The Loop: Crowds return to Anzac Day events, Blinken says Russia 'failing' in Ukraine, Elon Musk's 'moving on' tweet explained

Hello. It's Anzac Day 2022 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.

Let's start here

Thousands of people have paid their respects at Anzac Day services which have been held almost restriction-free after two years of pandemic adjustments.

About 50,000 people gathered at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance at dawn. (AAP: Con Chronis)

The President of the NSW RSL says "enormous crowds" turned out in Sydney this morning despite wet weather. (AP: Rick Rycroft)

PM Scott Morrison attended the dawn service in Darwin, as did deputy Labor leader Richard Marles. (ABC News: Che Chorley)

That includes international ceremonies, with many making the pilgrimage to the shores of Gallipoli, the Western Front and beyond thanks to eased international travel rules.

Australians and New Zealanders were in the crowd at Anzac Cove. (Reuters: Kemal Aslan)

These Irish soldiers stopped to say g'day to a New Zealand soldier after an Anzac dawn service in Zonnebeke, Belgium. (AP: Virginia Mayo)

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern was at the Auckland War Memorial Museum dawn service this morning. (Getty: Fiona Goodall)

This year marks the 107th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli, as well as the 80th anniversaries of pivotal moments for Australia during World War II like the bombing of Darwin, the fall of Singapore and the Kokoda Track campaign against Japanese forces in Papua.

What else is going on

• Defence Minister Peter Dutton has marked Anzac Day by invoking the spectre of Nazi Germany and declaring that "the only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war". When asked about the lessons of Anzac Day, Mr Dutton warned that the prospect of conflict was not a distant one.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Russia is "failing" and Ukraine is "succeeding" after announcing a more than $US700 million military assistance deal for Ukraine and other NATO countries. Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin travelled to Kyiv but strict security measures meant little information about the trip was made public.

What Australia has been searching for online

• Anzac biscuits. Particularly with the dreary weather around much of the country today, is there any better time to cook up a batch? Here's some inspiration: 

• Glen Waverley. Two men are in hospital with significant injuries after a brawl near a popular entertainment strip in the Melbourne suburb earlier. Police say up to 15 attackers were involved, and are calling for anyone with any information to come forward.

One more thing

Elon Musk's tweets have a habit of sending people into a spin.

So when he posted this cryptic update:

... it instantly fuelled further speculation about his plans to buy Twitter.

The tweet was online for hours before Musk clarified that the post actually had nothing to do with his much-discussed bid to purchase the social media platform — he's actually just moving on from "making fun of [Bill] Gates for shorting Tesla while claiming to support climate change action".

At time of writing, Bill Gates hadn't replied.

You're up to date

Thanks for reading, we hope to see you again soon.

ABC/wires