LONDON (AP) — An unidentified celebrity lost a bid Tuesday for a U.K. court injunction to block two news organizations from publishing sexual misconduct allegations against him.
Lawyers for Independent Television News and the Guardian newspaper's publisher told the High Court last month that the allegations they wanted to publish were about the man's “abuse of power and status” and his attempts to contact a number of young women to engage them in “inappropriate sexual activity.”
The celebrity denies wrongdoing and has repeatedly said he intended to take his own life if the allegations were published, according to the judgment.
The man's lawyer, Sara Mansoori, earlier told the court that he had made a suicide attempt when he received letters from ITN and Guardian News and Media seeking his response to the allegations. He later made another attempt, she said, and he was recently admitted to the hospital for psychiatric care.
The case has drawn widespread attention in Britain because it highlights questions over public figures' right to privacy and what media can report on the basis of public interest.
Gavin Millar, representing the media companies, has said that the allegations were gathered after “a wide-ranging and rigorous investigation” and that there was a strong public interest in publishing them.
“The defendants allege that, over a period of years, the claimant used his status and influence as a well-known public figure to establish contact with young women, some considerably younger than him, and that he engaged or sought to engage in seriously inappropriate conduct,” according to a summary of Tuesday's judgment.
Some of the alleged conduct could amount to criminal offenses if proven, it said.
Justice Matthew Nicklin dismissed the man's injunction bid, saying the legal measure would mean “an exceptionally serious interference” with the rights of the media companies.
He noted that the man has a “serious and longstanding psychiatric vulnerability" which must be taken seriously, and said a decision allowing the allegations to be published will substantially increase his risk of suicide. However, he added that the evidence does not “establish that suicide is inevitable."
The man's statements are “not a reliable basis for concluding that no future treatment or intervention could alter that risk,” the judge said.
He ruled that the man should remain anonymous to allow him to appeal the ruling.
Reporters Without Borders U.K. welcomed Tuesday's court decision, saying the remaining restrictions should be lifted.
"While the risks of harm in this case of course must be taken seriously, it is important that responsible journalism in the public interest is allowed to proceed," the nonprofit said in a statement. “Dangerous precedents can have impacts far beyond the cases that set them, and neither wealth nor access to the best legal teams should ever shield anyone from legitimate public scrutiny.”
FILE - The Royal Courts of Justice are seen in London, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
PAGOSA SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The massive amounts of water that flooded parts of the U.S. Southwest turned some communities into lakes of mud, leaving residents dealing with the loss of homes and businesses as they started cleaning up Tuesday.
Jack Ellis, a retired school teacher, surveyed the damage along the San Juan River in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, which went through two rounds of severe flooding in recent weeks.
“This is quite a disaster for everybody, especially in the low-lying areas,” Ellis said. “We dig in and dig out, and that’s what it’s going to take."
More than 20 trillion gallons of rain have fallen on the Four Corners states and Nevada in the past two weeks, according to calculations by former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist Ryan Maue.
The skies were clearing on Tuesday, but flood risks remained as all that water moves through the dry landscape where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah meet. While hundreds of evacuees were returning home, swift-water rescue teams were kept busy. One person died in the floodwaters and police suspect a second death was weather-related.
Some communities in Colorado and Utah made alternative Election Day voting plans because of the flooding. And as downpours swamped parts of Florida, some polling places were changed in at least eight counties after Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an emergency declaration.
Officials said the cleanup and repairs could take weeks or more in Pagosa Springs, walkways and bridges collapsed or were heavily damaged. A sign in front of a resort where the entrance was covered with a tarp and sandbags were stacked, a sign read “Love Pagosa.”
“I hope the federal government helps out a little bit. I know we’re a blue state. I just hope that they come through because we all pay taxes and we all work for each other in a time like this,” Ellis said.
In Durango, about 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) to the west, Willow Bradner's ranch-style home was surrounded by about 2 feet (60 centimeters) of mud. Nearly five feet (1.5 meters) of water from the overflowing Junction Creek poured inside at one point.
“Our basement became a soup bowl,” she said.
The basement had been a selling point when she bought the property in 2024. Bradner, who runs a small custom closet and storage business with her husband, said they had asked if they needed flood insurance, and were told they were outside the flood zone.
While the couple and their teenage daughter have been offered a place to stay through the end of the year, and they've been offered the help of countless strangers armed with shovels, the loss of their home and uncertainty over the future is overwhelming.
"The majority of our savings is in this house,” she said. “We have to dig deep and we have to rebuild.”
Officials in New Mexico's San Juan County, where there have been a number of evacuations, said the major rivers, including the San Juan, Animas and La Plata, have all crested.
“None are below flood stage, but will continue to recede,” the agency posted online Tuesday. “We believe that the crest has passed on all rivers, but it will take 24-48 hours for floodwaters to recede.”
AP journalists Savannah Peters in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire contributed.
Maggie Emerson clears mud from her property after a series of storms on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Durango, Colo. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Residents at a local RV park survey the damage of their mobile home after flooding along the Verde River in Camp Verde, Ariz., Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
After heavy rains flood waters flow through the Continental Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Mobile homes, cottages and vehicles are strewn along the Verde River after severe flooding at a local RV park in Camp Verde, Ariz., Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Neighbors clear mud and debris from a street after a series of storms on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Durango, Colo. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
