Bush offers Veterans Day tribute

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US President George W Bush has praised US troops as his nation's "finest citizens" in a Veterans Day speech.

"We honour a new generation of men and women who are defending our freedom," Mr Bush told a ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.

Thousands of people also gathered in London to pay tribute to soldiers killed in war at the annual ceremony known in the UK as Remembrance Day.

The war dead are being honoured in countries across the world.

Foreign troops based in Iraq and Afghanistan also marked the day.

In Baghdad, troops from the US, UK and Australia gathered in the heavily fortified US Embassy where they were addressed by Lt Mike Marley of the Royal Australian Army.

Lt Marley made a direct link between those killed in past wars and the dead from the current conflict.

"Such remembrances are made all the more poignant as we recall those of our fellow servicemen and women who have given their lives during the course of Operation Iraqi Freedom," he said.

In Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, where the majority of British forces are based, some 1,200 servicemen and women turned out to pay their respects.

Poppies

People across the UK observed a two-minute silence to mark Armistice Day.

The nationwide two-minute silence has been observed at 11 o'clock on 11 November since the end of World War I in 1918.

Crowds gathered in London's Trafalgar Square paid tribute to the fallen by placing poppies in the fountains.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Queen attended a service for New Zealand's war dead.

Many other members of the Royal Family were also at the event in Hyde Park.