A defense lawyer in Bahrain says a court has prolonged the appeal of
an imprisoned human rights activist by ordering another hearing next
month.

Nabeel Rajab is challenging his three-year prison sentence for
allegedly encouraging illegal protests and violence in the
strife-wracked Gulf nation, which is home to the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet.

He is among the most high-profile prisoners in Bahrain's crackdowns.
The country has been hit by near-daily unrest since February 2011,
when its Shiite majority began an uprising demanding a greater
political voice in the Sunni-ruled nation.

Attorney Mohammed al-Jishi says the court on Tuesday set Rajab's next
hearing for Nov. 8.

Also Tuesday, authorities detained another rights campaigner, Mohammed
al-Maskati, the president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human
Rights.

The two men competing to be Washington's next attorney general are co-workers, but that's about as much similarity King County Councilmen Reagan Dunn and Bob Ferguson will admit to.

Dunn, a Republican, and the Democrat Ferguson have been trying to draw differences for months in their quest to succeed incumbent Rob McKenna, the GOP's candidate for governor.

With about month left until the general election, Ferguson appears to have an advantage. He garnered more votes than Dunn in the August primary, and recent polls show him ahead. But Dunn expects leads to flip flop until Election Day. He put $100,000 of his own money into his campaign in September, according to campaign filings.

Ferguson has offered himself as an independent-minded lawyer who is not afraid to leave party politics behind, while Dunn has touted his experience as a U.S. prosecutor.

A fourth-generation Washingtonian first elected in 2003 to the County Council, Ferguson was an attorney at a prominent Seattle law firm before entering politics.

If elected, Ferguson said he'd create a task force to look into an environmental crimes unit, seek remedies for gangs and continue the practice of consumer protection.

An appellate court on Tuesday tossed out Attorney General Pam Bondi's request for a decision to uphold the proposed privatization of 29 South Florida prison facilities.

A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal rejected her plea to reverse a lower court's ruling against privatization, saying Bondi couldn't appeal on her own after her client, the Department of Corrections, declined to do so. The panel unanimously dismissed the case because Bondi was not a party.

"A party who suffers an adverse judgment in Circuit Court has the right to appeal, but nonparties whose rights have not been adjudicated have no right of appeal," Chief District Judge Robert Benton wrote for the court.

Leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature had urged Bondi to appeal after Gov. Rick Scott decided the department, which is part of his administration, would not.

One of Bondi's assistants acknowledged during oral argument last month that it was too late to carry out the privatization due to the expiration of a budget provision authorizing the plan. Nevertheless, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Glogau asked the appellate court to issue a ruling upholding the privatization provision that would set a precedent for future budgets.