The official World Cup countdown clock in Rio de Janeiro has stopped in time.

Although there's less than 11 months before the 2014 World Cup begins, the clock set up by local organizers at Copacabana Beach still shows there are 365 days to go before football's showcase event.

Oscar and Eden Hazard scored first-half goals, leading Chelsea to a 2-0 victory over ten-man Inter Milan on Thursday in a quarterfinal of the Guinness International Champions Cup, a preseason friendly competition.

Despite not starting four of its stars that played in the Confederation Cup, including Brazil's David Luiz and Spain's Juan Mata, Chelsea nonetheless at times looked to be in midseason form before a crowd of 41,983 at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Karim Benzema scored two second-half goals to lead Real Madrid to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Thursday in the preseason Champions Cup friendly tournament.

"In general it was a good performance from the team," Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "We played well. We had a good combination in the front. We had a lot of opportunities."

The estranged wife of rocker Jack White has filed a restraining order against him after she said in their divorce filings he was threatening her and she fears for her safety and her children's.

British model and singer Karen Elson married White in 2005 in Nashville and they have two children. They separated in 2011 and Elson filed for divorce last year.

A lawsuit by Shakira's ex-boyfriend seeking tens of millions of dollars from the singer was dismissed Thursday by a judge who determined the case should not be heard in California.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Abraham Khan's ruling sided with lawyers for the pop star who argued that the case should be filed in her native Colombia or the Bahamas, where she currently claims residency.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to securing a massive free trade agreement between the United States and Europe is a sharp disagreement on genetically modified foods. Much of the corn, soybean, sugar beets and cotton cultivated in the United States today contains plants whose DNA was manipulated in labs to resist disease and drought, ward off insects and boost the food supply. Though common in the U.S., they are largely banned in the 28-nation European Union. Washington wants Europe to ease restrictions on imports of GMO foods, but the EU is skeptical they are safe. Intense emotions on both sides of the divide make it difficult to separate between strongly held belief and science. Here is a look at key points in the debate.

SAFE OR UNSAFE?

The U.S. Senate easily confirmed President Barack Obama's selection for ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday.

The Irish-born Samantha Power, a former Obama foreign policy adviser and outspoken human rights advocate, moves into the job formerly held by Susan Rice, who is now Obama's national security adviser.

A $60 million research ship funded by a Google executive is setting sail from San Francisco to study a so-called "dead zone" in the Pacific Ocean and other mysteries of the sea.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports the 272-foot (83-meter) vessel called Falkor was scheduled to leave port Thursday.

It's been so hot in China that people are grilling shrimp on manhole covers, eggs are hatching without incubators and a highway billboard has mysteriously caught fire by itself.

The heat wave — the worst in at least 140 years in some parts — has left dozens of people dead and pushed thermometers above 40 degrees C (104 F) in at least 40 cities and counties, mostly in the south and east. Authorities for the first time have declared the heat a "level 2" weather emergency— a label normally invoked for typhoons and flooding.

A big new study says as the world gets warmer, people are more prone to get hot under the collar. Scientists found that aggressive acts like violent crimes and wars become more likely with each added degree.

The research analyzed 60 studies of such things as the historic collapses of empires, recent wars and violent crime rates in the United States. They found a common thread: Extreme weather — hot or dry — means more violence.