Tausi Insider

Twitter took longer to review hateful content and removed less of it in 2022 compared with the previous year, according to European Union data released Thursday. The EU figures were published as part of an annual evaluation of online platforms’ compliance with the 27-nation bloc’s code of conduct on disinformation. Twitter wasn’t alone – most other tech companies signed up to the voluntary code also scored worse. But the figures could foreshadow trouble for Twitter in complying with the EU’s tough new online rules after owner Elon Musk fired many of the platform’s 7,500 full-time workers and an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation and other crucial tasks. The EU report, carried out over six weeks in the spring, found Twitter assessed just over half of the notifications it received about illegal hate speech within 24 hours, down from 82 per cent in 2021. In comparison, the amount of flagged material Facebook reviewed within 24 hours fell to 64 per cent, Inst...

The RCMP has searched the Vancouver office of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. to seek information on $2.7-million in bank transfers from Ivanhoe to a Swiss bank account in connection with contracts for its Congolese mining operations, Tausi Insider has learned. The RCMP obtained the search warrant after saying it had reasonable grounds to believe that Ivanhoe violated Canada’s Criminal Code and Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act between 2014 and 2018, according to a brief disclosure by Ivanhoe in an annual information form. Ivanhoe co-operated in the search of its Vancouver office in November, 2021, and no charges have been laid against the company or its directors or employees, Ivanhoe said in the disclosure earlier this year. British Columbia court documents in the case – obtained by The Sentry, a U.S.-based investigative organization, and shared with The Globe – contain a six-page list of documents and computer equipment that the RCMP was authorized to seize from Ivanhoe’s office. Some...

World Trade Organization arbitrators concluded Wednesday that the United States was out of line in requiring products from Hong Kong to be labelled as “Made in China,” a move that was part of Washington’s response to a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters there in 2019 and 2020. A WTO dispute panel found the U.S. violated its obligations under the trade body’s rules and rejected Washington’s argument that U.S. “essential security interests” allowed for such labelling. The panel said the situation did not pose an “emergency” that would allow for an exemption under the trade body’s rules. The United States or Hong Kong could appeal the ruling to the WTO’s appeals court. However, the Appellate Body is currently inactive because the U.S. has almost single-handedly held up appointments of new members to the court amid concerns it had strayed beyond its mandate. As a result, any such appeal would go into an arbitration void and remain unsettled. The United States trade representative’s of...

An oil platform in the Baltic Sea, Russia, on Sept. 16, 2021. VITALY NEVAR/Reuters Russia may cut oil output by 5 per cent-7 per cent in early 2023, as it responds to price caps on its crude and refined products, and halt sales to the countries that support them, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told state television on Friday. Detailing for the first time the Russian response to the price caps introduced by the West over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Novak said the cuts could reach 500,000-700,000 barrels per day (bpd). He also said that despite Europe’s efforts to cut reliance on Russian oil and gas, energy exports from Russia are in demand worldwide and Moscow has been diversifying its buyers. Novak said it would be difficult to provide for global economic development without Russian energy, and predicted possible gas shortages in Europe, which has introduced restrictions on gas prices, as well as on oil. On oil, the European Union, G7 nations and Australia introduced a $60 p...

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States leaders, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on Dec. 26. SPUTNIK/Reuters President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered Russia’s long-awaited response to a Western price cap, signing a decree that bans the supply of crude oil and oil products from Feb. 1 for five months to nations that abide by the cap. The Group of Seven major powers, the European Union and Australia agreed this month to a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil effective from Dec. 5 over Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. The cap is close to the current price for Russian oil, but well beneath the windfall price Russia was able to sell for this year and that helped offset the impact of financial sanctions on Moscow. Fighting rages in eastern Ukraine as Russia reaffirms demands for ending war Russia is the world’s second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, and a major disruption to its sales would h...

Ryan Standil is a former lawyer and the owner of Write To Excite. He leads workshops for businesses and governments about effective writing in the workplace. Eric Janssen teaches sales and entrepreneurship at the Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ont. Have you ever tried to e-mail a busy person who was unfamiliar with you? Maybe you were searching for a job, seeking advice or hoping to make a sale. A study of two million e-mail users revealed the long odds of obtaining a response: On average, people who receive fewer than 100 e-mails a day respond to 25 per cent of them, and people who receive at least 100 e-mails a day respond to just 5 per cent. Fortunately, you can boost your response rate by applying proven techniques. These techniques are traditionally associated with what are known as “cold e-mails,” but they are also helpful for reaching out on platforms such as LinkedIn and Instagram. The next time you write a cold e-mail, focus on three actions to elicit...