Chipotle will close their stores across the country on February 8 for a few hours so that corporate officials can discuss the new steps the company is taking about food safety. The chain has been hit by frequent outbreaks of food-borne illnesses in the past year, with the cause not yet announced.

A recent report showed the declining trend of people to have driver's license in United States. Research was conducted by University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

AMD said that it expects Polaris architecture based GPUs to begin shipments in the middle of 2016. According to the reports one version of Polaris GPU is aimed for light and thin laptops as well as entry-level desktops, while the other is designed for high performance.

KAIST, a Korean science and technology institute has developed the Fireproof Aerial RObot System (FAROS). FAROS is a sort of drone capable of locating humans’ position trapped inside a sky scrapper through its inbuilt thermal imaging camera. The research team, that invents fire fighting drone, has demonstrated the feasibility of the localization system and wall-climbing mechanism in a smoky indoor environment.

Paris-based music streaming service Deezer has raised around $109 million in a Series E round of funding led by Access Industries. The latest funding will help the company to attract more subscribers even after putting their IPO plan on halt.

The adverse conditions in the global economy and weaker stocks on Wall Street may prevent the US Federal Reserve from going for a rate hike again. Some analysts forecast four more rate hikes in 2016, while Reuters' poll indicate three times hike this year. The slump in commodities, weaker global markets, slowdown in China's economy and lower oil prices are causes of concerns for the US Fed as these are upsetting the Wall Street.

South Korean currency Won has been volatile as it hit five-year low and recovered marginally. Won was tracking to Chinese currency Yuan as the dragon country is the major foreign market for South Korea. China's GDP rose 6.8 percent during fourth quarter marginally lower than the forecast of 6.9 percent. This disappointed the market.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations are buying thousands of acres in the US. Recently, Fondomonte California has purchased 1,790 acres of farmland in California. Almarai bought 10,000 acres of farmland in Arizona two years back. These companies have cultivating alfalfa hay and exporting back it to feed dairy herds. Local farmers in California and Arizona are expressing concerns over drop in groundwater table.

Saudi Arabia has ruled out allegations that Iran has been targeted in the oil price war. Saudi Arabian foreign minister said that it's demand-supply situation that determines price in the global oil market. The low price is also hitting US shale oil, which involves high cost of production.

An unusual drop in US crude oil, below the already low $28 a barrel, created quite a stir in the market. It seems the oil prices are at a continuous plummeting spree. The current situation seems pretty bleak with supply exceeding demand to a great extent, especially after major oil exporter Iran came back into the scene.