:A frail-looking McConnell returns to the US Senate

Republican Senator Mitch McConnell returned to the U.S. Capitol on Monday after a three-month absence spent recuperating from a fall in his Washington home that had raised questions about his fitness to serve in Congress.



"I must admit. After two years of - decades, actually - dodging your questions, I wasn't sure how many of you would be here today.



But I'm glad to see you. Time to get back to work, finish the job for this Congress," the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican told reporters from a wheelchair outside the Senate chamber.



Looking frail and speaking in a voice that sometimes faltered, McConnell said he was determined to work to pass new farm legislation, aid U.S. relations with NATO and counter Russian aggression in Ukraine.



He ignored a reporter who asked if he intended to serve out the remainder of his Senate term, which ends in January.



He then entered the chamber to vote for a Republican judicial nominee.



A longtime Republican Party leader who in 2025 announced his plan to retire from the Senate after the 2026 midterms, McConnell had been out of public view since mid-June, when he was taken from his home to a hospital in the Washington area for reasons that went undisclosed for weeks.