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Porn Production Moves to Vegas after Condom Law

Lee Roy Myers has everything you'd expect to find in the nation's porn capital in Southern California: sets of a classroom, hospital room, locker room and a bedroom, as well as a list of porn stars waiting to perform.

But his plywood universe is not in the San Fernando Valley. It's a few paces away from the glittery casinos of the Las Vegas Strip.

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Europe Launches RoboEarth: 'Wikipedia for Robots'

Let the robot race begin.

Expectations are high for RoboEarth, a new European-funded system to speed the development of human-serving robots. Scientists from five major European technical universities have gathered in the Netherlands this week for its launch and to demonstrate possible applications.

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Messi Powers Barca Past Getafe into Copa Quarters

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.

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Matches Continue as Heat Wave Enters 4th Day in Australia

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.

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Thunder Overruns Hot-and-Cold Rockets

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.

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Sundance Film Fest Opens with 'Whiplash' Premiere

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.

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China Loses 27.8 Million Microblog Users Last Year

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.

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World Boxing Council Chief Sulaiman Dies at 82

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.

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1 Dead, 2 Hurt as U.S. Army Helicopter Makes Hard Landing

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.

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Del Potro Loses in 2nd Round at Australian Open

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.

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