Europe

LONDON - Salman Rushdie, the prize-winning Indian-born writer, has in the past based novels on the politics of India and Pakistan.

LONDON - Salman Rushdie says he turned to the world of video games for inspiration for his new book, "Luka and the Fire of Life." The writer says he wrote the book for his 13-year-old son.

GENEVA - A Swiss organization has awarded Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales 100,000 Swiss francs ($104,000) for "democratizing the access to knowledge." The Im Grueene Foundation said Friday the free online encyclopedia "revolutionized the access to knowledge as man's most important resource" because it allows users to also be contributors.

LONDON - Vodafone is spending $9.7 million to buy two firms specializing in managing telecom expenses.

PARIS - Microsoft Corp. says it has signed an deal that will give its Bing search engine access to the digital archives of France's National Library.