Sometimes uses of "to be" make me pull up short.<p>This headline has one of those uses. "3 are arrested" - the "are" is almost superfluous. "3 arrested" works identically, and is 3 characters shorter, something that is said to be prized in headlines.<p>If the "3 are arrested" is deliberate and not sloppy, the phrasing raises the question "who arrested those 3?" The use of a "to be" verb makes the arrest magical in its vagueness.