Larry Bird has resigned from the Indiana Pacers, effective from the end of August.

Bird, perhaps the most respected and beloved basketball figure in a state obsessed with the sport, is the Pacers' president of basketball operations. He spent four years building the team into an Eastern Conference contender and was this season's NBA executive of the year, but is instead moving on after saying just a month ago that he was willing to stay.

Justin Bieber's "Believe" is the year's top-selling debut album.

Nielsen SoundScan reports sales of 374,000 copies following its release last week, giving the 18-year-old Canadian pop singer the fourth No. 1 album and the best sales week of his young career. "Believe" also debuted at No. 1 in 29 other countries.

The Followill family is expanding again.

Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill and his wife, singer Jessie Baylin, are expecting a baby. The announcement comes on the heels of the birth of their new niece.

Alec Baldwin will be kidnapped on Broadway next spring.

Producers said Wednesday that the "30 Rock" star will appear in Lyle Kessler's "Orphans" in spring of 2013. Daniel Sullivan will direct.

London Fire Brigade says Rihanna was among 300 people evacuated from a hotel after an early-morning fire in an elevator shaft.

The 24-year-old Barbadian singer tweeted news of the fire early Wednesday to her 21 million Twitter followers, posting a picture of a fire engine and the words: "Roamin da streets since 6am! Fyah in da telly."

Roger Federer gave Prince Charles a bow, then gave Fabio Fognini a royal thumping.

With the Prince of Wales visiting Wimbledon for the first time since 1970, Federer was at his best Wednesday and beat Fognini 6-1, 6-3, 6-2.

Gareth Bale has signed a new four-year contract with Tottenham, tying him to the London club until 2016.

The Wales winger, who joined Spurs in 2007, has been linked with some of Europe's biggest clubs after emerging as one of the Premier League's standout players over the last two years.

The green parrots that live on the tropical paradise of Seychelles fly into the bamboo stalks next to Micheleine Georges' 150-year-old farmhouse at dusk. The birds are small and cute. They are also marked for death.

The eradication of the Indian ring-necked parakeet is the goal so that a Seychelles' national bird — the black parrot — may live, those carrying out the EU-funded project say. The black parrot could be wiped out by a disease that the Indian ring-necked parrot carries.

A representative for 50 Cent says the rapper is out of the hospital after being injured in a car accident in New York on Tuesday morning.

The rep says 50 Cent was taken to New York Hospital Queens where he was treated for "minor neck and back injuries" and is now "doing fine."

Nora Ephron, the essayist, author and filmmaker who thrived in the male-dominated worlds of movies and journalism, has died. She was 71.

She died of leukemia Tuesday night at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, her family said in a statement.