The object, known as 3i/ATLAS, will speed by at 130,000mph, at a distance of 170 million miles, roughly twice as far away as the sun.

While there is near consensus among astronomers that the object is a comet from outside our solar system, a Harvard University astrophysicist has sparked a furious debate by warning he cannot rule out that extraterrestrials are paying us a visit.

Professor Avi Loeb told Sky News that humanity should be on high alert for what may be a "black swan event" - something that's highly unlikely but has high consequences and might have been foreseen.

"Alien technology is a potential threat because when you go on a blind date of interstellar proportions, you never know whether you have a friendly visitor as your dating partner or a serial killer," he said.

"When there are implications to society, we must consider even an unlikely event and collect as much data as possible to convince us otherwise."

Professor Loeb said images of the object show it has an unusual tail that could come from a propulsion system, nickel in its gas cloud could be evidence of metal mining on its surface, and its trajectory, aligned with the orbits of planets in our solar system, was too unlikely to be by chance.

3i/ATLAS was first spotted in July as a distant dot of light against the starry canvas of the cosmos.

But it has moved rapidly through the solar system, passing Mars in early October, disappearing briefly behind the sun, and after coming close to Earth's orbit, will fly by Jupiter before fading from view again.

The US and European space agencies have trained cameras from a dozen spacecraft on the object, and they say there is no doubt its origins are completely natural.

Amit Kshatriya, from NASA, said: "This object is a comet. It looks and behaves like a comet. All evidence points to it being a comet."

Scientists estimate the comet is around eight billion years old, twice the age of our sun and solar system, and is a cosmic fossil left over from the formation of an unknown star in the galaxy.

Professor Chris Lintott, an astronomer from the University of Oxford, told Sky News that there was nothing sinister about the object.

"It is just nonsense," he said. "It's like saying we should consider the possibility that the moon is made of cheese.

"You could consider that possibility if you like, but my first question is why would you think that?"

He said the comet's changing colour and brightness can be explained by the sun heating pockets of ice and different materials that it's picked up on its epic journey through the stars.

"There is nothing this thing has done that we haven't seen elsewhere," he said.

Read more:
Why do the moons two sides look so different?
Stranded Chinese astronauts return to Earth

But Prof Loeb has accused other scientists of closing their minds to alternative explanations for what they are seeing.

"At the foundation of science is the humility to learn," he said.

"It's not the arrogance of expertise. And what you see very often is experts tell you what something should be and demonstrate by that, the arrogance of their expertise. They're not willing to learn something new."

Prof Loeb made similar claims about a possible alien craft over Oumuamua, another interstellar comet to pass through our solar system, in 2017.

Prof Lintott said wild theories that have no evidence can be dangerous.

"I'm baffled as to why Avi has latched on to this," he said. "We can look for signs of intelligence in the cosmos. I'm very sympathetic to that idea.

"But you start by looking at things that are odd, and this thing is not odd."

Scottish parliament officials are investigating the alleged bugging incident by a man, which is said to have taken place in 2023 at Holyrood.

The Scotsman newspaper reported the staffer is still involved with the SNP and moved on to work with a male MP after the issue came to light.

Sky News has yet to independently verify the details, but one senior party source with knowledge of events has said it is "100% true".

The source alleges "the SNP did nothing; indeed he simply got moved and continued to be promoted by very senior members of executive".

It is suggested the female MSP, who has not been publicly named, is liked, rated and respected by her colleagues.

First Minister Mr Swinney was stopped by reporters in Edinburgh on Thursday where he said he was "not familiar with all of the details... but that type of conduct is completely and utterly unacceptable".

"Individuals are entitled to operate in an open and transparent environment that shouldn't be subjected to that kind of behaviour," he concluded.

Read more from Sky News:
Millions could see council elections delayed again
Bank of England rate cut to 3.75% following fall in inflation

MPs and MSPs employ staff directly, rather than the political party.

Sky sources confirmed the victims of the incident had to get counselling in the aftermath before suggesting the SNP "definitely has a woman problem".

The source claims it is "not a one-off incident", adding: "Women are habitually treated differently."

An SNP spokesperson said: "The SNP has no involvement in the employment processes of parliamentarians. That is a confidential matter between elected members, employees, and Scottish parliament authorities.

"The reports outline a very traumatic situation for those involved and nobody should ever have to experience fear or harassment for doing their job."

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: "These jaw-dropping revelations pose serious questions for the SNP top brass.

"It appears a grave breach of privacy and potentially criminal behaviour has been swept under the carpet by the SNP.

"Once again it looks like the SNP chose to close ranks and protect their own, rather than dealing with serious misconduct head-on."

A spokesperson for the Scottish parliament said: "Each MSP is an employer in their own right and is responsible for managing staff welfare issues and employment disputes.

"Complaints about staff conduct are investigated by an independent adviser, and it is for the member to act on their findings accordingly.

"As a matter of standard practice, we do not comment upon or confirm any individual cases."

The plane was linked to former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, officials added.

Flight records show the aircraft was registered to a company run by Biffle.

The Cessna C550 business jet had taken off from Statesville Regional Airport, around 45 miles north of Charlotte, shortly after 10am local time (3pm UK time) on Thursday, bound for Florida.

It then returned and was attempting to land, according to flight tracking data.

Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said: "I can confirm there were fatalities." He did not share any further details.

The Federal Aviation Authority said six people were aboard the plane.

Footage from WSOC-TV showed emergency workers rushing on to the runway as flames burned near the wreckage.

Airport director John Ferguson said: "The airport now is closed until further notice. It will take some time to get the debris off the runway."

More US news:
New Epstein pictures released
White House plaques attack ex-presidents

The airport's website says it offers corporate aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several NASCAR teams.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the crash.

Sophie Hunt, 34, from Northampton, died on 9 March 2022, two days after having a tummy tuck and a Brazilian butt lift (BBL) at the private Nisantasi Hospital in Istanbul.

On Thursday, an inquest into her death at Northampton Coroner's Court was told Ms Hunt suffered multi-organ failure and died after experiencing cardiac arrest three times.

In a statement read to the court, Ms Hunt's mother Sandra Hunt said her daughter lost consciousness after the surgery and had swelling in her hands.

Paperwork from the hospital showed "some of her ECG [electrocardiogram] readings indicate an abnormal heartbeat", Sandra Hunt said, which she has been told was not healthy.

"We believe she was not fit for the surgery," she added.

She said she also had concerns that there may have been a complication from the BBL procedure if too much fat was injected or removed from Ms Hunt's body.

Assistant coroner Sophie Lomas told the inquest that because Ms Hunt died in another country, she "does not have the jurisdiction to fully investigate what happened in that hospital".

A report provided by Turkey's Council of Forensic Medicine said: "The individual had no known medical illnesses. She presented to hospital with dissatisfaction of the abdomen and buttocks."

Read more from Sky News:
Hospitals on 'high alert' after new flu data released
Actors vote for industrial action over AI concerns

It added she had an abdominoplasty, also known as a tummy tuck, and liposuction on 7 March 2022, before she experienced "sudden loss of consciousness".

Ms Hunt was resuscitated, the inquest heard, but experienced a second cardiac arrest in an ambulance on the way to another hospital, the Avrupa Safak Hospital in Istanbul, which had a specialist cardiac intensive care unit.

Ms Hunt died there later with respiratory failure and organ failure.

The Turkish investigation found Ms Hunt died "as a result of abdominoplasty and liposuction procedures and the complications that developed thereafter".

A post-mortem examination carried out by consultant histopathologist Professor Kevin West after Ms Hunt's body was repatriated to the UK, also concluded she died due to complications of the surgery.

The "exact cause of cardiopulmonary arrest is unclear", but is likely to be because of the procedures, Mr West said.

The coroner recorded a narrative conclusion which said: "Sophie Hunt died due to complications of a surgical procedure carried out whilst abroad."

Ms Hunt's mother said in her written statement that Sophie, who worked as a chef and enjoyed cooking and music, was "outgoing, bubbly and very kind".

The government describes violence against women and girls (VAWG) as a "national emergency" and one of their central promises has been that they would halve it within a decade.

Today, 18 months in to their time in power, we know what they mean by that. As part of a strategy labelled Freedom From Violence and Abuse, the Home Office has been working alongside the Office for National Statistics to define a new measure of VAWG.

Among the crimes it says are included in the definition of VAWG are: domestic abuse, stalking, sexual violence, including rape and other sexual offences, sexual harassment, 'honour'-based abuse, female genital mutilation, online and technology-facilitated abuse, fatal VAWG such as domestic homicides, sexual exploitation and spiking.

But in terms of the numbers of offences committed, the majority of VAWG crimes involve either sexual abuse, domestic abuse or stalking - some 5.1 million victims in the year ending March 2025, according to government figures.

The government's strategy includes a range of educational and preventative measures aimed at supporting men and boys, in a bid to reduce the number of crimes of those types women and girls experience.

That will include training for teachers to spot early signs of misogyny in boys and steer them away from it.

It also pledges money for victims, although it's unclear how much of that is new funding and how much is from programmes already in place.

Domestic abuse charity Woman's Trust told Sky News they welcome the approach, but that the plans as they stand "lack both ambition and investment."

It's also unclear how the help for victims will be targeted.

Out of those 5.1 million victims, representing more than one in ten adults in England and Wales, some two million are men, and it doesn't track the experience of under-16s.

The fact that such a high proportion of men were included in the measure was described as "counter-intuitive" by the Police Foundation. But it added that it would have been controversial to announce a policy that ignored male survivors of sexual crimes.

Niki Scordi, Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Woman's Trust, told Sky News that although the fight against VAWG has always been led by women, they recognise that the issues also affect men.

"Many women's charities also support male victims of these sorts of crimes, so it is appropriate that the government are also trying to support all victims as well. Many of the perpetrators of male abuse are also men, so efforts to educate and prevent abuse will help victims of all genders."

Read more:
'National emergency' of violence against women and girls
Male survivors 'ignored' as abuse is classified 'violence against women'
Teachers to be trained to spot early signs of misogyny in boys

James McKinnon, a spokesperson for Survivors UK which supports male and non-binary victims of sexual abuse, told Sky News "it is understandable and right that strategies for tackling sexual violence prioritise women and girls since they clearly account for the majority of victims."

He added: "That male victims of sexual violence are parcelled in under VAWG does in effect mean that supporting male survivors is seen as an afterthought and their experiences not as important."

"This presents a self-perpetuating problem because men are less likely to report being a victim of rape, sexually assaulted or abused to the police, or in some cases even recognise their experiences as abuse."

Is violence against women and girls growing?

The figures the government is using come from the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW), using survey responses from about 34,000 households selected at random each year.

It is generally considered a better measure for recording people's experiences of crime than police-recorded data because it is not affected by changes in police recording practices, the introduction of new offences, or victims not wanting to report their crime for any reason.

The last factor is particularly relevant for VAWG offences as we know that many domestic or sexual abuse victims in particular find it difficult to report their experiences to police.

The CSEW data suggests that number of sexual assault victims has gone up and down a bit over the last twenty years, but overall it's not changed much. Across all genders, 2.36% of people aged 16 or over were sexual assault victims in 2024/25. That's the same as the average from 2004 to 2023.

The government will be hoping that its new strategy can start moving that line more consistently in the right direction.

The most common sexual assault experience in 2024/25 was unwanted sexual touching, experienced by 3.6% of women and 0.6% of men aged 16 or over. The most serious offence of rape or attempted rape was experienced by 0.4% of women and 0.1% of men last year.

There was a significant fall in the number of over-15s that say they experienced stalking through the 2010s. It fell by almost half between 2004 and 2010. The figures have flat-lined since then, however.

There was actually a rise in female victims between 2010 and 2022, which has started to come back down again in the last few years.

Unfortunately, the definitions of domestic abuse changed recently, meaning we don't have comparable data for such a long time period. The percentage of over-15s affected by it fell slightly over the last year, from 8.0% to 7.8%.

The most common form was emotional abuse by a partner, experienced by 4.8% of women and 3.2% of men aged 16 or over. Other significant partner-on-partner offences included economic abuse, threats and stalking.

Abuse by family members, another part of the VAWG strategy, was experienced by about 2.7% of over-15s. Ms Scordi from Woman's Trust told us that children - who are not represented in the crime survey figures - are particularly at risk from this.

A report published by the National Audit Office earlier this year, whose statistics were also used by a House of Commons library report on the same topic, pointed out that the number of rape and sexual offences recorded by police grew by 264% between 2009/10 and 2023/24.

The ONS, however, says that police recorded sexual offences are not a good indicator of trends over time.

Girls not included

One significant criticism of the data is the fact that under-16s are not included in the CSEW. This means it's not possible to measure the government's efforts to protect "girls".

Before the government confirmed that this would be their approach, the Police Foundation told Sky News that excluding under-16s would be "a glaring omission".

Following up after the announcement today, Ruth Halkon, a researcher at the Police Foundation, said that there isn't currently much reliable crime data available on girls, but that it would not be impossible to start getting the data, as some police forces like Gloucestershire had done.

Ms Halkon said that doing so would be "expensive and time-consuming" but that getting hold of that important information would be a good use of time and money.

The Home Office told Sky News "children and girls under 16 who experience sexual abuse and exploitation are considered throughout the strategy, with specific commitments aimed at tackling these appalling crimes".

Funding questions

Another criticism is the amount of money pledged to the various policies. Ms Scordi told us that it's currently unclear how much of the funding is new and how much is from either existing projects or ones that were cancelled recently.

For example, £2m has been put towards a specialist police unit dedicated to investigating sexual violence. Ms Scordi says this replaces a team that was closed down a few years ago, but it now has a narrower remit because the old team was also empowered to investigate both domestic and sexual abuse.

She added that £500m announced by Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to support housing for domestic abuse victims has already been in place since 2022. And that the additional £500m to support victims in other ways replaces services previously offered by local authorities.

Ms Scordi said that the £5m announced to train health workers to recognise signs of domestic abuse is strengthening a service that is already in place. And it's a similar story with the £20m allocated to train teachers to recognise either signs of abuse or developing misogyny.

Ms Halkon from the Police Foundation also said that the definitions used for things like domestic abuse were also potentially too broad, which makes it harder to measure whether the strategy is achieving its targets.

She welcomed however the fact that the strategy supports programmes that have already been proven to help in pilot schemes, and that the approach was cross-departmental - involving work in schools and healthcare settings, not just criminal justice.

Ms Halkon added that other issues like social media safeguarding for young people and the courts backlog also need to be addressed in order to prevent VAWG and improve outcomes for victims.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.