From a $13.6B merger to Airbnb in Cuba, here are the 10 economic stories you need to read today.

1. Starwood agrees to a sweetened $13.6B merger deal with Marriott (MAR) that trumps last week’s bid from China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co—the merger stands to create the No. 1 hotel company globally by bringing together Starwood’s higher-end brands with Marriott’s limited-service offerings. [WSJ]

2. Small and large alike, hotels are trying to get guests to book directly on their websites by charging a 15% to 25% commission for bookings through third-party websites, and are giving out extra perks to guests who book directly as part of an increasingly difficult fight to stay competitive. [LAT]

3. Speaking of hotels, you can now stay at an Airbnb in Cuba. After getting President Obama's special authorization, Airbnb is allowing travelers from around the world to book stays in private homes in Cuba. And it's very good news for Airbnb—Cuba is the homesharing behemoth's fastest-growing market, with about 4,000 homes added over the last year. [LAT]

4. Mark Zuckerberg has been doing some traveling too—he just got back from his latest attempt to break Facebook into China and persuade the Chinese government to lift its ban on the social media service. Not to mention opening the floodgates to the country’s near 700 million Internet users. [NYT]

5. Also in China, iron ore extends a gain toward $60 a metric ton as signs of China's property revival boosts outlook, coupled with policymakers’ plans to loosen margin-lending controls in equity trading. [Bloomberg]

6. Meanwhile five EU states are in the budgetary danger zone— the UK, France, Spain, Greece and Croatia all have a deficit over 3% of GDP. The list includes three of Europe's five largest economies. [Bloomberg]

7. Closer to home the rally in global stocks runs out of steam as investors assess whether the rally has further room to go amid lingering concerns about slowing global growth, volatility in oil prices and lackluster corporate earnings projections. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 10 points, the S&P 500 fell 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite crawled up 0.1%. [WSJ]

8. And low rates are tormenting insurers and their customers alike—life insurance companies are scouring their policies to find ways to raise rates and fees while lowering the amount of interest they pay on savings products as low interest rates cut into profits. [WSJ]

9. Coal is being tormented too and Wall Street isn't there to help—on Wednesday the world’s largest private sector coal company, Peabody Energy, said it may need to file for bankruptcy protection just two weeks after JP Morgan Chase joined other Wall Street firms and announced it will no longer finance new coal power plants in the US or abroad. [NYT]

10. Valeant Pharmaceuticals is also in financial trouble and says it is seeking a new chief exec—after announcing plans to replace Michael Pearson—and added activist investor William Ackman to the board. The struggling drug company also says it will restate some of its earnings and asked Howard Schiller, a former CFO, to resign from the board after accusing him of “improper conduct.” [NYT]