Lionel Messi scored a pair against Getafe to power Barcelona into the Copa del Rey quarterfinals with a 2-0 win which was mired by an injury to Neymar on Thursday.

Days after seeing Cristiano Ronaldo end his four-year domination of the Ballon d'Or, Messi demonstrated his intention to pry it right back from his Real Madrid counterpart with goals in each half to guide the Spanish champions into the last eight by an aggregate score of 6-0.

Li Na had one simple request before answering questions in her on-court, post-match interview after battling for two-and-a-half hours in the brutal heat at the Australian Open on Friday: "Can we stand in the shadow?"

The Chinese star certainly earned the courtesy. She saved a match point before prevailing against Lucie Safarova, all while playing at the hottest time of the day.

Oklahoma City surged in the third quarter to overcome a double-digit deficit and beat a hot-and-cold Houston 104-92 on Thursday, closing within half a game of the NBA Northwest Division lead.

Elsewhere, league leader Indiana made it nine-straight home wins with a comfortable victory over New York, and Brooklyn was too good for Atlanta in their match in London.

Miles Teller — who can be seen on screen later this month with Zac Efron in "That Awkward Moment" — took four-hour drum lessons three times a week to play the lead in "Whiplash," shown opening night at the Sundance Film Festival.

Teller plays a jazz drummer determined to succeed, whether because of or in spite of an unforgiving instructor, played by J.K. Simmons at his most intimidating (and muscular). Paul Reiser also stars.

The number of online microblog users in China dropped by more than 27.8 million last year, marking the first major decline in popularity of a social media genre that has offered a way to share unfiltered information in a country with strict controls.

The drop comes amid a crackdown on microblogs deemed sensitive by government authorities and new controls on what can be posted and reposted, and has reflected an overall decline in use of traditional social media in China. At the same time, there has been a huge increase in users of cellphone-based instant messaging services that have increasingly incorporated social media functions, including microblog-like features.

Jose Sulaiman, the longtime head of the World Boxing Council who promoted renowned fighters and introduced rules to protect boxers, died Thursday. He was 82.

Sulaiman's son, Mauricio Sulaiman, said the man who many say raised the profile of the sport in his four-decade leadership at the Mexico-based council died at a hospital in Los Angeles. He had been hospitalized at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center for months for a heart condition.

A member of an elite U.S. Army helicopter unit was killed and two crew members suffered injuries when their aircraft slammed into the ground while trying to land at an airfield in the U.S. state of Georgia on Thursday, a U.S. military spokesman said.

Maj. Allen Hill said the MH-60 Black Hawk was returning from a routine training flight to Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah when it made a "hard landing" on or near the airstrip.

Fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro has been eliminated from the Australian Open in the biggest upset of the tournament this week, beaten 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 by Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain.

It was Bautista Agut's first win in seven matches against a top 10 player, and del Potro's fourth second-round exit in eight years at the season's first major.

A tale of tragic romance from the Palestinian territories is among five nominees for best foreign-language film at the Academy Awards.

The contenders announced Thursday in Beverly Hills include Hany Abu-Assad's "Omar," the story of a love affair and its consequences against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Pirelli secured a new three-year contract with motor sport's governing body on Thursday to remain Formula One's sole tire supplier, a welcome relief for the Italian manufacturer following an extremely difficult season.

Last July, F1 teams held in-season testing sessions at Silverstone to assess new tires provided by Pirelli after several blowouts on the same circuit at the British Grand Prix in June prompted a furious response from drivers and even a boycott threat the following week.