USA

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said Thursday he was "not happy" about the footage he'd seen of police dispersing a crowd of pro-immigration protesters with batons and rubber bullets Tuesday. Investigations using police and news media video are under way to determine whether the officers at MacArthur Park acted appropriately to push back 50 to 100 demonstrators. Seven police officers and at least 10 others suffered minor injuries.

Senior career officials at the Veteran Affairs Department earned bonuses of up to $33,000, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press. The payments were issued despite the VA's $1-billion shortfall last year due to not anticipating increased costs for veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that Walter Reed Army Medical Center should be closed as planned. The decision comes after an independent review attributed the hospital's problems to failures in leadership and oversight. It goes against recommendations from some lawmakers in Congress.

A bipartisan group of key US legislators sent a letter Wednesday toIndia's prime minister, warning of "grave concern" that India's ties with Iran might "significantly harm prospects" for a nuclear cooperation deal that President Bush and India reached in 2005. Congress is required to approve the agreement.

General Motors Corps. reported first-quarter profits of $62 million Thursday, a 90-percent drop from the same period in 2006. The world's largest automaker attributed the decline to losses in the residential mortgage business of GMAC Financial Services. It sold a 51-percent stake of GMAC last year to private equity investors last year.

The Senate Wednesday passed 94 to 0 a bill that would require pet food to display uniform information about its ingredients. Currently, states and manufacturers use labeling standards on a voluntary basis. Legislators said they wanted to strengthen food safety protections in light of the recent major pet-food recall.