Arrests

BEIRUT - Syria on Sunday rejected Turkish charges that Damascus was behind a pair of devastating car bomb attacks in southern Turkey that killed 46 people and left scores injured. The bombings provided a worrisome indication of how the civil war in Syria is increasingly spilling into neighboring countries. In another development, a Syrian rebel group on Sunday reportedly released four United Nations peacekeepers seized along the Golan Heights border with Israel. The abduction left Israeli officials concerned that such incidents could cause peacekeepers to pull out, leaving no buffer zone between the two countries.

HOUSTON - A paramedic who responded to the devastating fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, last month was arrested Friday after federal investigators said they discovered he had the makings of a pipe bomb. It was not clear whether the arrest was connected to the April 17 explosion, which killed 14 people and injured more than 160 others in the small McLennan County town about 70 miles south of Dallas. The explosion had been investigated as an industrial accident, but officials said Friday they had started a criminal investigation.

LONDON - Thirty-one people have been arrested in a three-country sweep tied to a spectacular $50-million diamond heist at a Belgian airport in February, officials said Wednesday. More than 250 officers with the Belgian federal police and the country's special branches fanned out across Brussels early Wednesday, conducting 40 house searches and arresting 24 suspects. A day earlier, six people in Switzerland were taken into custody, as was one in France who authorities believe was among the masked thieves who took the gems from a jet on the tarmac at Brussels Airport.

Los Angeles school district officials knew of sexual misconduct allegations in 2009 against a teacher at a Wilmington campus who was arrested more than three years later, the district's top administrator confirmed Tuesday. The teacher, Robert Pimentel, 57, was arrested in January. Some of the charges result from alleged conduct at De La Torre Elementary that occurred well after senior administrators apparently became aware of concerns raised by parents in 2009. L.A. schools Supt.

Three women who vanished separately up to 11 years ago were rescued from a Cleveland home Monday, police said, and three men were arrested. The announcement rocked the city and prompted celebrations in the street. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight seemed to be "in good health" after their surprise discovery in a residential area near downtown, police said. The men under arrest were not identified but were described as being ages 50, 52 and 54 and reportedly were brothers.

MEXICO CITY - On the eve of President Obama's trip to Mexico, Mexican authorities on Tuesday announced the capture of a key drug cartel operative, the father-in-law and associate of one of the world's most-wanted fugitive kingpins. The major arrest - the first under new President Enrique Peña Nieto - comes as the extraordinarily close U.S.-Mexican cooperation in the drug war is undergoing significant changes. The Los Angeles Times reported this week that officials of the 5-month-old Mexican administration were alarmed to discover how deeply involved U.S. advisors were in sensitive areas of security and law enforcement during the six-year government of former President Felipe Calderon.

TUPELO, Miss. - Federal agents of all sorts invaded northeast Mississippi several days ago, on a mission: Find the man who sent a poison-laced letter to the president. But the United States government quickly found itself entangled, once again, in a misunderstood land dominated by squabbling tribes and petty vengeances. Agents first arrested an Elvis impersonator, released him, then on Saturday arrested his nemesis, a karate instructor. Gradually investigators concluded that what they had descended upon was probably less about the president - or the U.S. senator and retired state judge who also received letters - than a serious case of indigenous bickering.

Dodgers prospect Yasiel Puig was arrested by police in Chattanooga, Tenn., early Sunday and charged with speeding, reckless driving and driving without proof of insurance. A spokesman for the Hamilton County jail confirmed that Puig was booked Sunday morning and released a short time later. He has a hearing scheduled for the afternoon of May 14 in Hamilton County court. Puig, a 22-year-old Cuban defector, signed a seven-year, $42-million contract with the Dodgers last June. An impressive spring -- during which he hit .517, homered three times and drove in 11 runs in 27 games -- had him in the running for a spot on the opening day roster.

TUPELO, Miss. - FBI agents arrested a Mississippi martial arts instructor early Saturday in the bizarre case of poisoned letters sent to President Obama, a U.S. senator and a local judge. James Everett Dutschke was arrested without incident at his Tupelo home shortly before 1 a.m., FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden told The Times. Dutschke, a former candidate for the Mississippi Legislature, became the prime suspect in the mailings after charges were dropped Tuesday against Paul Kevin Curtis, a celebrity impersonator from Corinth, Miss.

Kevin Harvick won Saturday night's race at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway by plowing through traffic on a two-lap sprint to the finish. Juan Pablo Montoya was trying to hold off Harvick for his first win since 2010 when the caution came out with four laps remaining. It sent the race into two laps of overtime, and most of the field gave up track position to pit for tires. Montoya came off pit road in sixth and Harvick was seventh for the restart. But Harvick rocketed through the field to snatch away the win. Clint Bowyer was second, Joey Logano third, and Montoya settled for fourth.