NATIONAL BRIEFS

WASHINGTON: Asking Iraq for terror suspect

The White House has asked Iraq to review the case of a Hezbollah commander accused of masterminding a 2007 attack that killed five American soldiers or hand him over to the United States, a senior Obama administration official said Thursday, though two Iraqi courts have declared him not guilty. The case is a tricky aftermath of the long U.S. military campaign in Iraq that ended last year. Ali Mussa Daqduq has been released from prison but is being held under house arrest in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. The Lebanese citizen is considered a top threat to Americans in the Middle East and was detained for more than four years by the U.S. military before it left Iraq in December.

BP paying for Texas blast

Oil giant BP has agreed to pay an additional $13 million to settle charges of failing to fix safety violations at its Texas City oil refinery after a 2005 explosion killed 15 workers. The settlement announced Thursday is the latest move toward resolving hundreds of violations at the plant alleged by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. BP had already paid $50 million in 2010 to settle some of the OSHA violations. The settlement comes as BP attempts to restore its global reputation and resolve litigation over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

NEVADA: Rampaging chimps quelled

Two chimpanzees escaped a Las Vegas backyard and rampaged through a neighborhood Thursday, pounding on cars and jumping into at least one vehicle before police killed one and tranquilized the other, authorities said. No people were hurt. Police said they had no choice but to kill after the agitated animals escaped their enclosure and ran through yards, opening car doors in a neighborhood of horse pens, palm trees and tile-roofed, landscaped homes.