NATIONAL BRIEFS

ILLINOIS: Explaining targeted killing

Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to provide Monday the most detailed explanation yet of the Obama administration's secret decision-making leading up to the targeted killing of a U.S. citizen last year in Yemen. Holder's speech Monday afternoon at Northwestern Law School in Chicago is the result of months of internal administration deliberations over how much can be made public about the decisions leading up to the killing of U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki. Holder is expected to say that the killing was legal under the 2001 congressional authorization of the use of military force and that the United States, acting in self-defense, is not limited to traditional battlefields in pursuit of terrorists who present an imminent threat, including U.S. citizens, according to an official briefed on it.

VIRGINIA: Tech president on carpet

The hours leading to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history and the actions of Virginia Tech administrators will be replayed in a Christiansburg courtroom when the parents of two students slain in the April 2007 massacre press their legal effort to hold school officials accountable. During the trial that begins Monday, Attorney Robert Hall said he'll call Tech President Charles Steger and other university officials to explain their actions the day 33 were killed on the Blacksburg campus, including the gunman. Hall said the parents want an apology for what he calls the university's botched efforts after the two first killings occurred. He said he has new evidence that reveals further missteps.

GULF COAST: BP's costs in perspective

BP's multibillion-dollar settlement with people and businesses harmed by its 2010 oil spill removes some uncertainty about the potential financial damages it faces. The oil company still has a few major legal and financial hurdles to overcome nearly two years after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the tentative settlement with plaintiff's lawyers sends important signals. Where once it seemed conceivable that BP's spill-related costs could reach $200 billion, lawyers and analysts now say the figure is likely to be less than a quarter that amount.