President Barack Obama met on his own turf with top BP officials on Wednesday to press his demands that the London-based oil giant pay into a claims fund for victims of the worst oil spill in the nation's history.

BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO Tony Hayward, and other officials walked slowly as a group from the Southwest Gate of the White House, where they were dropped off, and climbed the steps leading to the West Wing.

The meeting comes the morning after Obama vowed to an angry nation that "we will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused." BP is the majority owner of the deep water well that blew out on April 20, killing 11 rig workers and triggering the spill.

It was Obama's first meeting with BP officials since the spill. While Hayward has served as the voice of the company, the White House has been emphasizing the role of the company's chairman, Svanberg, instead.

Obama in his speech to the nation from the Oval Office backed creation of a fund administered by an independent trustee to pay damages and clean up costs associated with the spill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats have suggested the fund be established with $20 billion from BP.

A death row inmate set to be executed by firing squad Friday is scrambling to block his execution after losing an appeal at the Utah Supreme Court and failing to persuade the state parole board to grant him clemency.

Ronnie Lee Gardner's attorneys are now ramping up a federal civil rights lawsuit filed last week against the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. Gardner contends the commutation hearing process is tainted because lawyers that represent the board and the state prison all work for the Utah attorney general's office — the same entity that sought Gardner's death warrant and argued against a commuted sentence.

The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell, but no hearing had been set Tuesday.

The parole board on Monday rejected Gardner's efforts to get his death sentence reduced to life in prison without parole, and hours later, the Utah Supreme Court unanimously denied Gardner's appeal.

In its 57-page ruling, justices said it was too late for Gardner to challenge his sentence and that he had been treated fairly throughout his 25 years of appeals.

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a Canadian engineer who was caught up in the U.S. government's secret transfer of terror suspects to other countries.

The court did not comment Monday in ending Syrian-born Maher Arar's quest to sue top U.S. officials, including former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Arar says he was mistaken for a terrorist when he was changing planes in New York on his way home to Canada, a year after the 2001 terrorist attacks. He was instead sent to Syria, where he claims he was tortured.

Lower courts dismissed Arar's lawsuit, which asserts the U.S. purposely sent him to Syria to be tortured. Syria has denied he was tortured.

The Canadian government agreed to pay Arar $10 million and apologized to him for its role in the case.

A Canadian investigation found that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police wrongly labeled Arar an Islamic fundamentalist and passed misleading and inaccurate information to U.S. authorities.

The inquiry determined that Arar was tortured, and it cleared him of any terrorist links or suspicions.

The Detroit News says Thursday that a lawsuit filed by Palace Sports & Entertainment in Oakland County Circuit Court demands the return of confidential records and seeks a cash award.

Palace says at least nine ex-employees have joined Tom Wilson at Ilitch Holdings, which controls the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings.

Wilson was the head of the Pistons and Palace Sports until he resigned in February. He is not a defendant in the lawsuit.

Palace Sports says it lost information that could be used to attract sponsors and vendors. Olympia Entertainment, an arm of Ilitch Holdings, calls the lawsuit "sour grapes."

Peter Erlinder pleaded not guilty to the charges in court last Friday and asked to be granted bail so he could return home for medical treatment.

The U.S. lawyer is accused of violating Rwanda's laws against minimizing the genocide in which hundreds of thousands of Rwandans, the vast majority of them ethnic Tutsis, were massacred by extremist Hutus in 100 days. Erlinder doesn't deny massive violence happened but contends it's inaccurate to blame just one side.

"The medical report which Erlinder presented to court only shows that he was hospitalized twice but it does not convince court that his hospitalization was a result of detention," said Judge Maurice Mbishibishi

He said Erlinder will remain in detention for 30 days and can appeal the bail decision in five days time. His lawyers said they are going to appeal it immediately in Rwanda's High Court.

He says other insurers that Appleton had policies with between 1978 and 1986 have reached confidential settlements for their portion of the cleanup, which is expected to cost $600 million or more.

Appleton's corporate predecessor dumped chemical pollutants known as PCBs into the river for years as a byproduct of carbonless paper production.

Los Angeles is home to hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries, but concern over their proliferation has provoked a backlash. Police are cracking down on most of them starting Monday.

A new city ordinance limits the number and locations of medical marijuana dispensaries allowed to operate in Los Angeles. Those that registered with the city before a 2007 moratorium may be able to remain in business. But they can't be near schools, libraries, parks and other sensitive areas. Police officers will begin closing down 400 unregistered dispensaries now operating illegally.

"The sky isn't going to fall down," says Asha Greenberg, assistant city attorney. "LAPD isn't going to go around kicking down doors, etc. Initially we're going to be doing information gathering."

Greenberg says L.A.'s new ordinance makes it a misdemeanor to run a dispensary without city approval.

"Anyone who is operating a medical marijuana establishment, who is violating the city's ordinance is subject to arrest," Greenberg says.

Dispensary owners and patients have filed more than 20 lawsuits against the city, arguing that the ordinance is unconstitutional because it prohibits access to their medicine. So far, their attempts at temporary restraining orders have been turned down in court.