South American nation Venezuela is suffering from gasoline smuggling to neighboring nations. Gasoline is heavily subsidized in Venezuela. The cheaper gasoline smuggling has become a major revenue source in the crisis-hit Venezuelan economy. Venezuela's President has deployed soldiers in large number to keep constant vigil on its borders. Venezuela is losing foreign exchange revenue in US dollars because of smuggling of gasoline.

Global investors are withdrawing from Russian stock markets as volatility is high in equities and currency Ruble. The continuous drop in oil price is impacting the Russian economy much as it's the main revenue source for the country. The gap between onshore and offshore traded equities is narrowing down as foreign investors are selling off.

Philippine's fourth quarter gross domestic product increased by 6.3% driven mainly by higher private consumption, government expenditure as well as an increase in economic activity.

The Republican Debate is going to be held in Iowa State on Thursday. The fast food workers under the banner of ‘$15 per hour minimum wage movement’ have called strike on the very day apparently due to gain media attraction. The strike has been called demanding immediate implementation of the said minimum wage rate across the country and union rights. However, the demands have already been supported by many Democratic candidates and furnished in their election manifesto.

The British Pound strengthened against major global currencies after a report on UK's GDP growth. The report said that UK's economy speeded up during the fourth quarter of 2015. The rise in consumer demand helped the economy expansion. The British Pound recovered from the two-week low of 1.4338 against the US dollar to at $1.4314.

Anglo American's copper production and from retained operations rose 23 percent for the fourth quarter of 2015. The overall copper equivalent basis production for 2015 rose five percent when compared with 2014. Majority of metals including copper, coal, nickel and iron ore tumbled during the second half of 2015. The copper inventory of Anglo American was at 197,631 tons as on 2015.

China's tech startup may find 2016 as a tough year as venture capital will face a slowdown this year. Analyst predicted venture capital in China will decline this year, and government try hard to boost the development.

A number of Air Force drones crashed in major accidents, even involving the Reaper, the Air Force newest and most advanced drone. Pentagon is keeping quiet on the cause behind the drone crashes.

The app has been widely used in Spain and just launched in Paris and London. The services focus on blue collar workers and small business who often need a more simple and time-saving recruitment process. The app works similarly to dating app Tinder, where one party can swipe to decide whether the profile on screen fit what they are looking for.

Air France and KLM are planning to reinstate direct flights to Iran, now that the international sanctions regarding the country's nuclear ambitions are lifted. Iran also planned to request direct flight to the U.S, for the first time since the two countries broke their diplomatic relationship 36 years ago. Air France and KLM are expected to start flying to Iran within the next three months.