10 things you need to know today: May 9, 2014

1. The GOP-led House approves a panel to investigate Benghazi

The House voted Thursday to create a select panel to investigate the deadly 2012 Benghazi attacks that killed ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The GOP majority approved the measure with just seven Democratic votes. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the investigation "will not be a partisan process." Democrats said the GOP was trying to revive the issue during mid-term elections with the new inquiry — the eighth focusing on Benghazi.

CBS News

2. Ukraine's separatists ignore Putin and vow to hold a self-rule vote

Ukrainian rebels rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's call to postpone an unofficial autonomy referendum, and said Thursday that they would go ahead with the Sunday vote. The Obama administration called the self-declared separatist Donetsk People's Republic's referendum plan an "irresponsible" provocation in an "extremely combustible" situation. A separatist leader said civil war had already begun, but the vote could stop it.

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Reuters

3. Oklahoma court delays Charles Warner's execution for six months

Oklahoma's Court of Criminal Appeals delayed the execution of Charles Warner by six months pending the result of an investigation into last month's botched lethal injection of Clayton Lockett. Warner was scheduled to die shortly after Lockett, but the plans were changed after Lockett died from a heart attack when a vein burst during the first part of a three-drug lethal injection.

The Washington Post

4. Snapchat admits photos and videos don't always disappear as promised

The mobile messaging service Snapchat on Thursday agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that photos and videos sent through its app didn't always disappear completely, as advertised. The FTC says the messages, or snaps, can be saved via third party apps or screenshots. The FTC also accused the company of collecting sensitive personal data despite saying it wouldn't. Snapchat agreed to set up a privacy program and submit to monitoring.

The New York Times

5. Police and protesters clash in Thailand

Thai police fired tear gas on Friday at protesters trying to bring down a caretaker government installed after a court removed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office for abuse of power. Yingluck's Puea Thai Party hopes to keep control long enough to organize a July 20 election it is expected to win. Royalists want to clean house and enact reforms to end the influence of Yingluck's brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Reuters

6. Shinseki orders audits after reports of deadly health-care delays for veterans

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki on Thursday ordered an audit of every Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in the country. The move came after the House Veterans Affairs Committee voted to subpoena Shinseki as it investigates allegations of deadly delays in care at some VA hospitals. Shinseki is scheduled to testify before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs on May 15.

The Arizona Republic

7. U.S. team arrives in Nigeria to help look for abducted schoolgirls

Seven U.S. military officers are due to arrive in Nigeria on Friday to provide logistics and intelligence support in the search for 276 high-school girls kidnapped on April 14 by members of the Boko Haram Islamist militant group. The team joins about 60 U.S. interagency counterterrorism personnel who were in the country before the abductions. U.S. intelligence suggests the girls have been split up into smaller groups, complicating the search.

CNN

8. Earthquake hits Mexico

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico's southern Pacific coast on Thursday, sending panicked office workers out of swaying buildings and into the streets as far as Mexico City 17 miles away. Some roofs reportedly collapsed near the epicenter, about 60 miles northwest of Acapulco, but no injuries were reported. "What a big scare," said Rosaura Gomez, who ran out of her home in Mexico City when the shaking began.

Los Angeles Times

9. Apple might pay $3.2 billion for Beats Electronics

Apple is reportedly close to buying high-end headphone maker Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion. If a deal goes through, it would be Apple's biggest acquisition ever by far. The most the iPhone and iPad maker has ever paid was $400 million, for NeXT Computer Systems in 1997. That deal brought the late Steve Jobs back to Apple, but he avoided major acquisitions, preferring Apple innovate on its own.

Los Angeles Times

10. South Carolina defensive star Clowney goes first in the NFL draft

Jadeveon Clowney was the first college football player selected in the NFL draft on Thursday night. The 6-6, 270-pound South Carolina defensive end was picked by the Houston Texans. A year ago, the Kansas City Chiefs picked offensive tackle Eric Fisher first, so Clowney's selection marked the first time in nearly two decades that a quarterback had not been chosen as the top pick in two consecutive drafts.

USA Today