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NEW YORK — Tesla vehicles have been involved in most of the crashes involving "Level 2" driver-assistance systems reported to the government, according to US data released on Wednesday.

The electric autos accounted for 273 of 392 crashes reported under a June 2021 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration directive requiring manufacturers to submit data on crashes for Level 2 driver-assistance programs, which aid with braking and steering but require the driver to remain fully engaged at all times.

NHTSA last week expanded a probe into Tesla's "Autopilot" system, which Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has argued reduces the risk of accidents when used properly.

Crashes are reportable if the assistance system was used within 30 seconds of the incident and if the episode resulted in a fatality, a vehicle tow-away, airbag deployment or injury to a pedestrian or other "vulnerable" road user. 

"The data released today are part of our commitment to transparency, accountability and public safety," said NHTSA Administrator Steven Cliff.

"As we gather more data, NHTSA will be able to better identify any emerging risks or trends and learn more about how these technologies are performing in the real world."

NHTSA did not criticise Tesla or other automakers in the report and cautioned of imperfections in the data.

Some of the incidents may have been reported multiple times by the same entity.

"Consequently, the overall number of reports submitted does not equate to the total number of incidents and is not a meaningful safety metric," NHTSA said in the report.

Another issue is that the manufacturers who are required to report the incidents can only do so if and when the vehicle owner reports the incident. As a result, some incidents may not have been reported, NHTSA said.

NHTSA last week said it widened a probe of Tesla to whether "Autopilot and associated Tesla systems may exacerbate human factors or behavioral safety risks by undermining the effectiveness of the driver's supervision."

The action moves NHTSA a step closer to a potential recall of Tesla vehicles.

BERLIN — The German government approved a draft law on Wednesday aimed at covering two per cent of the country's land area with wind turbines by 2032, by setting fixed regional targets and easing some administrative burdens.

The push to accelerate the expansion of wind power comes as Germany is scrambling to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels following the war in Ukraine.

"Independence from fossil energies and from Russian fossil energies must be advanced at full speed," Energy Minister Robert Habeck told reporters.

The draft law adopted by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet still needs to be approved by parliament.

The goal is for Germany's 16 states to collectively dedicate two per cent of the nation's surface area to wind power generation by the end 2032 — up from 0.5 per cent, currently.

The installation of wind turbines regularly runs into "not in my backyard" resistance in Germany and objections from residents have often blocked such projects in the past, as have concerns about endangering local wildlife.

Habeck said the proposed legislation would take away some of the leeway that regional governments currently have, and force them to abide by fixed targets that vary according to a state's size and specific criteria such as wind conditions and areas reserved as nature protection zones.

Under the bill, most states would have to set aside 1.8-2.2 per cent of their land for wind turbines, while the city states of Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen would only have to reach a 0.5 per cent target.

Should regions fail to meet the objective, the federal government could override local rules on maintaining a minimum distance between homes and windmills.

'Concerns' 

Regional states unable to meet their target would be allowed to negotiate with other states that they build more wind turbines to make up for the difference, in return for financial compensation.

The federal government also pledged to simplify species protection rules in an effort to remove another frequent hurdle on the path to more wind turbines.

Habeck said he understood the proposed measures would be met with opposition or even fear in some regions, but "there is a difference between taking concerns seriously and allowing those concerns to become a political blockade".

Scholz's Social Democrat-led government, which also includes Habeck's Green party and the liberal FDP, aims for Europe's top economy to get 80 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2030. 

After years of increasing the share of renewables in its energy mix, the proportion of renewables fell last year for the first time since 1997, to 42 per cent compared with 45.3 per cent in 2020.

LONDON — Bitcoin tumbled on Monday to an 18-month low under $23,000 in a broad cryptocurrency crash, as investors shunned risky assets in the face of a vicious global markets selloff, just seven months after the virtual unit surged to a record high.

The world's most popular crypto asset also took a heavy knock from news that crypto lending platform Celsius Network paused withdrawals, citing volatile conditions.

Losses accelerated as major exchange Binance temporarily suspended bitcoin withdrawals but advised customers to use other networks.

World stock markets have plunged since Friday when data showed US inflation at a fresh four-decade high.

That heightened global recession fears and sent investors fleeing risky cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether — and embracing traditional safe assets such as the dollar.

'Severe bruising' 

"Bitcoin and ether are continuing to get a severe bruising in the ring," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

"They are prime victims of the flight away from risky assets as investors fret about spiralling consumer prices around the world."

The digital currency dived more than 16 percent to hit $22,603 in afternoon London deals, striking a level last seen in December 2020.

Bitcoin has now tanked by 66 percent since striking a record peak $68,991.85 last November.

Investors sought safety on Monday with the US central bank seen likely to aggressively ramp up borrowing costs further to combat runaway inflation.

Bitcoin's decline worsened after the news from Celsius Network.

"Today we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, swap, and transfers between accounts," the platform said in a statement.

Celsius made the move "due to extreme market conditions", it added.

The total value of customer deposits had already shrunk by more than half to under $12 billion in May compared with the end of last year.

Market sinks under $1 trillion 

The global crypto market is now worth less than $1.0 trillion, data aggregator CoinGecko revealed Monday.

That is down from a level of more than $3 trillion at its peak seven months ago, when the market rode a wave of massive investor demand amid growing acceptance from large financial institutions.

In a sign of the growing importance of cryptocurrencies, two countries, El Salvador and the Central African Republic, have taken the gamble of adopting bitcoin as legal tender — despite strong criticism from international financial institutions.

Inflation 'too hot to handle' 

In recent years, the crypto sector benefitted from a vast infusion of cash due to easy money policies from the world's biggest central banks.

However, rampant inflation has sparked tighter monetary policy across the globe, helping to send the industry crashing.

"The worry is that inflation is becoming too hot to handle by central banks who will be forced to douse economies with jets of freezing water, in the form of much steeper interest rate rises, to get it under control," added Streeter.

"With the era of cheap money coming rapidly to an end, traders are becoming much more risk averse and turning their backs on crypto assets."

VILLEPINTE, France — French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for a boost to defence budgets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying France was now on a "war economy" footing.

Speaking at Eurosatory, a weapons industry fair, Macron said Europe needed "a much larger defence industry" to avoid relying on suppliers elsewhere for its equipment needs.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, France "has entered into a war economy in which I believe we will find ourselves for a long time".

Macron said he had asked the defence ministry and armed forces chiefs of staff to adjust a six-year framework defence spending plan running to 2025 to the new geopolitical situation, to "match the means to the threats".

Even before Ukraine, French military spending had gradually increased since Macron came to power in 2017 to reach 41 billion euros ($43 billion) this year, and is currently scheduled to hit 50 billion euros in 2025.

"We didn't wait for strategic changes to re-invest," Macron said, but Russia's war had created "an additional need to move faster and become stronger at a lower cost".

Macron said that "anybody doubting the urgency of these efforts only needs to look to Ukraine, where soldiers are asking for quality weaponry and they are entitled to a response from us".

According to Le Monde newspaper, the government's armament agency DGA is considering a draft law that would allow the requisitioning of civilian equipment or civilian factories to make weapons.

As European governments bolster defence budgets, they need a larger EU-based defence industry to meet the new military needs, Macron said.

"Let's not repeat the errors of the past going forward," he said. "Spending large sums on purchases from elsewhere is not a good idea."

Europe needs a defence industry that is "much stronger and much more ambitious" than now, he said, "or we will create our own future dependencies".

A European fighter plan project is, according to experts, currently running about a decade late, while a new French-German battle tank project, MGCS, is not expected to be operational for nearly another two decades.

GENEVA — The World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief voiced cautious optimism on Sunday as global trade ministers gather to tackle food security threatened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, overfishing and equitable access to COVID vaccines.

Speaking just hours before the opening of the WTO's first ministerial meeting in nearly five years, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala acknowledged that "the road will be bumpy and rocky, there may be a few landmines on the way".

But she told journalists she was "cautiously optimistic that we'll get one or two deliverables", adding she would consider that "a success".

With its first ministerial meeting in years, the WTO faces pressure to finally eke out long-sought trade deals and show unity amid the still raging pandemic and an impending global hunger crisis.

Top of the agenda as the four-day meeting kicks off is the toll Russia's war in Ukraine, traditionally a breadbasket that feeds hundreds of millions of people, is having on food security. 

EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said the bloc had been "working hard with all the members to prepare a multilateral food security package", and slammed Russia for "using food and grain as a weapon of war".

The WTO is hoping to keep criticism of Russia's war in Ukraine to the first day of talks, when many of the more than 100 ministers due to attend are expected to issue blistering statements.

But with many flatly refusing to negotiate directly with Moscow, there are fears this could bleed into the following days, when the WTO wants to focus on nailing down elusive trade deals. 

"There is a real risk that things could go off the rails next week," a Geneva-based diplomatic source said.

Fisheries deal in sight? 

The tensions have not curbed Okonjo-Iweala's zeal to press for agreements on a range of issues during the first ministerial gathering on her watch, especially as the global trade body strives to prove its worth after nearly a decade with no new large trade deals.

There is cautious optimism that countries could finally agree on banning subsidies that contribute to illegal and unregulated fishing, after more than 20 years of negotiations.

The WTO says talks have never been this close to the finish line, but diplomats remain cautious.

The negotiations "have made progress recently, but these remain difficult subjects", a diplomatic source in Geneva said.

One of the main sticking points has been so-called special and differential treatment (SDT) for developing countries, like major fishing nation India, which can request exemptions.

A draft text sent to the ministers for review proposes exemptions should not apply to member states accounting for an as yet undefined share of the global volume of fishing.

The duration of exemptions also remains undefined.

Environmental groups say anything beyond 10 years would be catastrophic. India has demanded a 25-year exemption.

"Twenty-five years is an unreasonable length of time," said Isabel Jarrett, head of the Pew Charitable Trusts' project to end harmful fisheries subsidies, warning so much leeway would be "devastating for fish stocks".

Colombian Ambassador Santiago Wills, who chairs the WTO fisheries subsidies negotiations, stressed the urgency of securing a deal.

"The longer we wait, the more the fish lose. And the more the fish lose, the more we all lose," he said in a statement Saturday.

India, however, appears to be stubbornly sticking to its demands on fisheries and in other areas, jeopardising the chances of reaching deals since WTO agreements require full consensus backing.

"There is not a single issue that India is not blocking," a Geneva-based ambassador said, singling out WTO reform and agriculture.

A source with knowledge of the negotiations towards a text on food security also said "the Indians are still creating problems".

Elvire Fabry, a senior research fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute, said India had appeared eager to "throw more weight around" in international organisations, warning New Delhi was capable of scuppering talks.

Patent waiver? 

The ministers are also set to seek a joint WTO response to the pandemic, although significant obstacles remain. 

Back in October 2020, India and South Africa called for intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines and other pandemic responses to be suspended in a bid to ensure more equitable access in poorer nations.

After multiple rounds of talks, the European Union, the United States, India and South Africa hammered out a compromise that has become the basis for a draft text sent to ministers.

The text, which would allow most developing countries, although not China, to produce COVID vaccines without authorisation from patent holders, is still facing opposition from both sides.

Britain and Switzerland are reluctant to sign up, arguing along with the pharmaceutical industry that the waiver would undermine investment in innovation.

Public interest groups meanwhile say the text falls far short of what is needed by covering only vaccines and not COVID treatments and diagnostics.

"The negotiations are still aeons away from ensuring access to lifesaving COVID medical tools for everyone, everywhere," medical charity Doctors Without Borders warned.

BERLIN — German submarine and ship builder, Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, said on Friday it has agreed to buy the Asian-owned MV Werften shipyard on Germany's Baltic coast which filed for bankruptcy at the start of the year.

The German company, TKMS, said in a statement that the two sides had agreed confidentiality on the purchase price. 

MV Werften ran into dire straits after the COVID-19 pandemic hit demand for cruise ships, putting thousands of jobs at risk and dealing a blow to the local economy.

TKMS said the takeover of MV Werften would give "one of the most tradition-rich shipyards in Germany a long-term perspective" for its operations. 

It said it expected to produce submarines at the facility from 2024 if the German government ordered further vessels "and the resulting investment in the upgrading of the shipyard". 

The German government has announced plans for a massive increase in military spending in the wake of the war in Ukraine, which could lead to a boost in orders at MV Werften.

Reinhard Meyer, economy minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state, home of the shipyard, welcomed the takeover, saying it offered the chance for "as many jobs as possible to be maintained in the maritime industry".

Trade union IG Metall said it had agreed with TKMS on the basic outlines of a future employment plan at the shipyard. 

An initial 800 staff are to be hired, with personnel levels reaching up to 1,500 depending on future business.

MV Werften had declared insolvency in January after it said its talks with the federal and state government on a rescue package ran aground. 

MV Werften's fate was decided thousands of kilometres away in Asia, in the offices of Genting HK, the owner of the shipyard. 

Specialised in tourism and casinos, the company collapsed as a result of the disruption to travel caused by the pandemic and the decision made by its Malaysian parent company Genting to abandon it.

"We are the classic victims of coronavirus," said Carsten Haake, MV Werften's chief executive, at the time.

It was not immediately clear what would become of "Global Dream", planned as one of the world's largest cruise ships, the construction of which was halted following the bankruptcy filing.

It is 75 per cent complete, MV Werften said, but would need another 600 million euros ($636 million) in investment to be completed. 

LONDON — Equity markets mostly fell Thursday as inflation fears gain momentum, with all eyes on the outcome of a European Central Bank (ECB) policy meeting aimed at tackling soaring consumer prices in the eurozone.

The ECB is expected to announce the end date to its bond-buying stimulus, as concerns over the accelerating pace of inflation in the eurozone grip policymakers.

The stop is a prelude to the ECB hiking interest rates for the first time in more than a decade, following in the footsteps of other central banks who are raising borrowing costs.

In foreign exchange, the euro steadied against the dollar and pound.

"There is a sense of nervousness ahead of the ECB's interest rate decision later today as the central bank looks to usher in a new era of monetary policy tightening," noted Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor. 

"With euro-area inflation hitting a record high in May, the ECB is widely anticipated to begin hiking rates in July."

Inflation around the world has reached the highest levels in decades, fuelled largely by soaring oil and gas prices.

Energy demand has surged as economies emerge from pandemic lockdowns, while supplies have been hit by the invasion of Ukraine by major producer Russia. 

Traders were also awaiting US inflation data due Friday.

Analysts expect the Federal Reserve to stick to its hawkish path and hike US interest rates by half a point for at least three more meetings this year as it tries to bring down American consumer prices.

"Until we reach peak inflation, which will trigger a less hawkish Fed and lower recession odds, it could be a gloomy summer for global stock pickers," forecast SPI Asset Management's Stephen Innes. 

There was fresh uncertainty over the economic outlook in China as COVID fears linger over the world's second-biggest economy.

While data showed China's exports rebounded strongly in May, with factories restarting and supply chains untangling as Shanghai slowly emerged from a gruelling lockdown, the metropolis will Saturday shut a district of 2.7 million people for mass coronavirus testing.

"There are lingering concerns that China's brisk recovery could be a false dawn given that the zero-COVID strategy is staying firmly in place and that could mean rolling lockdowns will continue," noted Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.