WASHINGTON — President Bush signed an executive order Friday prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment, including humiliation or denigration of religious beliefs, in the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects.

The White House declined to say whether the CIA currently has a detention and interrogation program, but said that if it did it must adhere to the guidelines outlined in the executive order. The order targets captured al-Qaida terrorists who have information on attack plans or the whereabouts of the group's senior leaders.

"Last September, the president explained how the CIA's program had disrupted attacks and saved lives, and that it must continue on a sound legal footing," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "The president has insisted on clear legal standards so that CIA officers involved in this essential work are not placed in jeopardy for doing their job — and keeping America safe from attacks."

The executive order was the result of legislation Bush signed in October that authorized military trials of terrorism suspects. The court system was designed to protect classified information and eliminated some of the rights defendants are guaranteed in civilian and military courts.

It also gave Bush wide latitude in interrogating and detaining captured enemy combatants. While it outlines specific war crimes such as rape, the legislation said the president can "interpret the meaning and application" of international standards set by the Geneva Conventions when authorizing less severe interrogation procedures.

U.S. military commander says his extra troops will be needed into summer 2008

BAGHDAD — U.S. military commanders said Friday the troop buildup in Iraq must be maintained until at least next summer and they may need as long as two years to assure parts of the country are stable.

The battlefield generals' pleas for more time come in the face of growing impatience in the United States and a push on Capitol Hill to begin withdrawing U.S. troops as soon as this fall.

Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said in an interview that if the buildup is reversed before next summer, the military will risk giving up the security gains it has achieved at a cost of hundreds of American lives over the past six months.

"It's going to take through summer, into the fall, to defeat the extremists in my battle space, and it's going to take me into next spring and summer to generate this sustained security presence," said Lynch, who commands U.S. forces south of Baghdad.

U.S. forces are working to build the Iraq military's ability to hold the gains made during the latest combat operations.

Fans worldwide flock to bookstores for final volume of Harry Potter magic

LONDON — Readers waited in sheets of rain and blazing sun Friday, from Sydney to Seattle, to get their hands on "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final volume in the schoolboy wizard's saga.

In a now-familiar ritual that is part sales frenzy and part Halloween party, bookstores in Britain were flinging open their doors at a minute past midnight to hordes of would-be warlocks, sorcerers and ordinary, non-magical Muggles. Shops throughout the world were putting the book on sale at the same time, and the United States will follow as midnight strikes Saturday in each time zone, from 12:01 a.m. EDT.

J.K. Rowling, who created the magical lad in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" a decade ago, was giving a midnight reading to 500 competition-winning children in the grand Victorian surroundings of London's Natural History Museum.

For many of the keenest fans, the place to be was Waterstone's bookstore on Piccadilly in central London. Dozens of die-hard fans sheltered under umbrellas and plastic ponchos, undeterred by torrential rain. Some passed the time by jotting predictions for the final novel in notebooks, while others encouraged passing drivers to "Honk for Harry."

"This is the biggest Harry Potter party in Europe, so it's worth the wait," said Laura Halinen, 23, from Kuusankoski, Finland.

NYC steam pipe explosion could cost businesses big bucks, community leader says

NEW YORK — With the cleanup from a deadly steam pipe explosion expected to drag on for days, businesses in the "frozen zone" could lose hundreds of millions of dollars, a business leader said Friday.

The neighborhood just south of Grand Central Terminal is one of the nation's most expensive commercial districts, home to corporate headquarters including Pfizer Inc., real estate firm Newmark Knight Frank and magazine publisher Meredith Corp. The woman killed in the blast worked at Pfizer.

"There is a significant loss for those in the frozen area," said Kathryn Wylde, president of Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit organization of city business leaders.

"If it goes much farther than next week, the potential losses in revenue could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars."

The blocks near where the asbestos-insulated pipe ruptured, sending up geysers of steam, dirt and asphalt, were filled Friday with work crews, some wearing protective masks, others in white jumpsuits. Utility and emergency vehicles jammed the streets, their red lights whirling.

Wildfire destroys campground, motel in Utah, forcing airlift of Boy Scouts, hikers

NEPHI, Utah — A group of Boy Scouts and hikers had to be airlifted from a canyon as a wildfire swept through a campground and destroyed a nearby motel, authorities said Friday.

The fire started Thursday at a campground in Salt Creek Canyon, 85 miles south of Salt Lake City, the U.S. Forest Service said Friday. By Friday, 20 square miles, more than 13,000 acres, had burned. All campgrounds and cabins were evacuated along the Nebo Loop, a scenic road in Uinta National Forest, and 18 Scouts and hikers were rescued Thursday from Nephi Canyon.

"They'd had to get up in some real rough, rocky area to get away from the fire, so it could have been bad. But with quick work by the helicopters, they were able to get out," said Bert Hart, a spokesman at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The cause was under investigation, but there was a report of a car shooting sparks from the brakes, Uinta National Forest spokeswoman Loyal Clark said. Utah's weather was little help to firefighters; forecasters called for another day of 100 degrees or more throughout the state.

The nation's firefighting preparedness moved to its highest level this week because of bone-dry conditions in the West and the number of fires.

Central and southern Europe sizzle as summer heat soars, while Britain is awash in rain

VIENNA, Austria — A heat wave sweeping central and southeastern Europe killed at least 13 people this week, with soaring temperatures sparking forest fires, damaging crops and prompting calls to ban horse-drawn tourist carriages.

In Romania, where temperatures reached 104 degrees Friday, the Health Ministry said at least nine people had died since Monday due to heat.

In Austria, where highs had hovered around 95 degrees for days, the Health Ministry said three deaths Thursday were likely heat-related. Austrian media said at least five people had died from the heat, including an elderly woman who collapsed on a Vienna street Friday.

A 56-year-old woman collapsed and died in Zagreb, Croatia, of what doctors believed was a heat-related heart attack. Temperatures in the Balkan country reached about 104 Friday.

Elsewhere, authorities in Slovakia and Hungary distributed free water in some cities. In the eastern Hungarian town of Kiskunhalas, temperatures reached a record 107.4, according to the national weather center.

OxyContin maker, executives fined $634.5M for misleading public

ABINGDON, Va. — Purdue Pharma L.P., the maker of OxyContin, and three of its executives were ordered to pay a $634.5 million fine on Friday for misleading the public about the painkiller's risk of addiction.

U.S. District Judge James Jones levied the fine on Purdue, its top lawyer and former president and former chief medical officer after a hearing that lasted about four-and-a-half hours. The hearing included statements by numerous people who said their lives were changed forever by the addiction potential of OxyContin, a trade name for a long-acting form of the painkiller oxycodone.

Designed to be swallowed whole and digested over 12 hours, the pills can produce a heroin-like high if crushed and then swallowed, snorted or injected.

From 1996 to 2001, the number of oxycodone-related deaths nationwide increased fivefold while the annual number of OxyContin prescriptions increased nearly 20-fold, according to a report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In 2002, the DEA said the drug caused 146 deaths and contributed to another 318.

Michael Friedman, who retired in June as Purdue's president, general counsel Howard Udell and former chief medical officer Paul Goldenheim each pleaded guilty in May to a misdemeanor count of misbranding the drug for claiming that OxyContin was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications.

Stocks drop following results from Caterpillar, Google

NEW YORK — Wall Street pulled back Friday, retreating from record levels following disappointing results from longtime favorites Caterpillar Inc. and Google Inc. The Dow Jones industrials fell nearly 150 points.

The drop in stocks capped a losing week for the Dow after three weeks of gains, and came a day after the blue chips finished above 14,000 for the first time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index likewise logged a record close Thursday.

While Friday's retrenchment might not be surprising following weeks of somewhat volatile trading and the big gains Thursday, Caterpillar has been one of the best-performers among the 30 stocks that make up the Dow and a big contributor in the blue chips' march to 14,000. The heavy equipment maker unnerved investors when its results came in well below expectations.

Jitters over subprime lending also weighed on the stock market, and led investors to buy up safer Treasury bonds instead. As Treasury prices rose, the benchmark 10-year note's yield dropped sharply to 4.95 percent from 5.03 percent late Thursday.

Meanwhile, technology shares took a hit after a strong run Thursday. Google turned in a second-quarter profit that fell short of Wall Street's high expectations, while Microsoft Corp.'s earnings report wasn't impressive enough to alleviate investors' concerns about the sector.

AP IMPACT: Guantanamo hunger strikers defiant despite force-feeding

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — Twice a day at the U.S. military prison here, Abdul Rahman Shalabi and Zaid Salim Zuhair Ahmed are strapped down in padded restraint chairs and flexible yellow tubes are inserted through their noses and throats. Milky nutritional supplements, mixed with water and olive oil to add calories and ease constipation, pour into their stomachs.

Shalabi, 32, an accused al-Qaida militant who was among the first prisoners taken to Guantanamo, and Ahmed, about 34, have refused to eat for almost two years to protest their conditions and open-ended confinement. In recent months, the number of hunger strikers has grown to two dozen, and the military is using force-feeding to keep them from starving.

An Associated Press investigation reveals the most complete picture yet of a test of wills that's taking place out of public view and shows no sign of ending, despite international outrage.

The restraint chair was a practice borrowed from U.S. civilian prisons in January 2006. Prisoners are strapped down and monitored to prevent vomiting until the supplements are digested.

The British human rights group Reprieve labeled the process "intentionally brutal" and Shalabi, according to his lawyer's notes, said it is painful, "something you can't imagine. For two years, me and Ahmed have been treated like animals."

FBI is investigating allegations that NBA referee bet on basketball games over past 2 seasons

NEW YORK — The FBI is investigating allegations that veteran NBA referee Tim Donaghy bet on basketball games over the past two seasons, including ones in which he officiated.

Defense attorney John Lauro confirmed Donaghy is under investigation but refused to comment on the allegations or the case.

According to a law enforcement official, authorities are examining whether the referee made calls to affect the point spread in games on which he or associates had wagered.

The law enforcement official, who spoke to the AP on Friday on condition of anonymity, said the referee was aware of the investigation and had made arrangements to surrender as early as next week to face charges. The official, who did not identify the referee, is familiar with the investigation but was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.