National digest 10/10

Incident shuts down D.C.-area subway station

TEMPLE HILLS, Md. -- An armed man sprayed a substance, thought to be a cleaning solution, into a subway station Tuesday during a scuffle with police, leaving some 35 passengers and transit workers suffering from nausea, headaches and sore throats.

Authorities said it did not appear to be a terrorist act. The man was detained and charged Tuesday night with attempted murder.

Officers said the man evaded paying the fare when he got on the train, then pulled out a pump-action bottle and sprayed the area in a struggle with police.

The irritation that was suffered might have come from the pepper spray used to apprehend the suspect, police said.

EU report: Biotech foods safer than natural crops

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Contradicting the prevailing sentiment in Europe against biotech crops, a report Tuesday from the European Union's head office suggested they may even be safer than regular foods.

The biosafety report summarizes 81 research projects financed by the EU over the last 15 years, at a cost of $64 million, on genetically modified crops and products made from them.

The research has not found "any new risks to human health or the environment, beyond the usual uncertainties of conventional plant breeding," said the European Commission.

Judge dismisses claim Texas firm altered price

WASHINGTON -- A large Texas energy company did not illegally drive up the price of natural gas in California during the height of the state's energy crisis last year, a federal regulatory judge ruled Tuesday.

However, El Paso Corp. of Houston, through two subsidiaries, violated federal rules governing the award of natural gas contracts, a law judge said.

Counsel files final report in Lewinsky scandal

WASHINGTON -- Writing the last chapter in the $60 million criminal investigation of the Clintons, prosecutors filed a final report on the president's conduct in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Independent Counsel Robert Ray's report went to the panel of three federal appeals judges that has supervised the wide-ranging investigation of the Clintons since 1994.

The judges are keeping the report confidential until at least Jan. 11 to give Clinton and others named in it time to offer written rebuttals.

Court dismisses charge against Bush daughter

AUSTIN, Texas -- A charge that one of President Bush's twin daughters used someone else's identification to try to buy a margarita in a restaurant has been dismissed.

The charge was dropped after 19-year-old Jenna Bush showed proof she performed community service, attended alcohol awareness classes and paid a $100 fine.

Jenna Bush, who attends the University of Texas, and her twin sister, Barbara, who attends Yale University, were cited after their visit to a Mexican restaurant in Austin in May.

-- From wire reports