European Central Bank keeps stimulus programs on track

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Level : Advanced

By DAVID McHUGH AP Business Writer

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — With more than a trillion euros in stimulus still in the pipeline to the economy, the European Central Bank left its key bond-purchase program unchanged Thursday as the 19-country eurozone endures a winter economic slowdown due to the pandemic.

Attention will focus on post-decision remarks by bank President Christine Lagarde about the outlook for the recovery in the 19 countries that use the euro currency. The ECB faces potential concerns over political turbulence in heavily indebted Italy, where the government survived a confidence vote this week, and over the stronger euro, which can weigh on exports and growth.

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Netflix’s big 4Q lifts video service above 200M subscribers

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Level : Advanced

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Netflix’s video streaming service has surpassed 200 million subscribers for the first time as its expanding line-up of TV series and movies continues to captivate people stuck at home during the ongoing battle against the pandemic.

The subscriber milestone highlighted Netflix’s fourth-quarter results released Tuesday. The service added another 8.5 million subscribers during the October-December period, capping Netflix’s biggest year since its inception as a DVD-by-mail service in 1997. Netflix ended the year with nearly 204 million worldwide subscribers.
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Autonomous Driving Boom Spurs STMicro to Develop New Chips

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Level : Intermediate

STMicroelectronics NV is developing chips that can tackle features like night vision, micro-mapping, and 360-degree detection, in a bid to meet demand from car manufacturers racing to build driverless autos.

The autonomous driving sector is already a crowded one, from Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo to General Motors Co. Still, there are pieces of technology missing before cars reach the most sophisticated form of autonomy, referred to as level 5, and fully drive themselves.
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