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China's Coast Guard claimed it entered waters of the Arctic Ocean for the first time as part of a joint patrol with Russia – in the latest sign of enhanced coordination between the two in a region where Beijing has long wished to expand its footprint.

The statement came a day after the US Coast Guard said it spotted four vessels from the Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast Guard in the Bering Sea – the "northernmost" location it said it had ever observed the Chinese ships.

The joint patrol "effectively expanded the scope of the coast guard's ocean-going navigation" and tested their ability "to carry out missions in unfamiliar waters," the China Coast Guard (CCG) said in a post on its official social media account on Wednesday.

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The CCG did not release the exact location of the patrol. A banner visible on one of the vessels in accompanying photos read "China Coast Guard devoting its heart to the Party; demonstrating loyalty in the Arctic Ocean," referring to China's ruling Communist Party.

The Russian government has not officially acknowledged the patrol, which Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said took place "a few days ago." Russian state media TASS published a report on the patrol, citing the CCG statement.

The US Coast Guard (USCG) on Monday said it spotted the four vessels from the Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast Guard "transiting in formation in a north-east direction" in the Bering Sea, some about 8km inside Russia's Exclusive Economic Zone on Saturday.

The Bering Sea stretches between Russia and Alaska and is part of the North Pacific Ocean. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait, a narrow passage separating Asia and North America.

"This recent activity demonstrates the increased interest in the Arctic by our strategic competitors," Rear-Admiral Megan Dean, commander of the 17th Coast Guard District, said in the USCG statement.

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The US has raised concerns about China's growing role and coordination with Russia in the strategically and environmentally sensitive Arctic region, as the two countries tighten their security and economic ties more broadly.

US and Canadian forces in July intercepted Russian and Chinese bombers flying together near Alaska for the first time, while their two navies operated together in international waters off the Alaskan coast in 2022 and 2023, according to the US military.

Last year, CCG and Russia's Federal Security Service, which operates its coast guard, agreed to strengthen their "maritime law enforcement cooperation" and China was invited to observe Russia's "Arctic Patrol-2023" security drills.

Analysts say the new patrol is part of a broader pattern of collaboration – and designed to send a message to Washington, whose maritime activities in the South and East China Seas have longed irked Beijing.

"The significance of the (China) Coast Guard operating farther north than it has ever done implies (China) is extending its Coast Guard into areas the US has traditionally considered its own domain," said Carl Schuster, a retired US Navy captain and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Centre.

"China in particular is signalling that the US Coast Guard is not the only one that (can) operate within and near other countries' Economic Exclusion Zones from their own home waters," he said.

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Arctic ambitions

Beijing has for years sought to increase its footprint in the Arctic, declaring itself a "near Arctic state" and beefing up its icebreaker and research capabilities in the region, where it's also heavily invested in Russian energy projects.

Russia, as one of eight Arctic states, has historically been wary of being too welcoming to China in a region key to its own security and military power.

But observers say Moscow's increasing reliance on China – its most important diplomatic and economic partner – in the wake of its war on Ukraine may be changing that calculus.

In its first update to its Arctic strategy in five years, the US Department of Defence in July warned that "growing cooperation" between Russia and China in the region has the "potential to alter the Arctic's stability and threat picture."

The recent joint activities, including the July patrol near Alaska, raise questions of whether Russia's focus on controlling access to the Russian Arctic is "increasingly overshadowed by economic and political considerations," said Sophie Arts, a fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the US's Geostrategy North team.

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"However, when it comes to growing Russian willingness to cater to Chinese interests, we have to take into account the location in which these activities are taking place," she added, pointing to how the strategically peripheral patrol location suggests "Russian concerns about controlling access and maintaining its bastion (of) defence remain a priority."

Andreas Osthagen, a senior researcher at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway, expressed skepticism that Chinese vessels had operated in the Arctic Ocean proper.

He said that operating north of the Bering Strait normally requires ice-breaking capabilities and noted that the US Coast Guard did not report the ships entered the Bering Strait, where the Arctic Ocean starts. CNN has reached out to the USCG for comment.

"It still links to the wider Arctic region, even if this is not the Arctic Ocean. Operating off the coast of Alaska or in the Bering Sea at large is part of an ongoing trend where China is asserting its ability to be present in the Arctic, or near the Arctic," he said.

Economic interests

The China Coast Guard is part of the country's People's Armed Police, which is under the command of the Central Military Commission – and it has frequently been at the frontline of China's efforts to assert its territorial claims in disputed waters in the South China Sea.

The Philippines, for example, has repeatedly accused the CCG of targeting its fishing and other ships with water cannons and other tactics, including in what it described as a "brutal assault" with bladed weapons on Filipino forces in June.

In addition to projecting strength, Beijing has a practical interest in expanding its cooperation with Russia and presence in far north waters, where its coast guard could in the future protect its economic interests, experts say.

In its 2018 Arctic policy, Beijing described its vision for a "Polar Silk Road," linking Asia to Europe by developing shipping routes like the Northern Sea Route across the Arctic and down to China. That route, now largely navigable only in the northern summer and autumn, is expected to become more commercially viable for global shipping as climate change melts sea ice.

Transit along the Northern Sea Route during the summer-autumn navigation season is poised to hit record levels of transit cargo by the season's end, according to data from the Centre for High North Logistics affiliated with Norway's Nord University. As of September 30, about 95 per cent of the cargo volume along the route went from Russia to China, it said in a recent report.

The coast guard collaboration "relates to Chinese interests in maritime transportation along at least parts of the Northern Sea Route," according to Osthagen. "The fact that they have initiated these types of operations is yet another step in the ongoing practical cooperation between the two states in an Arctic or near-Arctic context."

And when taken alongside other recent joint operations, "this is all about expanding both the Chinese footprint in this part of the Arctic and China's abilities to operate this far north," he said.

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Obie Williams could hear babies crying and branches battering the windows when he answered his daughter's daily phone call last week as Hurricane Helene tore through her rural Georgia town.

Kobe Williams, 27, and her newborn twin boys were hunkering down at their trailer home in Thomson, Georgia, and starting to fear for their safety.

She promised her father she would heed his advice to shelter in the bathroom with her month-old babies until the storm passed.

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Minutes later, she was no longer answering her family's calls.

One of her brothers dodged fallen trees and downed power lines to check on her later that day, and he could barely bear to tell his father what he saw.

A large tree had crashed through the roof, crushing Kobe and causing her to fall on top of infant sons Khyzier and Khazmir.

All three were found dead.

"I'd seen pictures when they were born and pictures every day since, but I hadn't made it out there yet to meet them," Obie Williams told The Associated Press days after the storm ravaged eastern Georgia.

"Now I'll never get to meet my grandsons. It's devastating."

The babies, born on August 20, are the youngest known victims of a storm that had claimed 200 lives across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas as of Thursday.

Among the other young victims are a seven-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy from about 80 kilometres south in Washington County, Georgia.

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In the elder Williams' home city of Augusta, 48 kilometres east of his daughter's home in Thomson, power lines stretched along the sidewalks, tree branches blocked the roads and utility poles lay cracked and broken.

The debris left him trapped in his neighbourhood near the South Carolina border for a little over a day after the storm barrelled through.

Kobe, a single mother nursing newborns, had told her family it wasn't possible for her to evacuate with such young babies, her father said.

Many of his 14 other children are still without power in their homes across Georgia.

Some have sought refuge in Atlanta, and others have travelled to Augusta to see their father and mourn together.

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They are waiting for the bodies to be released by the county coroner and for roads to be cleared before arranging a funeral.

Williams described his daughter as a lovable, social and strong young woman.

She always had a smile on her face and loved to make people laugh, he said.

She was studying to be a nursing assistant but had taken time off from school to give birth to her sons.

"That was my baby," her father said.

"And everybody loved her."

Millions of people looking forward to the long weekend can expect clear skies and warm weather, with top temperatures in Sydney nudging 30 degrees.

Residents in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia will receive a public holiday on Monday, October 7, to mark Labour Day, while Queenslanders are receiving one for the King's Birthday.

This weekend is also the finale of the NRL and NRLW season, with the competitions' grand finals to be held at Accor Stadium at Sydney's Olympic Park on Sunday.

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Meteorologist Angus Hines, from the Bureau of Meteorology, says the weekend will begin with a sprinkling of showers across southern states.

"For Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Sydney, Sydney, Saturday is more just like the chance of a few quick showers, with large proportions of your day bringing fine weather," he said.

While with top temperatures in Canberra and Adelaide will struggling to reach 20 degrees, Sydney and Brisbane can expect maximums of 27 degrees and 30 degrees and clear skies respectively.

The fine conditions will continue for the following two days, including the NRL and NRLW finals on Sunday afternoon in western Sydney, which are expected to attract about 80,000 fans.

They can expect the mercury to hit a top of 28 degrees and a forecast 5 per cent chance of rain with light winds, offering the prospect of fast rugby league on a dry playing surface.

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The warm and fine conditions in Sydney will continue into Monday as the mercury holds at 28 degrees.

Most of the other states holding a long weekend are forecast for sunny and largely dry conditions on Monday.

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Residents in Brisbane are heading for a balmy 32 degrees and light winds on Monday.

There will be largely sunny conditions and a top temperature of 20 degrees in Canberra.

There is a slight chance of a shower for Adelaide and a maximum temperature of 21 degrees.