vaughn taylor, you're watching bbc news. let's turn to the middle east now, where syria's president, bashar al—assad, has joined leaders of arab and muslim states at an emergency summit in saudi arabia, focusing on the conflicts in gaza and lebanon. delegates say they want to see an immediate end to israel's military action against the iranian—backed militant groups, hamas and hezbollah. syria's attendance signals shifting dynamics in the middle east, with the incoming us administration potentially playing a smaller role — and saudi arabia and iran putting past differences aside to strengthen their ties. our security correspondent frank gardner is following the meeting in riyadh. he explains its significance. this is the second so—called emergency arab and islamic summit to discuss what the organisers are calling the israeli aggression against the people of gaza and lebanon. it's exactly a year since the last one held here in riyadh. and, of course, since then, the conflict in the region has grown into more than one conflict. israel is now at war with notjust hamas in gaza, but hezbollah in lebanon, and exchanging blows

with the houthis in yemen and intermittently with iran as well. so this conference is aiming to try and do two things. they're trying to get a ceasefire in both lebanon and gaza, and also to try and find or push forward plans for a palestinian state. i think reaching some kind of consensus isn't going to be that easy. usually the final communique is always a little bit of a fudge, because you've got to try and match everybody�*s aspirations, and not everybody agrees here. you've got countries that have got full diplomatic relations with israel like the uae, bahrain, morocco, sudan, jordan, egypt. and then you've got countries like iran and algeria and others which are very much opposed to israel and don't see really the point in countries making peace with it if it is waging war on other countries. overshadowing all of this, of course, is the news

that donald trump is going to have a second term in the white house, and there's a lot of expectation, hopes, optimism and trepidation about that. he's a firm friend of israel. he's thought likely to give israel a freer hand when it comes to striking iran if there is further confrontation between those two countries. but he's also a friend of saudi arabia. he chose riyadh as his first overseas visit as president back in 2017. i was there covering it, and you could see how pleased, how flattered saudis were by the fact that he chose their capital as his first overseas visit as president. so mbs, that's crown prince mohammed bin salman, the de facto ruler of this country, saudi arabia, will be ithink, welcoming him as the new leader of the united states and hoping for better relations than the saudis had with the current incumbent, joe biden. here in the uk the nation has fallen silent to mark armistice day. thousands of people in schools, streets and offices

across the uk stopped what they were doing to remember those who lost their lives in war. our correspondent sarah campbell reports. the national memorial arboretum in staffordshire, engraved with the names of 16,000 service personnel. they, and the millions who have died in the war since 1914, were remembered today. they shall grow not old as we that are left grow old. age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. the moment the first world war came to an end in 1918.

music: reveille when you go home, tell them of us and say, "for your tomorrow, we gave our today." the duchess of edinburgh laid a wreath on the central plinth of the armed forces memorial.

and in paris, united in remembrance, the british prime minister and the french president. across europe and the uk, generations standing side by side to honour those who gave so much for freedom. sarah campbell, bbc news. we will be bringing you present biden�*s speech shortly, just as soon as it starts. stay with us and bbc news. a senior bishop says justin welby must resign as archbishop of canterbury over an abuse scandal in the church of england. the bishop of newcastle, the right reverend helen—ann

macleod hartley, told the bbc his position was "untenable". her comments follow a damning report into abuse byjohn smyth, who ran youth camps for the church. dr welby became aware of the abuse in 2013 — but did not report smyth to authorities. very ha rd to very hard to find the words to respond adequately to what the report tells us, truly horrendous, horrific and shocking, and i know through my diocese in the work we have done with survivors, just how deep and long—lasting this whole systemic, years and years of abuse, the impact notjust of abuse, the impact notjust of one perpetrator, but all survivors of church abuse, they are rightly asking questions, can we trust the church of england to keep us safe? i think the answer at the moment is no.

new research shows that the planet uranus and its five biggest moons, in the outer reaches of our solar system, may not be the dead sterile worlds that scientists once thought. straight back to president biden. . ~' ,, biden. thank you. applause - thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. it is a great honour to be standing here again. where 160 years ago, in what would become his final days in office, president abraham lincoln addressed this nation, and he said let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who showed up to battle. my fellow americans, first lady, vice president

harris, second gentlemen, secretary blinken, austin, chairman browne, most importantly our veterans, servicemembers and their families, i have said it many times before, i got in trouble for saying it, we have many obligations but only one truly sacred obligation — sacred. to prepare those we send into harm's away, to care for them and theirfamilies when harm's away, to care for them and their families when they return home and when they don't. 0bligation not based on party politics, but on a promise that unites us all, today, as we strive on, to finish the work of our moment, to bind a nation's wounds once again, we commit, recommit to the sacred vow. this is the

last time i will stand here at arlington as commander in chief. it has been the greatest honour of my life to lead you, to serve you, to care for you, to serve you, to care for you, to defend you, just as you defended us, generation after generation after generation. you are the greatest fighting force, this is not hyperbole, the finest fighting force in the finest fighting force in the history of the world! i'll never forget standing at valley forge, where our nation's foot soldiers laid down their lives, to deliver a nation where everyone is entitled to inalienable rights, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. i'll neverforget liberty, pursuit of happiness. i'll never forget walking the hills of gettysburg, where thousands more shed their blood to make those words real. i'll never forget bella words,

visiting there to pay tribute to the heroes who stepped on the beach, standing on the cliffs of normandy, 80 years after the service of veterans who literally save the world with absolute heroism, just standing there, you wonder how in god's name they could have the courage to do what they did. i'll neverforget the courage to do what they did. i'll never forget visiting basesin did. i'll never forget visiting bases in korea, where america's sons and daughters were called to defend people they had never met. 0r paying my respects in hanol met. 0r paying my respects in hanoi, where so many of our troops defended democracy, including my friend who once worked for me senatorjohn mccain. i'll neverforget worked for me senatorjohn mccain. i'll never forget my trips to afghanistan and iraq,

where tour after tour, young men and women served and sacrificed to keep our nation safe stop four presidents faced the decision after we had gotten bin laden, as to whether to add to our longest war in history in afghanistan. i was determined not to leave it to the fifth. everyday i still carry a card with me, my schedule, every single day the last ten years, and on the back of my schedule, it says, us daily troops in afghanistan, us troops died in afghanistan as of today, 2465, troops wounded in afghanistan, 20,769, us troops, iraq, died in iraq, 4620, wounded in iraq, 32,766.

ladies and gentlemen, this is my duty as president. but also as a parent. like many of you, ourson as a parent. like many of you, our son deployed to iraq for a year with the national guard. i still remember the day he asked me to paint his bars on him. he stood ramrod straight, how proud jill and stood ramrod straight, how proudjill and i and our entire family felt, like so many of you, we also remember how hard it was when he was deployed, empty seats at the dinner table, missed holidays and birthdays, prayers of hope or worry repeated every morning and every night, just as we ask everything of our veterans, we ask everything of their families. poetjohn milton wrote, and i quote, they also serve who only stand and wait,

as so many of you have. for all the military families, all those with a loved one still missing or unaccounted for, to all americans feeling the loss of a loved one who wore the uniform, jill and i want you to know we see you, we thank you, and we'll never stop working to meet our sacred obligation to you and yourfamilies. meet our sacred obligation to you and your families. jill and l, you and your families. jill and i, doug and camelot are proud of our work for the past few years. together, we passed more than 30 bipartisan laws to support our veterans and their families, caregivers and survivors. you brought veterans row homes is down to a record low, delivered more benefits to veterans than ever before in history, invested in record resources, reduced the scourge of veterans falling to suicide, we took action to protect

veterans from scams, because no veterans from scams, because no veteran should be defrauded by those they defended. all these actions are vital, but i'm particularly proud the act. this is the most significant lower in our nations history. to help millions of veterans who are exposed to toxins like agent orange during their military service. pits the size of football fields that incinerated the wastes of war. carriers, chemicals, batteries and so much more. pits who left too many veterans with headaches... too many veterans with headaches. . ._ too many veterans with headaches... ., ., ., . headaches... you are watching bbc news _ headaches... you are watching bbc news where _ headaches... you are watching bbc news where president - headaches... you are watching i bbc news where president biden is addressing arlington national cemetery in virginia, where the us is marking veterans day for the let's continue to listen in. today

i'm proud _ continue to listen in. today i'm proud to _ continue to listen in. today i'm proud to announce - continue to listen in. today i'm proud to announce thatj continue to listen in. today- i'm proud to announce that the va will and expand the number of cancers covered under the pact act. to all veterans who served at k2 airbase in is pakistan, conflicts surrounded by toxins for that we want to honor you, we want to have your back just like we honor you, we want to have your backjust like we did an agent orange, just like we're working to make sure you don't have to prove your illness as a consequence of your service. which is often too hard to do. god willing will make sure any rare condition you make sure is covered for that were committed to getting this rule in place by the end of my term. folks, this matters. too many of our nations veterans have served only to return home to suffer

from permanent