Pop star Katy Perry and five other women safely returned to Earth after reaching space aboard Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket.

The singer was joined by Bezos’s fiancée Lauren Sánchez and CBS presenter Gayle King, who said a highlight of the flight was hearing Perry sing Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”.

After landing back on Earth, Perry said she felt “super connected to life” and “so connected to love”.

The flight lasted around 11 minutes and took the six women more than 100km (62 miles) above Earth, crossing the internationally recognised boundary of space and giving them a few moments of weightlessness.

Also on board were former Nasa rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

The New Shepard rocket lifted off from its West Texas launch site just after 08:30 local time (14:30 BST).

The capsule returned to Earth with a parachute-assisted soft landing, while the rocket booster also landed back in Texas.

Cheering could be heard from inside the capsule as the recovery crew went to collect them.

Jeff Bezos opened the capsule door to welcome back Lauren Sánchez, the first to disembark.

“I’m so proud of this crew,” she said tearfully. “I can’t put it into words.”

She paused, before adding: “I looked out of the window and we got to see the moon.”

“Earth looked so quiet,” she said, adding that it was not what she expected. “It was quiet, but really alive.”

Next out was Katy Perry, who kissed the ground and lifted a daisy to the sky – her daughter is called Daisy.

Gayle King also got on her knees and kissed the ground.

“I just want to have a moment with the ground, just appreciate the ground for just a second,” she said.

The last to get out, Kerianne Flynn, pointed at the sky and shouted: “I went to space.”

A celebrity cast had watched the launch from the ground.

Speaking from the viewing platform, Khloé Kardashian said: “I didn’t realise how emotional it would be, it’s hard to explain. I have all this adrenaline and I’m just standing here.”

“Whatever you dream of is in our reach, especially in today’s day and age. Dream big, wish for the stars—and one day, you could maybe be amongst them,” she added.

Oprah Winfrey spoke about her friend Gayle King, and revealed she was a nervous flier.

“I mean, for her—whew—anytime we’re on a flight, she’s in somebody’s lap at the slightest bit of turbulence. She has real, real-world anxiety when it comes to flying. And this… this is her overcoming a wall of fear,” she said.

The spacecraft was fully autonomous, requiring no pilots, and the crew did not manually operate the vehicle.

The last all-female spaceflight was over 60 years ago when Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel into space on a solo mission aboard the spacecraft Vostok 6.

Since then, there have been no other all-female spaceflights but women have made numerous significant contributions.

The space tourism industry is still in its infancy, so every successful launch is significant and demonstrates that these short, commercial flights can be carried out safely.

(BBC News)

Workers have been told to hurry home, classes have been suspended and outdoor events have been cancelled as northern China braces for extreme winds this weekend.

Millions have been urged to stay indoors, with some state media outlets warning that people weighing less than 50kg (110lbs – about eight stone) may be “easily blown away”.

Winds reaching 150kph (93mph) are expected to sweep Beijing, Tianjin and other parts of Hebei region from Friday to Sunday, as a cold vortex moves southeast from Mongolia.

For the first time in a decade, Beijing has issued an orange alert for gales – the second-highest in a four-tier weather warning system.

Strong winds sweeping from Mongolia are not uncommon, especially at this time of the year. But the impending winds are expected to be stronger than anything the area has seen in years.

Temperatures in Beijing are expected to drop by 13C within 24 hours, when the strongest winds hit on Saturday, authorities said.

“This strong wind is extreme, lasts for a long time, affects a wide area, and is highly disastrous,” the Beijing Meteorological Service said.

China measures wind speed with a scale that goes from level 1 to 17. A level 11 wind, according to the China Meteorological Administration, can cause “serious damage”, while a level 12 wind brings “extreme destruction”.

The winds this weekend are expected to range from level 11 to 13.

Several sporting events slated for the weekend have been suspended, including the world’s first humanoid robot half marathon, which will now be held on 19 April.

Parks and tourist attractions have been closed as authorities have told residents to avoid outdoor activities, while construction works and train services have been suspended.

Thousands of trees across the city have been reinforced or pruned to prevent them from falling.

Officials have warned people to avoid entering mountains and forests, where gusts are expected to be especially strong.

As residents hunker down, social media users are finding humour in their shelved weekend plans.

“This wind is so sensible, it starts on Friday evening and ends on Sunday, without disrupting work on Monday at all,” said a Weibo user.

Hashtags about the strong winds, and the warning that those weighing less than 50kg could be swept away, have been trending on Chinese social media. One Weibo user quipped: “I eat so much all the time, just for this day.”

Beijing has also issued an alert for forest fires and prohibited people from starting fires outdoors.

The winds are expected to start weakening on Sunday night.

(BBC News)

Six people, including three children, were killed after a helicopter carrying a family of tourists crashed into the Hudson River in New York, authorities have said.

The family of five was from Spain and the sixth person was the pilot, New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters on Thursday. All were onboard the helicopter at the time of the crash.

“Our hearts go out to the families,” Adams said.

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the identities of the victims will not be released until the families are notified. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Video footage of the incident shows the helicopter falling out of the sky upside down and then splashing into the Hudson River.

Officials said the helicopter lost control soon after turning at the George Washington Bridge to move along the New Jersey shoreline.

The helicopter was operated by New York Helicopters and took off from the Downtown Skyport on the lower side of Manhattan at 14:59 local time (19:59 BST).

What we know about the Hudson helicopter crash

The first calls of the crash came around 15:17 EDT (20:17 GMT) and rescue boats were launched immediately, New York Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker said.

“Swimmers were in the water shortly after the call,” he said.

Once on the scene, rescuers searched the water for victims or survivors and initiated “immediate life-saving measures” but the efforts were unsuccessful.

Four victims were pronounced dead on scene, while two others were pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, officials said.

The part of the river where the helicopter crashed is near Manhattan’s west side, an area known for its trendy shops and dining. It’s also near the main campus of New York University.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the investigation into the crash of the Bell 206, a two-bladed helicopter, will be led by the National Transportation Safety Board.

In a social media post, President Trump said the crash was terrible and more details would soon be released into what happened.

“God bless the families and friends of the victims,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

The Bell 206 is commonly used by sightseeing companies, television new stations and police departments.

Michael Roth, the CEO of New York Helicopter Charter Inc, told CNN he was “devastated”.

“I’m a father, a grandfather and my wife hasn’t stopped crying since this afternoon,” he said. When asked about the maintenance of the helicopter, Mr Roth said, “It’s my director of maintenance who deals with that.”

Eyewitnesses who saw the crash told CBS News, the BBC’s US news partner, that they saw parts of the helicopter fall from the sky.

“I looked outside my window. I saw a few people running towards the water, and some people were acting pretty normal. So I was like oh, it might not be anything. Then I started to hear all the sirens come outside,” Jersey City resident Jenn Lynk said.

Another Jersey City resident, Ipsitaa Banigrhi, told CBS the crash sounded like thunder.

“I saw, like, black particles flying,” she said. “Again, I thought maybe it’s just like, dust, or birds, and then we heard all the emergency vehicles and sirens go by, and I think that’s when it was like, OK, what’s happening.”

This is not the first deadly tourist helicopter crash in New York City. In 2018, another tourist helicopter crashed into the East River and all five passengers drowned. Only the pilot survived.

In 2009, a helicopter carrying Italian tourists collided with a private plane over the Hudson River, killing nine.

(BBC News)