and broke her elbow on Wednesday while en route to the White House but will resume her full duties soon as the top U.S. diplomat, the State Department said.

Clinton will have surgery to repair her elbow in the next week, her chief of staff Cheryl Mills said in a statement released overnight.

"On the way to the White House late this afternoon, Secretary Clinton fell and suffered a right elbow fracture. She was treated at The George Washington University Hospital before heading home," Mills said.

A State Department official said all of Clinton's meetings had been canceled on Thursday. She had been due to join film star Angelina Jolie at an event for World Refugee Day and present awards at the American Foreign Service Association.

Clinton is set to go next week to Trieste, Italy, for a meeting of Group of Eight foreign ministers and attend a conference on Afghanistan to which Iran has been invited.

On the same trip, Clinton is due to go to Corfu, Greece, for a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on June 27-28.

The State Department had no immediate information about whether Clinton still planned to attend those meetings. In mid-July, Clinton is scheduled to make her first trip to India as the Obama administration's top diplomat.

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