President Barack Obama plans to use a meeting with BP executives this week to demand that they create and fund an escrow account and accept an independent panel to handle damage claims by individuals and businesses hurt by the Gulf disaster, a White House official told POLITICO. Obama wants BP to set aside funds to pay damage claims, to be “paid out under fair, efficient, and transparent procedures administered by an independent third-party panel established just for this purpose,” the official said. The announcement is the latest effort by the White House to be sure BP, not taxpayers,