In late May, the Christophe de Margerie departed Utrenneye, a remote port on the flat, treeless Siberian shoreline of the Kara Sea. Measuring 299 metres—about the length of three football pitches—the vessel is named for the French oil executive who died in a freak accident at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport in 2014.

The ship is a liquefied natural gas carrier, or LNG tanker, with insulated storage tanks capable of carrying more than 170,000 cubic metres of gas.

It is also an icebreaker. A reinforced double hull and three independently rotating propulsion units enable the Christophe de Margerie to push through ice more than two metres thick.

That capability is crucial for reaching isolated terminals such as Utrenneye, which conventional LNG carriers cannot access for much of the year.

After loading its cargo, the vessel headed east along the coast under the escort of a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker.

Ship-tracking data showed that it passed through the Bering Strait on June 8 before continuing to a floating storage unit off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. There, it unloaded its cargo, which was almost certainly destined for China.

The voyage was not the Christophe de Margerie’s first passage along the route commonly known as the Northern Sea Route. It was, however, the earliest known trip by a commercial vessel: before June, sea ice is usually considered too thick for such a crossing.

The sweeping transformation of the global climate is doing more than producing unusually warm summers in Britain. It is also reshaping geopolitics, with profound consequences for trade corridors, the world economy and national security.

Last week, Donald Trump effectively presented Greenland as an open field for American territorial expansion.

He signed an agreement with Denmark that apparently gives the United States complete responsibility for Greenland’s security. Under the terms described by Fox News, Washington could establish additional military bases there “as needed”.

It remains unclear whether the president’s boastful description will survive scrutiny of the agreement’s fine print. Danish commentators have quickly noted that the United States has long enjoyed broad military freedom of action in Greenland.

Still, Trump’s interest in the Arctic island is not without strategic logic. Over the coming decades, the barren, ice-bound High North is expected to become a geopolitical flashpoint, bringing together crucial shipping lanes, military power and rivalry among the world’s major powers. Against that backdrop, the Christophe de Margerie’s voyage last May may prove considerably more important.

For centuries, mariners were captivated by the prospect of a shorter northern route to Asia. The discovery in the 1490s of Atlantic crossings and a sea passage around Africa’s southern tip into the Indian Ocean opened entirely new horizons, helping trade evolve into a genuinely global system.

The discovery of the Americas had extraordinary consequences, but the routes to Asia offered the greater commercial prize. As today, Asia contained vast populations, prosperous cities and immense wealth waiting to be accessed.

Until the early 16th century, goods reached Europe through a complex web of routes now known as the Silk Roads. These land and maritime networks connected China and India with the Middle East and East Africa, linking societies across enormous distances.

Venice emerged as the principal beneficiary. Its riches enabled the city’s most powerful families to construct magnificent palaces rising from the lagoon at the northern end of the Adriatic.

For merchants in northern and western Europe, discovering a faster route to Asia was a matter not only of efficiency but also of security. The voyage around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope was lengthy and dangerous. It also required ships to sail near Spain and Portugal, whose fleets initially dominated the Atlantic.

By the 1550s, English expeditions were searching for a northeast passage along Scandinavia’s northern coast, through Russian waters and onward towards the Far East. Dutch explorers soon followed, driven by merchants eager to find alternative routes to Asian markets.

Willem Barents ventured furthest, reaching Novaya Zemlya in 1596. The vast Arctic archipelago, beyond Scandinavia and regarded as Europe’s easternmost point, became the limit of his expedition when ice trapped and eventually crushed his ship as winter set in. Barents and his crew endured the following months in extreme cold, constructing a makeshift shelter from timber and other salvaged materials. They survived the winter, but Barents died of illness the next year while attempting to return home. The sea at the Arctic’s western gateway still carries his name: the Barents Sea.

Other attempts fared little better, with the first successful transit not happening until the 1870s when the Finnish-Swedish aristocrat Erik Nordenskjold sailed eastwards, almost reaching the Bering Strait before ice closed around his vessel, the Vega.

Its specially reinforced hull survived the pressure and remained trapped for almost 11 months before the ice melted and the ship continued on, through the strait and down Russia’s Far East coast to Yokohama in Japan. It was the first successful navigation of the Northern Sea route.

Three things have changed today. First, improved technologies mean that ships – such as the Christophe de Margerie – can now push their way through ice during the summer months with relative ease. Second, warming conditions mean that ice is thinner and more broken up; indeed, some stretches are now increasingly ice-free for long durations in the summer.

Although there is some discussion about future projections, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggests that the Arctic Ocean will experience its first practically ice-free summer by 2050. One recent study suggested this will happen as early as the 2030s given current warming patterns. This has major implications for shipping and trade.

Since the early 1990s, much of global manufacturing has moved to China, powering a period of astonishing growth and rising ambition. For those who buy

Chinese-made goods in Europe, the Northern Sea route promises quicker deliveries and lower prices: a journey from Shanghai to Felixstowe currently involves 11,000 miles and takes 35 days – involving a long route across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez

Canal and then transiting the Strait of Gibraltar.

The new northern route is much shorter: last year, Spirit of Istanbul sailed from Ningbo to Felixstowe in just 21 days on a journey almost 30 per cent shorter at just 8,000 miles. That means a quicker turn-around; it also means less fuel. Both mean reduced costs and better returns on capital.

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But the Northern Sea route is not just about savings and profits. It is also a key part of a major reconfiguration that involves the world’s sea lanes, its trading patterns and changing priorities.

In 2005, Yang Huigen, one of China’s leading polar scientists, gave an interview in which he said that the country should aspire to become a ‘polar great power’. It is an ambition that China has pursued with gusto for more than two decades, championed by President Xi Jinping personally who has spoken repeatedly about the importance of the Arctic and Antarctic capabilities. Regular policy papers have stated that the polar regions – together with the seabed and outer space – are ‘strategic frontiers’ that have vital consequences for the country’s place in the world of the 21st century.

Such has been the investment of time, resources and planning that in 2018 China declared that it was a ‘near-Arctic state’, despite the most northern part of the country lying almost 1,000 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

This is a statement of intent more than an indication of territorial ambitions, underpinned in the first instance by the desire to be included in policy decisions and discussions of any international agreements that may have a major impact on China’s economic growth, its political stability and its military posture.

That in turn matters since, as events in other parts of the world have shown, the Northern Sea route is not just about shorter journey times or lower costs but about having options that are as essential as they are valuable.

Since 1869, the fastest way to move between Europe and Asia has been to transit the Suez Canal, a waterway around 120 miles long that saves ships from making the long journey around Africa. The canal – like the Bab al-Mandeb at the mouth of the Red Sea that links to the Indian Ocean – is one of the world’s great shipping routes.

Both are places where relatively minor disruptions can throttle the movement of ships and their cargoes. Their vulnerability makes them obvious pressure points for states, armed groups or terrorists seeking political leverage, ransom payments or demonstrations of power that bring attention to their cause both regionally and beyond.

For the past three years, the Houthis – an armed insurgent group closely aligned with Iran – have severely disrupted shipping going through the Red Sea, by threatening, seizing and attacking commercial vessels.

As well as pushing up insurance premiums, that has also led to a host of shipping companies avoiding this region altogether.

Taken with the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint since the US attacks on Iran in February, the need for alternative routes could not be more obvious.

This too raises the significance of the Northern Passage. So far, the number of ships taking this route remains modest, with around 100 vessels reported to have done so last year. But that number will rise in the future. As it does so, it presents commercial opportunities. It also presents challenges and concerns.

In December, the Royal Navy unveiled Atlantic Bastion, a programme combining ships and patrol aircraft with autonomous vessels and underwater sensors to track Russian submarines across the North Atlantic in what senior officers reminded was a return to familiar anxieties about the formidable challenges posed by the Soviet Union’s Northern Fleet during the Cold War.

Just last week, the First Sea Lord, Sir Gwyn Jenkins, gave an important speech warning of increased Russian activities in UK waters. The threats posed by Moscow, he said, are greater today than at any point since 1989 and ‘felt most acutely in the maritime domain, in the North Atlantic, in the High North’.

Just as Iran has understood that the Strait of Hormuz gives leverage, so too does Moscow recognise the influence it could wield as shipping lanes open up along its 15,000-mile Arctic coastline and become more important for global trade. Prowling the waters at either end of the Northern Sea Route are 12 of Russia’s nuclear-armed submarines – six stationed on the Kola Peninsula in the west and six operated by the Pacific Fleet based in Vilyuchinsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

In between, Russia has spent years reopening, modernising and fortifying military bases on its Siberian coast, making the route a formidable gauntlet for any rival power.

Most of the American forces in the region – some 22,000 military personnel – are concentrated on Alaska’s northern shore, across eight bases. Greenland, however, could become Washington’s hub of operations in the North Atlantic, if US forces move in following Trump’s agreement with the Danish.

America already operates the Pituffik Space Base on Greenland, and will want to resurrect several of its long-abandoned Second World War bases there to enhance missile warning, space surveillance and satellite capabilities. It was one of these derelict sites – at Gronnedal – that a Chinese firm wanted to buy in 2016, until Denmark blocked the deal on security grounds.

Elsewhere, Nato has a military presence on Canada’s Arctic islands and along Norway’s northern coast. The Norwegians have by far the strongest military presence in the Arctic among its Scandinavian neighbours, with four air bases, including one for its new F-35 fighter jets; two navy bases and a string of army bases.

It also runs the Trondelag Reception Centre, a military hub that can swiftly house Nato troops during an attack. Nearby is Camp Viking, Britain’s main toehold in the region – a hub for the UK’s Commando Force led by the Royal Marines, which is aiming to have a year-round presence there.

All of which is to say that the Arctic could become every bit as much of a tinderbox as the Middle East, were the Northern Passage to open to significant global trade.

Perhaps for that reason, Russia has been wary of over-involving China in its Arctic policy. Although there have been joint training exercises, Moscow has sought to keep its primary geopolitical partner at arm’s length when it comes to the High North.

That is now changing as Russia’s isolation from the West deepens: around half the transits last year either began or ended in China, while Chinese money supports Russian energy projects. Joint exercises also provide an indication of close collaboration across this region.

The Arctic as a whole is not just a new frontier for the study of climate change, for the extraction of minerals or for land grabs; it is a key part of the reality that control of trade routes has always been fundamental to power.

Here in the United Kingdom, as in Europe, there are lots of things we need to be doing to set our house in order.

One of the most important, though, is to understand what is changing, where and why. And another is to not only to look to the East and to the West, or even to the South – as we often do. We need to remember to look to the North too.

Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University.

The 2026 Brownlow Medal ceremony began at Melbourne’s Palladium at Crown on Monday evening.

The AFL’s biggest stars arrived alongside their glamorous partners, who made a statement on the red carpet in daring gowns and skin-baring designs.

James Hird was among the early arrivals, attending the prestigious event for the first time in 14 years with his new partner, Natalie Young.

The former Essendon coach attended following his split from wife Tania last year, ending their 27-year marriage.

Natalie caught attention in a deep pink sequin gown featuring a plunging neckline and a figure-hugging silhouette.

James looked polished in a classic black tuxedo, teamed with a crisp white shirt and matching bow tie.

Josh Daicos’ fiancée Annalise Dalins sparkled on the red carpet, wearing an extraordinary collection of diamonds.

The 27-year-old wore almost $1 million worth of jewellery from Temelli Jewellery.

Her accessories included oversized diamond studs, a diamond ear cuff, multiple rings and bracelets, with the pieces totalling 40 carats.

Annalise matched the lavish jewels with a breathtaking corseted gown by d’Alin Le’ Kal.

The dress featured ruffles and delicate beading across the bodice, while its sheer tulle skirt revealed her slender legs.

She completed the look with an old-Hollywood hairstyle, wearing her blonde hair in voluminous waves with a deep side part.

Rory Lobb’s wife Lexi Mary embraced classic Hollywood glamour in a high-fashion brown gown finished with a striking black feather trim.

The asymmetrical dress featured pleated detailing, hugging her figure before flowing into a short train.

The blonde beauty added warm-toned makeup, with heavily lined eyes and a pink lip gloss.

Western Bulldogs player Rory was dapper in a classic black tuxedo worn with a bow tie.  

Abbey Holmes posed up a storm, ensuring her baby bump was front and centre. 

The Channel 7 sports presenter and former AFLW player stunned in a maroon gown that clung to her blossoming belly.  

Abbey added a chunky gold chain that rested on her decolletage, which matched her bracelet. 

She wore her blonde hair in soft curves and chose a glowing makeup look with nude lipstick. 

Western Bulldogs star Marcus Bontempelli brought along his wife, Neila Brenning, who made a very unusual choice for her red carpet appearance. 

The Canadian-born brunette wore a pale blue, satin dress with a black trim and a bright red floral embellishment that very much resembled a dressing gown. 

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Hawthorn player James Sicily had his gorgeous wife Emma in tow, with the child health nurse pretty in pink in an abstract gown with a puffed, low skirt and lace heels. 

Sports presenter Rebecca Madden cut a chic figure in a black lace frock with a plunging neckline that showed off a hint of skin. 

Hawthorn Jack Gunston posed with his gorgeous partner Dani Shreeve, who turned headed in a slinky white gown with feather details in the skirt. 

Aliir Aliir of the Power made a dashing red carpet arrival alongside partner Sabina Wheatley, who commanded attention in her voluminous frock. 

The dress included a black corseted bodice and layers and layers of pink ruffles, as well as a daring, high split. 

Geelong Cats player Max Holmes brought his partner, Jess Butler, who opted for a futuristic look in a structural, silver satin dress. 

The frock included pointed elements at the bust, a cinched waist and flared into large, full ruffles. 

Former Richmond footballer Dion Prestia had his bombshell partner Brooke Bailey on his arm. 

The blonde choose a semi-sheer ‘nude’ gown with gunmetal beading that skimmed her figure. 

Hawthorn Hawks co-captain Jai Newcombe opted for a classic tux and brought his wife, Georgia May. 

Georgia made a bold choice with a cream satin gown that featured a long train, worn with a loose blazer over the top. 

Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury posed with his wife Alex Pendlebury, who drew the eye in a black satin number with a long train and a bustle detail. 

Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield donned a classic tuxedo and had his gorgeous wife Mardi on his arm. 

Mardi stood out from the pack in a sleeveless, pink frock constructed from a sparkly fabric and decorated with a puffed ruffle detail. 

MORE TO COME 

A Maryland hunter fatally shot a mother of five in a Delaware field after mistakenly identifying her as a deer while she was walking.

Walter Moorhead, 74, was hunting deer from a camouflaged structure when he shot and killed 39-year-old Santos Maria Chilel Soto. Soto had been walking through an open field with a man and two children when the gunfire erupted. Moorhead later told authorities he had mistaken her for a deer and was handcuffed on manslaughter charges.

Moorhead, a Salisbury, Maryland, resident, faces felony charges of manslaughter for recklessly causing another person’s death, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and first-degree reckless endangerment.

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A GoFundMe campaign created in Soto’s name described her as a “beloved aunt whose life was tragically taken by a firearm.”

“Maria’s family is now facing the overwhelming pain of this sudden loss while also trying to make sure she is laid to rest with dignity,” the fundraiser states. “They need help covering funeral services and the cost of sending Maria’s body to Guatemala so she can be brought home. This heartbreaking situation has placed a heavy financial burden on the family at a time when they are grieving deeply.”

The 15-year-old girl killed Friday after being struck by a garbage truck while riding a Citi Bike in New York City has been identified as Daria Serkov.

Serkov was cycling with a 16-year-old girl near 14th Street and First Avenue in Manhattan’s East Village when the truck hit them as it turned right.

The teenager became trapped beneath the heavy-duty industrial vehicle. Witnesses recalled a horrific scene and said the unidentified driver initially appeared unaware that he had run over the girl.

Serkov was taken to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. The other teenager remained in stable condition, according to CBS News.

Hundreds of mourners later gathered at the crash site for a vigil honoring the teenager and paying tribute to her life.

Christine Janssen, a friend of Serkov’s family, told CBS that she was with the girl’s parents when they received the devastating news.

“We were all together having dinner last night and playing games, and everybody was there except for Daria, and then we got the call later that night,” Janssen said.

“It was just surreal.”

Janssen described Serkov as “a spicy go-getter” who was always on a mission, as well as a “beautiful, beautiful girl.”

A GoFundMe campaign organized after the tragedy raised more than $85,000 to support Serkov’s family.

“The purpose of this fundraiser is to gather money for the funeral as well as any related expenses and support,” wrote Janssen, who organized the appeal.

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“While no amount of money changes the outcome of this awful event, it takes a village of friends, family and neighbors to lift them up any way we can.”

An eerie photograph from 2025 also surfaced, appearing to show Serkov falling from a Citi Bike into a bush beside a busy city street.

Months later, disturbing images from the deadly crash showed a massive emergency response at the scene, with at least six ambulances reportedly sent to the intersection.

“I heard a loud sound, like a scream,” a 22-year-old witness told the Daily News.

“The truck had run over them. It looked like two women. One of the women on the bike was crushed under the truck. They were giving her CPR and pumping her chest. The other one on the other side was lifted into an ambulance,” the witness added.

‘It didn’t look good. It was crazy. There were cops everywhere.’

Footage showed police and firefighters swarming the area and quickly throwing up crime tape around the privately owned truck, which sat motionless in the middle of the road.

The mangled remains of a blue Citi Bike could be seen crushed beneath one of the truck’s massive wheels, while a lone Puma sneaker lay abandoned on the street nearby.

The NYPD said the truck driver, who remained at the scene, was being questioned as they launched an investigation into the deadly crash, according to NBC.

Multiple city cameras at the intersection are believed to have captured the crash and could provide crucial evidence for investigators, including which vehicle had the right of way, police said.

Fans believe Channing Tatum could be using a mysterious social media account to comment on posts involving his former partners.

The speculation began after users noticed an Instagram account named Nonya Bidness had just one follower: Tatum.

The account recently weighed in on a PDA post featuring Tatum’s former fiancée, Zoe Kravitz, and her new fiancé, Harry Styles.

“Just here for the hate,” the account wrote.

In another exchange, Nonya Bidness appeared to allude to actress Jenna Dewan, who was married to Tatum from 2009 until 2019.

“His ex wife tried to grift his money, Zoe knew she was too much of a free bird to settle down and this one is an adult. Let that man sow his wild oats in peace,” the anonymous commenter claimed.

Kravitz is 37, while Styles is 32.

After one user argued that a woman dating a younger man with a 20-year age gap might face a different reaction, Nonya Bidness responded.

“You don’t know me. You have no idea what I would say. But let me give you a hint: they’re both adults, let them live. I am not ‘everyone.’”

Fans also found another comment from the account that appeared to reference Tatum’s earlier remarks about Kravitz.

In a July 2022 interview with Entertainment Tonight, the Magic Mike star said: “She sees right through a lot of people’s stuff and really, just who they are to her is really simple.

“She’s one of the more intentional people I’ve ever met in my life.”

At the time, Tatum was praising Kravitz’s clarity and focus as she directed her first feature film, Blink Twice.

Tatum appeared in the film during his three-year relationship with Kravitz. Their romance ended in October 2024.

“When I see these two I think back at how her former fiancé called her the most intentional person he knows. I wonder how contextual he was being…” Nonya Bidness wrote on Instagram.

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When another user probed about what the comment meant, Nonya Bidness clarified: ‘To me intentional = calculated. He was speaking in terms of film-making but leaning towards her as a person in general too.

‘Now she is constantly spotted with Harry compared to the ex who we heard about long before they were seen together. And when they were seen together it was far less frequent.’

DailyMail.com reached out to representatives for Tatum but did not immediately receive a response.

Meanwhile, there are reports Kravitz and Styles are planning to marry in an intimate ceremony with just close family and friends present.

The couple’s engagement was revealed in April after a whirlwind eight-month romance – with Kravitz pictured with an enormous diamond ring on her wedding finger.

Now, sources are claiming that Kravitz and Styles are hoping to tie the knot in a small ceremony, before celebrating with a ‘big party’ with ‘live music.’

The insider added that while Kravitz and Styles are very ‘involved’ with their respective work schedules, they are taking a very ‘laid-back’ approach when it comes to planning their wedding.

It was previously reported that the couple are hoping to marry in the UK ‘around Christmas time’ but have also mulled over the idea of having a second ceremony in New York.

A source said: ‘Zoe and Harry want to have live music – that’s a big part of the wedding for them.’

They went on to tell People: ‘Other than that, they really care most about having their loved ones around and partying with those close to them.

‘They’re not very fussy when it comes to wedding details. They care more about curating a fun and beautiful experience for those they hold dear.’

It was previously reported that Kravitz and Styles are considering ‘a small wedding in front of just family and close friends in the UK around Christmas time.’

A source told the publication: ‘I know for a fact Zoe would want to do something in New York because of her dad Lenny, so if anything it’s going to be two weddings.

‘Dad still lives in downtown [Manhattan]. It could be at the Fouquet’s Hotel. If she does two [weddings] it would be one in London and one in New York.’

A different source previously said: ‘Zoe is already thinking about the wedding. She wants something unique and has started discussing ideas for outfits, themes and designs.

‘She’s torn between a very intimate ceremony – possibly even eloping – and a larger celebration with all their loved ones, though a bigger wedding may ultimately win out.’

They added to The Sun: ‘She talks about it all the time – beautiful locations like Paris or the French Riviera, lots of flowers, stunning outfits, and a celebration that lasts all day and night, surrounded by love.’