"Hunger Games" actress Elizabeth Banks will be honored with the March of Dimes' 2014 Grace Kelly Award, which recognizes celebrities who champion healthy pregnancies.
Host Jason Bateman will present Banks with her award at the ninth annual Celebration of Babies luncheon on Dec. 5. Banks has two boys born to the same surrogate, Felix, 3, and Magnus, 1.

Aston Villa and Tottenham have been fined 20,000 pounds ($31,700) each over a scuffle between their players during a recent Premier League game.
The Football Association announced the fines, which were accepted by both clubs, on Tuesday.

Roger Federer made the most of Kei Nishikori's erratic play Tuesday to secure a 6-3, 6-2 victory and move closer to a semifinal spot at the ATP Finals while Andy Murray posted his first victory to stay in contention at the elite tournament.
Federer, the most successful player at the year-end championship with six wins, would have progressed if Milos Raonic had defeated the home favorite, but the former Wimbledon champion completed a 6-3, 7-5 win over the Canadian newcomer in a dour match that produced very little excitement.

An arctic storm system has some Coloradoans shoveling out from under tumbleweeds rather than snow.
Tumbleweeds piled up around houses and shops and along roads several feet high in and around Colorado Springs and Pueblo on Monday as the system moved from north to south across the state.

Authorities say a man who was freed from a space between two walls of a Colorado department store may have been there for several days yelling for help.
Longmont police Sgt. Matt Cage says Paul Felyk was rescued Tuesday. The Longmont Times-Call reports (http://tinyurl.com/mokop25 ) firefighters used a circular saw to cut into the side of the building to free him.

Toronto erased an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter and overran Orlando 104-100 on Tuesday, notching their ninth-consecutive win over the Magic and opening a two-game lead atop the NBA's Atlantic Division.
Among other games, Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki set a career scoring record as he helped the Mavericks come back from an even bigger deficit to beat Sacramento, and Memphis' under-performing reserves lifted to help the Grizzlies beat the Los Angeles Lakers.

Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti has left Italy's training camp due a left thigh muscle injury, ruling him out of Sunday's key European Championship qualifier against Croatia.
No immediate replacement was called up by Italy coach Antonio Conte, who already had injury problems in midfield.

Global regulators announced Wednesday $3.2 billion (2.5 billion euros) in fines against five major US and European banks for attempting to manipulate foreign exchange markets.
The hefty fines centered on London, the world's biggest hub for the $5.3-trillion-per-day forex market, and the British government hailed a move to "clean up corruption" in the City.

Iran's government on Tuesday submitted a new candidate for science minister, a sensitive post which is also responsible for universities, after parliament rejected three earlier choices.
Fakhroddin Ahmadi Danesh-Ashtiani, a civil engineer who specialized in seismology, would need to win a vote of confidence in parliament to secure the post.

Morocco has been disqualified from the 2015 African Cup of Nations after refusing to host the tournament because of Ebola, and a new host country will be chosen.
The Confederation of African Football says it has received "some applications" from possible replacement hosts. CAF didn't announce who the candidates were.
