VOA常速英语:拜登要矫正美国外交

This is VOA news. Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd. President Joe Biden made clear Thursday that the world should expect a more diplomatically engaged United States moving forward. AP's Sagar Meghani reports. After four years of "America First," "America is back. Diplomacy is back." On his first trip to the State Department, the president sought to reassure a diplomatic corps maligned under Trump that it'll be at the heart of a foreign policy reset. "I trust you. I'm going to have your back." He took a strong line on Russia saying he told Vladimir Putin in a phone call the days of the U.S. rolling over are gone. The president says he's freezing a U.S. troop pullout from Germany, ending support of Saudi Arabia's offensive in Yemen and making LGBTQ rights a cornerstone of diplomacy. Sagar Meghani, Washington.

House Democrats on Thursday asked former President Donald Trump to testify under oath for his Senate impeachment trial, challenging the former president to respond to their charge that he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol last month. In response, a Trump adviser said that he would not testify. The request in a letter from House impeachment managers does not require Trump to appear though the Senate could later force a subpoena, but it does warn that any refusal to testify could be used at trial to support arguments for a conviction. Even if Trump never testifies, the request nonetheless makes clear Democrats' determination to present an aggressive case against him even though he has left the White House.

On Wall Street, stocks closed higher with the Dow up 1.08 percent, the S&P gaining 1.09 percent and the NASDAQ rose by 1.23 percent. Be sure to log on to our website VOAnews.com. This is VOA news.