It is the one day of the year when Australians can enjoy a game of two-up, as pubs around the country host games in commemoration of Anzac Day.

Typically two-up is only allowed on one day a year, April 25, after midday so it is your chance to be a part of the fun.

And judging by videos posted on social media today, Australians are turning out in their record numbers.

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The London pub in Paddington, Sydney, is hosting a street party for the first time and a huge queue, five-to-six-people wide stretched around the block by 8.40am this morning with only walk-ins guaranteed entry.

The startling footage was captured by Instagram account Bondi Lines.

Huge lines for the Clovelly Hotel in the Eastern Suburbs were also captured.

READ MORE: 'Appalling': Boos mar Sydney, Melbourne Anzac Day dawn services

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXiB30nki4a/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp

How two-up works

At its most basic level, the game involves one person tossing up two coins and people in the crowd betting on the outcome.

The outcomes are either two heads, two tails or "odds", which is one of each.

Generally you can only bet on either heads or tails, and continue tossing up until you get a result.

Some venues will allow bets on odds.

The spinner will make a bet with someone in the crowd and then tosses the coins in the air, making sure they travel at least three metres in the air and land inside the ring.

Money is then exchanged depending on who won the bet.

Several bets are made among people in the crowd or "school" as it's known, and the whole game is run by the "boxer" who stands in the middle but does not bet.

It's the boxer's job to ensure all bets are paid and people are playing fairly.

They also have discretion when it comes to weak tosses, so make sure to get those coins nice and high.

The wooden paddle used to toss the coins is called the "kip".

The coins are always pennies from before 1939.

In most clubs you will find people betting in $5, $10 and $20 sums but you may find eager punters willing to wager a $50.

But the most important thing to remember when you're having a beer and tossing up the coins is the men and women who sacrificed their lives to make that moment possible.

Three people have been arrested after an alleged arson attack on an iconic Melbourne CBD bar.

Police were notified when Melbourne City Council staff spotted a suspicious vehicle on safety cameras near the corner of Flinders and AC/DC lanes.

When police arrived at the scene they found the late night venue Bar Bambi on AC/DC Lane ablaze.

Police chased down two alleged offenders on foot before arresting a third person in a nearby laneway.

The trio are in custody and will be interviewed today.

The US Justice Department will adopt firing squads as a permitted method of execution as the Trump administration moves to ramp up and expedite capital punishment cases, officials said.

The Justice Department is also reauthorising the use of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital that were used to carry out 13 executions during the first Trump administration — more than under any president in modern history. The Biden administration had removed pentobarbital from the federal protocol over concerns about the potential for unnecessary pain and suffering.

The moves were announced as part of a broader push to step up federal executions after a moratorium under the Biden administration. Only three defendants remain on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison, though the Trump administration has so far authorised seeking death sentences against 44 defendants.

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“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”

The federal government has not previously included firing squad as a method of execution in its protocols, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre. Five states currently allow executions by firing squad: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah.

The pentobarbital protocol was adopted by Bill Barr, attorney general during Trump’s first term, to replace a three-drug mix used in the 2000s, the last time federal executions were carried out before Trump's first term in office.

Attorney General Merrick Garland in the final days of the Biden administration withdrew the pentobarbital lethal injection policy after a government review of scientific and medical research found there remains “significant uncertainty" about whether its use causes unnecessary pain and suffering."

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In 2020, under Barr's leadership, the Justice Department published a rule in the Federal Register to allow the federal government to conduct executions by lethal injection or use “any other manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was imposed.”

A number of states allow other methods of execution, including electrocution, inhaling nitrogen gas or death by firing squad.

The Trump administration, in a report released Friday, said the Biden administration “got the standard and the science wrong."

The Biden administration's findings, among other things, “failed to address the overwhelming evidence” that an injected with pentobarbital quickly “quickly loses consciousness—rendering him unable to experience pain," the report said.

Currently on death row are are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history.

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The partial remains of eight Australian soldiers have been laid to rest in France ahead of ANZAC Day, more than a century on from World War I.

They'd been used for medical research at a museum in the US, which came as a shock to relatives like Olwyn Crimp, whose great-great-uncle was one of the soldiers.

William Alexander Pavey was just 21 years old when he left his life as a Brisbane labourer behind to join the fight on the western front.

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Private Pavey survived almost three years of war in France before he died from gunshot wounds in May 1918.

"He fought right through until he was killed, just before the end of the war," Crimp tells 9News.

"You know, that's a long time to be in the trenches in France."

The brave young ANZAC was among those whose partial remains have recently been returned to his grave.

They had been kept in the US for medical research for more than a century.

"I was pretty uncomfortable with it initially," Crimp said.

"I'm still trying to come to terms with what they might have done.
The remains were taken from the hospital from what I can gather."

The medical research they underwent would have helped soldiers that came after them, Brenton Philp from the Department of Veterans' Affairs tells 9News.

"It would have absolutely contributed to the survivability and treatment of military wounds and war wounds for others that followed," he said.

"It does seem strange by our standards, but it was common after the first world war."

Seven other Australian soldiers' remains were also handed back.

"We understand that the remains have been treated with great respect and dignity," Philp said.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission completed burial works at Private Pavey's grave and at others in the Mont Huon Military Cemetery ahead of Anzac Day commemorations, as people journey to France to pay their respects.

"We're very proud that the Australian Army was able to be there as part of the reinterment ceremony to ensure that our soldiers are well respected," Philp said.

And the news is comforting for Crimp.

"He wasn't forgotten then and hopefully he won't be forgotten now," she said.

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Former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has attended the Anzac Day Currumbin Dawn Service on the Gold Coast.

Wearing a suit and adorned with the medals he received for his service, Roberts-Smith arrived at the service at around 4.30am, sitting alongside thousands of other attendees.

"I've never thought about not coming, I was always going to be here," he said.

READ MORE: Boos mar Sydney, Melbourne Anzac Day dawn services

He added that it was a day "everyone should be reflecting and commemorating the service of all of those Australians that have given us the country that we live in".

After the ceremony he spent time and shook hands with many of the other attendees and supporters, and was asked by some for his picture to be taken with them. Roberts-Smith said he found the support 'overwhelming'.

The former SAS soldier was arrested on April 7 and charged with murdering or ordering the murders of five unarmed detainees while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.

He denies all the allegations.

He successfully applied for bail on April 17 at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court.

He was released from Silverwater Correctional Centre before travelling back to Queensland.

I accidentally stumbled across the most secretive town in Australia, and no one could tell me anything about it – because they're not allowed to. 

The town of Useless Loop has a population of just 134 people and is situated in Western Australia's Shark Bay Shire. 

Useless Loop sits right next to a massive Shark Bay Salt Mine, which is a subsidiary of Japanese trading and investment company Mitsui & Co.

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The town only exists to give the miners somewhere to live with their families.

More than four million tonnes of salt come from the mine every year, with each grain exported directly to Asia, including Japan.

It is one of Australia's only closed communities, meaning no one is allowed in without approval from "the mine" first. 

The town is so secretive that you can't even access it on Google Earth's street view feature.

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After I discovered this town thanks to a TikTok video, I knew it would make a good story – I just needed to find someone who lived there, so I started digging.

The town isn't as barren as you'd think; there's a local public primary school, a few shops and even an infamous tavern that is legendary among the locals. 

I figured my best bet would be to reach out to the school, which is a public school run by the WA Government.

If you used to live in Useless Loop and wish to speak to me about life in the town, email me at Mi****************@******om.au

I found the school's Facebook page and started messaging people who had commented on their posts.

I also managed to find the principal's email address, so I sent him an email and kept searching.

I found the local community page and popped a message in there explaining I was looking to speak to someone from Useless Loop for a story. 

As I was digging into this town and the people who lived there, I gathered that it's a pretty cool place to live.

Locals spend their time fishing, swimming and hanging out with the local community – what more could you want!

Everyone online was super friendly…I knew this was a closed community, so visiting was out of the question, but an over-the-phone interview? I thought I was in for a good chance.

I was wrong.

The first glimmer of hope came in a DM from a local who had seen my Facebook post.

He expressed that he was keen to talk to me; he just needed his boss's approval to speak to the media first.

I also had the blessing from WA Education, who told me they were trying their best to get my media request to speak to someone from the school approved. 

Then, everything started to fall apart.

After a few hours, the miner reached back out and apologetically told me he didn't want to get into trouble for speaking to the media, and he was unable to help me.

I thought, 'that's okay', like all good journos, I had a backup source, the school!

However, after a week of emailing (and pleading), it soon became clear talking to someone from the school wasn't going to happen.

I even reached out to Shark Bay Salt directly, who never replied to my media enquiry. 

I have been a journalist for four years – I have never dealt with anything like this before.

At this point, it's been over a month since I fell down this rabbit hole of Useless Loop, and I have more questions than answers.

Why is this town so secretive?

What is the mine gaining from refusing my media requests?

What is life like in this place?

I remain stuck in my own Useless Loop of questions about this tiny town in Western Australia, and I fear I may never get my answers.

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Anzac Day falls 75 years after Australian soldiers fought a bloody battle that helped turn the tide of history's 'forgotten war'.

In April 1951, Australian troops joined a United Nations force that had been deployed to South Korea after it was attacked by North Korea and later its ally China, in what became the Korean War.

Weeks later, the Chinese army launched a lightning offensive in the Kapyong Valley with the aim to recapture the strategically vital city of Seoul, just 60 kilometres away.

READ MORE: Where double demerits won't apply over the Anzac Day weekend

But they faced a big obstacle: the hills overlooking a key road was held by soldiers from the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) on one side and Canadian infantry on the other.

These units, supported by soldiers from the United States, New Zealand and the UK, bore the brunt of the Chinese attacks for more than two bloody days.

While the UN force of about 2800 troops was well trained and equipped with artillery and tanks, they faced an attacking force of about 20,000 Chinese soldiers.

The Australian and Canadian defenders faced large waves of the attacking enemy during night and day, with much of the fighting involving bloody close-quarter combat.

Commanders later ordered a strategic withdraw, but their heroic actions helped the UN forces achieve a decisive victory. Seoul was saved from falling once again into communist hands, and would not be threatened again for the remainder of the war.

READ MORE: Anzac Day is here but not everyone gets a public holiday

The Australian and Canadian battalions were each awarded a United States Presidential Unit Citation for their part in the battle.

Australian War Memorial senior historian Craig Tibbitts says the Battle of Kapyong is one of the most famous actions in the country's military history.

"The Allied force (27 Commonwealth Brigade supported by US tanks and air support), held key high ground in the path of the Chinese offensive and managed to hold it against overwhelming numbers long enough to make a difference."

He says it was the most important battle for Australian troops in Korea.

However the battle came at great cost: The Australians had 32 men killed, 59 wounded and three taken prisoner; the Canadians suffered 10 fatalities and 23 wounded; the New Zealanders lost two men and three Americans were also killed.

READ MORE: Two new commemorative coins to honour Australian soldiers

Historians calculate Chinese army casualties to be 2000 to 5000 killed during the battle.

Overshadowed by longer, more costly battles waged in Vietnam and the Middle East since the 1950s – Korea is often regarded as the 'forgotten war'.

In all, 17,000 Australian soldiers, sailors and air crew served in the conflict, with 339 killed and 1216 wounded. 

Earlier this year, the Royal Australian Mint issued a special 50-cent coin to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Kapyong.

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A family from Adelaide have been forced to turn to strangers and crowdfund for life-saving cancer treatment abroad for their child.

The solution was meant to be found in Adelaide, with a basement on North Terrace designed for a ground-breaking Proton Therapy Unit, which now is only filled with a decade-old empty promise.

In 2024 Levi was diagnosed with stage-four medulloblastoma, an aggressive and unrelenting brain tumour, which came as a shock to both the then-nine-year-old and his mum Jade Elston.

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"I cry a lot," Elston told 9News.

"It just feels like a dream. You don't know what to do, you just feel helpless as a mum."

After years of some of the strongest chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Levi was in remission – twice.

But now, the 11-year-old's cancer has come back.

"They did say when children relapse with medulloblastoma, especially with this third relapse, they often pass," Elston said.

"He's gone through a lot. He can hardly even walk to the toilet, he gets puffed out walking to the toilet."

The only hope left for the family is a treatment called proton therapy, which is specifically targeted to treat childhood cancers.

"We specifically need that because there's no way to operate," Elston said.

That treatment was promised for South Australia back in 2016, with $500 million spent on the Bragg Centre on North Terrace and its purpose-built bunker.

It was meant to house a machine which never got built.

"Let's not assume that, had there not been a delay, this program would have been in place by now," government spokesperson Tom Koutsantonis told 9News.

SA's Health Research Institute took the machine's developer to court and last month won back $35 million over the failed contract.

But that's cold comfort to the Elston family, who are now forced to crowdfund for an overseas trip to Singapore for the life-saving treatment.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler wasn't available to answer questions, instead telling 9News he's now canvassing other states to potentially host a proton therapy machine.

Whatever happens next, Elston has this message for politicians.

"Pull your head in and get it fixed, children are losing lives," she said.

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Police also seized a loaded gun, vintage vehicle and stolen trailer in raids.

A fiery press conference in the Oval Office has seen the President's frustrations boil over.