Top News Stories –

‘Airbnb for sex’ – Entrepreneurs set up KinkBNB for lovers to book guiltless sexcapades –
People who own a Fifty Shades-esque red dungeon of pain, and want to find a use for it when they are on holiday, or who own a honeymoon-worthy castle could now find themselves a lucrative new source of income. KinkBNB is marketing itself as the sex-positive Airbnb – and tenants and renters alike know what they are getting into when they sign up for the site. The Airbnb-style homesharing website now lets lovers book sex-focused getaways without stressing about waking up the next door neighbours or being landed with a hefty damages charge. Its layout is similar to the traditional homesharing site – listing amenities such as washing machines, gardens and swimming pools.

Google boss becomes highest-paid in US –
The chief executive of Google, Sundar Pichai, has been awarded $199m (£138m) in shares, a regulatory filing has revealed. It makes him the highest-paid chief executive in the US.
Mr Pichai became chief executive of the search engine giant following the creation of its parent, Alphabet. The founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have amassed fortunes of $34.6bn and $33.9bn, according to Forbes. Mr Pichai, 43, was awarded 273,328 Alphabet shares on 3 February, worth a total of $199m, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The new award of shares takes Mr Pichai’s total stock value to approximately $650m. [BBC]
Sundar Pichai

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Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War
  • A suicide bomb attack in Syria‘s capital Damascus, kills at least 10 people. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility. (The New York Times) (AP)
  • Doctors without Borders reports three people were killed and at least six others wounded in Friday’s airstrikes, source not identified, that hit the Tafas field hospital in Dara’a Governorate near the Jordanianborder. (UPI) (Médecins Sans Frontières)
• War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  • The United States sends more troops to Afghanistan‘s southern Helmand province to shore up security forces who are facing sustained attacks from the Taliban. (Reuters)
• Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
  • Iraqi Armed Forces announce the complete recapture of the city of Ramadi in western Iraq’s Anbar Province from the Islamic State, along with the reopening of the Ramadi-Baghdad road. (UPI) (Iraqi News)

Business and economy

• Dubai says that it will continue with its Mall of the World project, despite the financial pressures created by falling oil prices. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• 2016 Taiwan earthquake
  • The death toll from Saturday’s earthquake in Taiwan rises to 41 with 109 people missing. (Focus Taiwan)
  • Taiwan authorities arrest three construction company executives of the Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building, which collapsed Saturday, on suspicion of negligent homicide. Almost all of those killed have been recovered from the rubble from this building; the 100-plus missing are likely buried in the debris. (Reuters) (AP via The Washington Post)
• Bad Aibling rail accident
  • Two passenger trains collide in the German town of Bad Aibling in the state of Bavaria. At least ten people are dead, one person is missing and presumed dead, about 80 are wounded, and 17 are seriously or critically injured. The rescue is difficult- resembling a mountain-type rescue- because of a nearby river and a steep incline and a curve in the tracks; rescue helicopters had to be used. It is one of Bavaria‘s and Germany‘s deadliest-ever railroad accidents. Human error is being examined as a possibility. (BBC) (CNN)
• One Indian soldier, buried in the snow for six days, is rescued from last week’s Siachen Glacier avalanche, however the other nine soldiers from the army post in the Himalayan region of Kashmir didn’t survive. (AP via Appeal-Democrat)
• A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Ovalle in Chile’s central region. No injuries or damage have been reported. (AP via ABC News)

Law and crime

• 2016 Mong Kok civil unrest
  • Clashes break out in the Mong Kok district of Hong Kong as police try to close down illegal food vendors. (BBC)
• The Maryland House of Delegates and Senate override Governor Larry Hogan’s veto of a bill extending felons’ voting rights to those who have not completed the terms of their probation or parole. The law goes into effect March 10, 2016. (UPI)
• Warner/Chappell Music agrees to return $14 million collected in copyright fees for the song Happy Birthday to You which a federal judge ruled in September belongs in the public domain. (UPI)

Politics and elections

• Philippine presidential election, 2016
  • The campaign period for the election begins in what international media dubs as a “cliffhanger” between five candidates: Jejomar Binay, Miriam Defensor Santiago, Rodrigo R. Duterte, Grace Poe, and Mar Roxas. (Deutsche Welle), (The Daily Mail)
• United States presidential election, 2016, New Hampshire primary
  • Voters in the state of New Hampshire go to the polls for the first primary election in this year’s presidential cycle. (BBC)
  • New York businessman Donald Trump wins the Republican Party primary while Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic Party. (NBC News)

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