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The Latest: Harvey Weinstein back in court

NEW YORK — The Latest on a pretrial hearing in Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault case (all times local):

9:25 a.m.

Harvey Weinstein is back at a Manhattan courthouse for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case.

Weinstein, who’s free on $1 million bail, shuffled into a federal courtroom on Friday, trailed by his lawyer.

When asked in the hallway outside court how he’s doing, Weinstein merely nodded.

Both the prosecution and defence have asked that the hearing be held behind closed doors. News organizations are fighting the effort.

Weinstein is charged with raping an unidentified female acquaintance in his Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006.

Prosecutors want to have some of his dozens of other accusers testify in an attempt to show Weinstein has a history of violating women.

Weinstein denies all allegations of nonconsensual sex.

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1:10 a.m.

An important pretrial hearing in Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault case could play out in secret if a judge rules against news organizations fighting to keep the courtroom open.

Both the prosecution and defence have asked that Friday’s hearing dealing with trial strategy and potential witnesses be held behind closed doors.

They say they want to protect Weinstein’s right to a fair trial and shield the identities of women who’ve accused the disgraced movie mogul of wrongdoing.

Lawyers for the news organizations, including The Associated Press and The New York Times, are due to appear before Judge James Burke before he rules.

They argue that the sides haven’t met a high legal standard for closing

Weinstein denies all allegations of nonconsensual sex.

The Associated Press