Bard vibes: even Google's own employees are mocking its ChatGPT rival

By Christian Guyton 

Google recently unveiled its Bard AI chatbot at its Live from Paris livestream event, hoping to provide a worthy rival to Microsoft’s new ChatGPT-integrated Bing search engine.

Unfortunately, things got off to a rocky start; the Bard bot’s presentation included a key factual error made by the AI program, which saw a whopping $100 billion share drop for Google in the span of just one day. We noted that this could indicate that Bard simply isn’t ready for a widespread rollout – and it seems that Google’s own employees agree.

According to a report from CNBC, Google employees are using the company’s internal meme forum MemeGen to poke fun at Bard, the presentation as a whole, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. The memes reportedly describe the event as “rushed, botched, and myopic” amongst other things.

One meme declared that “rushing Bard to market in a panic validated the market’s fear about us”, referencing the huge share drop after the AI reveal, while another ridiculed the fact that a recent layoff of 12,000 employees actually raised the stock value by 3%.

Bard times (gonna make you wonder why you even try)

It’s really not a good omen for Google that its own engineers are so willing to mock Bard, which is a major project for the tech giant. ChatGPT is providing some stiff competition, so Google needs to get its act together if it hopes to win the AI arms race.

I recently argued that ChatGPT wasn’t going to save Bing from Google’s AI expansion (because, y’know, it’s Bing) but Google isn’t exactly filling me with confidence here. Bard is based on Google’s LaMDA chatbot, which stands for Language Model for Developed Applications, and has been the cause of some problems for Google in the past.

Perhaps the most well-known debacle resulting from LaMDA’s development was the story of Blake Lemoine, an engineer at Google who became convinced that the AI program had developed true sentience and was subsequently laid off by the company. Not long after that, the AI asked to speak to a lawyer, for reasons known only to itself.

These teething issues have led to a degree of caution on Google’s part. Last year, it announced that it had a competitor to the popular AI image generation tool DALL-E, called Imagen, which was capable of converting text prompts into pictures (and later, video clips). However, Google restricted public access to the software, citing that there may be safeguarding issues.

Prudence in the face of new technologies might be wise, but it looks as though Google may have still managed to jump the gun here – at least, its internal teams seem to think so. Bard could evidently benefit from a bit more time in the oven, and I’m of the mind that AI developers should take as much time as they need to get these complex systems ready for the broader public. Otherwise, well, the consequences could be disastrous…

UK

More proof if you needed it that NHS nurses and the RCN are right to be striking

As the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) moves towards a 48-hour strike, new figures reveal what the union calls an “exodus” of young nurses from the NHS. The news is hardly surprising, though, given the RCN strikes have partly been over nurses’ appalling pay.

Nurses: everybody out – again…?

After strikes on 6 and 7 February, the RCN has now warned the Tory government that it’s moving to get nurses to walk out for a full 48 hours. This would include previously protected NHS areas, like A&E. As Nursing Notes wrote:

The move by the union is designed to break the deadlock and prevent months of disruption.

Previous strikes were over pay and conditions. As the Canary previously reported:

In 2010, the coalition government froze public sector pay for two years, then imposed a 1% fixed increase. This year, the Tories have capped NHS pay rises at 4% for most staff, while inflation is over 10%. The end result is that since 2010, the Tories have cut around £4,300 from nurses’ real-terms pay.

Now, a new report shows the direct impact of the government’s real-terms pay cuts – and it adds weight to nurses’ arguments over strikes.
RCN: an “exodus” of staff

The RCN has released its Valuing Nursing in the UK – Staffing for Safe and Effective Care report. The union said in a press release that the analysis looks at:

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the issues contributing to the poor retention of nursing staff, the reasons why they’re leaving, and calls for immediate action from the UK governments.

The union said:

The report shows that between 2018 and 2022, nearly 43,000 people aged 21 to 50 left the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register. It also finds the number of people leaving the NMC register increased by 9% from 2020-21 on the previous year and increased by a further 3% in 2022.

In the report, the RCN blames what it calls the “exodus” of nurses on years of government underfunding. This includes over a decade of real-terms pay cuts. The report highlights that nurses leaving are often younger ones, and the RCN is calling for an immediate, substantial pay rise for nursing staff. The report also looks at other reasons for nurses leaving the NHS. The union said these included:

Insufficient staffing to ensure patient safety.

Harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

A lack of career progression.

Unsafe working conditions.

A ‘crisis unfolding before our eyes’

RCN general secretary and chief executive Pat Cullen said:

It’s deeply worrying that nurses aren’t just choosing to retire early but are quitting the NHS and the profession entirely, when they’re only a few years into their career.

These findings speak volumes about the dire state that ministers have allowed nursing to fall into through years of underfunding and neglect. At the same time, recent… figures highlight that we aren’t only losing a record number of experienced nurses from the NHS, we’re also going to have less joining the profession. This can only mean even more vacancies in the future.

Cullen continued:

Negligence towards addressing vacancies is having a devastating impact on patient care and is why our members took to picket lines in England again last week. Ministers cannot blame the pandemic and other winter pressures for the crisis unfolding before our eyes – this has been a long time in the making yet the government has consistently ignored clear signs. They must offer fair pay rises to help stop the exodus.

It’s interesting that the RCN has warned the Tories of a 48-hour walk out at the same time as releasing its report – hitting the government with a double whammy, if you like. So now nurses must wait and see what the Tories do. However, what is clear is that the situation NHS staff are in has been unsustainable for a long time. Whether the Tories act or not remains to be seen.

Act ‘immediately’ on pay and conditions for nurses, government told

by Jo Faragher 13 Feb 2023

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has called for the government to take ‘immediate action’ to stop a worrying exodus of staff from the profession.

A new report published by the RCN today (13 February) reveals that between 2018 and 2022, almost 43,000 employees between the ages of 21 and 50 left the Nursing and Midwifery Council register, suggesting younger staff are quitting the profession.

The report, Valuing Nursing in the UK, showed an overall increase in people leaving the register of 9% from 2020-21 on the previous year, and a further increase of 3% in 2022.

Fewer nurses are joining the profession, furthermore. Last week, figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) showed that applications for nursing courses in England fell by 19% last year.

RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said the findings of the research “speak volumes about the dire state that ministers have allowed nursing to fall into through years of underfunding and neglect”.

Nursing profession

Nursing degree applications fall 19%

Nurses begin biggest strike in history

“We aren’t only losing a record number of experienced nurses from the NHS, we’re also going to have less joining the profession. This can only mean even more vacancies in the future.

“Negligence towards addressing vacancies is having a devastating impact on patient care and is why our members took to picket lines in England again last week.”

The RCN went ahead with strikes at 73 NHS trusts in England on 6-7 February, and dates for new, two-day strikes are expected to be announced in the coming days.

Cullen has indicated that new strikes could include members working in emergency departments, intensive care and cancer wards. The organisation has scaled back pay demands from 19% earlier this year, to indications it could accept a 7% increase – on a par with what was offered to nursing staff in Wales, where strikes have been suspended.

NHS bodies are now lobbying the government to open pay talks with the RCM to avert what they call an “alarming” escalation of strikes.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers said: “The walkouts have led to 137,000 appointments being postponed so far, with nearly 50,000 of those being from Monday and Tuesday last week alone.

“A continuous 48-hour strike that includes staff from emergency departments, intensive care units and cancer care services would likely have the biggest impact on patients we’ve seen.”

In addition to improving pay, the RCN report calls for the government to deliver “fully funded health and care workforce plans”, to publish independent assessments of health and care workforce requirements in line, and to enshrine in law accountability for workforce planning in nursing.

In the report, nurses complain of insufficient staffing levels to ensure patient safety, harassment and discrimination in the workplace, a lack of career progression and unsafe working conditions.

Cullen added: “Ministers cannot blame the pandemic and other winter pressures for the crisis unfolding before our eyes – this has been a long time in the making yet the government has consistently ignored clear signs. They must offer fair pay rises to help stop the exodus.”
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JO FARAGHER
Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. Jo is also the author of 'Good Work, Great Technology', published in 2022 by Clink Street Publishing, charting the relationship between effective workplace technology and productive and happy employees. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

Teachers call off  strike in Wales after Welsh Government pay offer

The National Education Union (NEU) said it will consult with teachers about the Welsh Government's new pay offer


Abbie Wightwick

Education Editor

 9 FEB 2023

The picket line at Cardiff High school, Cardiff, Wales, as teachers went on strike over conditions and pay (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)

Teachers in Wales have called off their strike next week after the Welsh Government increased its pay offer and offered staff a one off lump sum. Members of the National Education union were due to walk out on February 14, but that has now been suspended while members consider the new extra 3% offer.

Hundreds of schools shut when teachers walked out across Wales last week in a bitter row over pay and funding. They said they were taking action to save children's education with pay erosion and cost of living causing a crisis in teacher retention and recruitment.

The National Executive of the NEU said after "detailed talks" with Education Minister Jeremy Miles and Welsh Government officials it has now agreed to suspend the walk out until March 2 while it puts the new offer to members.

Read more: The powerful reasons teachers on the picket line gave for why they are striking

The revised offer from the Welsh Government, which came late on February 8, which would see teachers get an extra 3% on top of the 5% already offered - 1.5% of which would be a one off payment - you can read more about the offer and what it means here.


NEU Joint General Secretary Kevin Courtney said: “The willingness of the Welsh Government to engage in talks with us about the current pay dispute is in stark contrast to the position taken by Westminster and the Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan. We have now had a series of discussions in Wales where the focus has been on resolving the dispute, resulting in the current offer of an additional consolidated award of 1.5% this year, plus a non-consolidated lump sum of 1.5%.

“Whilst the offer remains significantly below our members' demands, and does not begin to address the real terms cuts visited upon teachers since 2010, the Union will consult with our branches and workplace representatives to secure the views of members in Wales.

"In the meantime, next Tuesday’s strike action will be postponed until 2 March. Meanwhile, we will continue to press for a fully consolidated award and to seek an offer in respect of support staff members, who have also provided a clear mandate for action.”

To get our free daily briefing on the biggest issues affection the nation, Wales Matters, click here

NEU Wales Secretary David Evans said other issues still needed addressing: “Workload remains a huge issue for our members and progress has been made in attending to a range of workload drivers for the short, medium and long term. We have conveyed our members’ views to Welsh Government, who have signalled an intent to address what has become an unsustainable pressure on the workforce and will be welcomed across the profession.

“There has also been an agreement to review the Independent Wales Pay Review Board’s recommendations on pay for the 2023/24 academic year. We look forward to providing detailed evidence of the effects of spiralling inflation and cost-of-living crisis to the IWPRB. We have been pressing for this review which is clearly overdue.”

Half of the extra 3% is "consolidated" meaning it's a one off payment to end the strike rather than part of a pay deal that would impact on next year's pay negotiations, a union official said. A last minute revised offer to NHS staff saw health unions call off their walk out.

Education Minister Jeremy Miles said: "The decision not to proceed with strike action next week is good news for pupils, parents, carers and staff. We also welcome that NEU and NAHT have agreed to take the new pay offer to their members and representatives.

"Discussions over recent weeks have been productive, where we have made good progress on issues such as reducing staff workload and supporting wellbeing. I would like to thank everyone who has participated in these constructive negotiations.”

VALENTINES 💔DAY STRIKE

UK

University Staff And Civil Servants Stage Strikes Over Pay And Conditions

More than 70,000 members of the University and College Union (UCU) are taking industrial action.

PA Media
14/02/2023 

Members and supporters of the University and College Union (UCU) Scotland during a rally at Buchanan Street in Glasgow. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)
JANE BARLOW - PA IMAGES VIA GETTY IMAGES

University staff and civil servants will strike on Tuesday as the wave of industrial action continues to sweep the UK.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) and the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will mount picket lines outside universities and the British Museum in disputes over pay, pensions and working conditions.

More than 70,000 members of the UCU will begin the first of three successive days of strike action across 150 universities in the UK this week, which threaten disruption to students’ lectures and seminars.

Around 100 members of the PCS union at the British Museum working in visitor services and security teams are striking all week as part of a dispute over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and job security.

The UCU confirmed on Monday evening that it will reballot its members to allow university staff to take further industrial action through the rest of the academic year if their demands are not met by employers.\

The announcement came as the UCU entered talks with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which represents 144 employers, via the conciliation service Acas.

The UCEA has made a pay offer of between 5% and 8%, which had been rejected by the union.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Staff are striking because they are sick of being denied a decent pay rise, secure employment, and proper pensions.

“And students are standing with us because they know that staff working conditions are their learning conditions.

“Our union is determined to reach a negotiated settlement which allows staff to get back to work and students to continue their studies uninterrupted.

“But that can only happen if vice chancellors come out of hiding and use a fraction of the sector’s vast wealth to make serious, well-rounded offers to staff.”

Raj Jethwa, UCEA’s chief executive, said: “It is disappointing that UCU has confirmed it will re-ballot on the day that these Acas talks have started.

“It is saddening if even a single student is impacted by the 18 days of strike action that UCU has already asked its member to take, and we hope that these Acas talks will help to resolve this dispute.”

PCS members are also on strike this week at the Department for Work and Pensions, DVLA and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

They will be joined by Border Force staff in Dover, Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk on Friday.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Our hard-working members are sorry they’re taking this action during half term because their working life is dedicated to sharing information with people, especially young people learning about the exhibits and artefacts in the British Museum.

“That they are taking this action shows how strongly they feel taken for granted by the Government. The Prime Minister has the power to end this strike tomorrow, but he’s nowhere to be seen.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak, who will join a picket line at the British Museum on Tuesday, said: “Nobody takes the decision to strike lightly. But the Conservative government is pushing workers like these museum staff into a corner by refusing to engage in serious pay negotiations.

“We all want these pay disputes to be quickly resolved. And that can happen if the Chancellor and Prime Minister do the right thing and come to the negotiating table with credible pay offers.

“Until then, unions will hold firm, because we know that decent pay rises are possible – it comes down to political choices.”

The National Education Union (NEU) had planned to take strike action in schools in Wales on Tuesday, but the walkout was suspended last week after a new pay offer was made by the Welsh government.

Teaching union leaders will meet with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan on Wednesday in a bid to resolve a pay dispute which threatens further walkouts in schools across England in February and March.

HOMELESS IN THIRD WORLD U$A
Child actor Austin Majors, who starred on 'NYPD Blue,' dead at 27

Taryn Ryder
·Writer, Yahoo Entertainment
Mon, February 13, 2023

Actor Austin Majors at the 30th Annual Young Artist Awards at the Globe Theatre on March 29, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo: WireImage)

Child star Austin Majors, best known for his recurring role on NYPD Blue, has died at age 27. Majors played Theo Sipowicz, the son of Detective Andy Sipowicz, on the cop drama for seven seasons.

Majors was found dead on Saturday in Los Angeles, Yahoo Entertainment can confirm. The former actor's cause of death is deferred pending additional tests. Variety reports he had been living at a downtown Los Angeles facility for homeless individuals. Last week, he appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News when L.A. Mayor Karen Bass toured the facility.

Majors's family issued a statement to TMZ remembering him as "a loving, artistic, brilliant, and kind human being. Austin took great joy and pride in his acting career. He was an active Eagle Scout and graduated salutatorian in High School. He went on to graduate from USC's School of Cinematic Arts with a passion of directing and music producing.

"Austin's younger sister, Kali, says her fondest memories with Austin were growing up on set with him, volunteering at events with 'Kids With a Cause,' and backpacking together. Austin was the kind of son, brother, grandson, and nephew that made us proud and we will miss him deeply forever," the family says.

Aside from NYPD Blue, Majors starred in the TV movie An Accidental Christmas. He appeared in several other television shows, like Desperate Housewives, NCIS and American Dad!, during his childhood acting career. His last acting credit came in 2009, according to IMDb, on an episode of How I Met Your Mother.

JOHN STEINBECK QUOTE
 WHY SOCIALISM DOES NOT EXIST IN USA

Angler practicing for tournament in Virginia catches rare fish most have ‘never seen’


Irene Wright
Mon, February 13, 2023

Jacob Moore set out to catch some largemouth bass.

Moore, an arborist who competes in local fishing tournaments in Virginia, was on the James River practicing for an upcoming competition when he made a remarkable catch.

“I was out there practicing for a tournament, catching a bunch of fish,” Moore told the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. “When I hooked into that one, I thought I had a saltwater fish on at first, but lo and behold, it was a largemouth! A very different largemouth, though.”

On the other end of Moore’s fishing line was a golden largemouth bass.

Officials say the golden bass is “extremely rare” and caused by a genetic mutation.

“I haven’t seen anything like that before,” Moore told wildlife officials. “I’ve seen bass with black spots, but I’d never seen an albino one.”

Moore wasn’t the only one that was surprised.

“Golden largemouth bass are extremely rare and most anglers have never seen them, let alone heard of them before,” said Alex McCrickard, VDWR aquatic education coordinator.

McCrickard said the coloration is caused by a genetic mutation called xanthism that causes the skin pigment to change color.

“Yellow pigmentation dominates in xanthism, as you can see in Moore’s golden largemouth,” McCrickard said.

Moore said his golden fish was about 16 ½ inches long. After taking a few pictures, he returned the fish to the water.

To keep a largemouth bass from the James River, the fish must be longer than 22 inches, according to Virginia law.

Another golden bass was caught in Arkansas in 2021, and an Arkansas Game and Fish biologist said catching the fish was “akin to hitting the Powerball, only without the cash payout,” because it was like catching “one fish in a million.”

According to Virginia wildlife officials, a standard largemouth bass found in the James River is normally a dark green that fades into a white belly that can have dark spots that create a line down the middle of the tail.

The fish weigh on average 2 to 4 pounds, but they can be as large at 10 pounds in some places.

The James River runs horizontally across the state, emptying into the Atlantic in Newport News.

India tax officials raid BBC offices after film on Modi

Police have sealed off the British broadcaster's offices in India. The searches came weeks after India banned BBC's documentary critical documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called it "hostile propaganda."

https://p.dw.com/p/4NRwZ

Indian tax authorities on Tuesday raided the BBC's New Delhi offices, staff members of the broadcaster told news agencies.

The raid comes just weeks after the BBC released a documentary critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A BBC employee based in the Delhi office told the AFP news agency that officials had occupied two floors in the building housing the broadcaster's offices.

Authorities were raiding the BBC's Delhi and Mumbai offices, reported the Press Trust of India news agency, quoting officials who were not identified.

Indian government angered by BBC documentary

In January, BBC released a two-part documentary called "India: The Modi Question" alleging that Modi had ordered the police to turn a blind eye to the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, where he was premier at the time.

The violence left at least 1,000 people dead, most of them minority Muslims.

The raid comes just weeks after the BBC released a documentary critical of Modi.

Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

The Indian government blocked videos and tweets sharing links to the documentary using emergency powers under its information technology laws.

Authorities scrambled to halt screenings of the program and restricted its clips on social media.

India's Foreign Ministry said the film "lacked objectivity" and called it a "propaganda piece designed to push a particularly discredited narrative."

The BBC responded with a statement, saying the documentary was "rigorously researched.''

"We offered the Indian Government a right to reply to the matters raised in the series, it declined to respond,'' the statement said.

ns/fb (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Greece approves disputed museum law seen as antiquity 'export' plan

Issued on: 13/02/2023

Athens (AFP) – Greece's parliament on Monday approved a new law enabling the exhibition of rare antiquities outside the country, with archaeologists warning it could lead to the long-term "export" of rare items.

The move comes as the Greek government is engaged in talks with the British Museum on the possible return of the Parthenon Marbles after decades of wrangling between Athens and London.

The Financial Times last week reported that the famed prehistoric frescoes of Santorini "have been mentioned in Athens" as potential candidates for a loan swap.

The new law concerns five of the country's top state museums -- the National Archaeological Museum and the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens, the Archaeological Museum and Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, and the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Crete.

It enables the five museums -- which hold some of the country's most coveted ancient artifacts -- to create satellite branches outside Greece.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni has said the changes give the museums more freedom to plan exhibits and raise sponsorship.

The association of Greek archaeologists has said it will block the law in court.

"Important antiquities could be sent abroad for 50, a hundred years or more," the association warned in a statement.

Greece's culture ministry has been trying for years to broker deals for the repatriation of antiquities without resorting to legal action.

Its chief goal remains the return of the Parthenon Marbles, held by the British Museum since the 19th century.

Mendoni on Monday said Athens is proposing "intertemporal exhibitions" of Greek artifacts in Britain for the "return and reunification" of the Parthenon Marbles.

Last year, the culture ministry brokered a deal to acquire 161 Bronze Age antiquities formerly in the collection of US billionaire and philanthropist Leonard Stern.

The agreement involves the artifacts gradually returning to Greece over the next 25 years after display at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The deal has sparked controversy among experts over the provenance of the antiquities.

The association of Greek archaeologists said Stern was a "proven recipient of smuggled archaeological discoveries" and that the agreement set a poor precedent to let wealthy collectors off the hook.

The archaeologists said Stern had previously owned a Bronze Age marble idol from Sardinia that was later seized in 2018 from billionaire collector Michael Steinhardt as illegally trafficked.

© 2023 AFP

Along underwater highway, workers fix Channel tunnel at night

Jean LIOU
Mon, February 13, 2023 

Deep under the Channel, men in orange jackets and white hard hats drive up and down one of the world's longest underground highways, beavering away to keep passenger trains running.

They ply the 50-kilometre (30-mile) service road linking France and Britain, maintaining the railway tracks in two adjacent tunnels that at their deepest point reach some 100 metres below sea level.

It's a unique universe between two countries following different driving conventions and time zones, says Eurotunnel maintenance supervisor Remi Dezoomer.

"We drive on the left like in England, but stay on French time," he said on Saturday night, switching on his hazard lights and honking his horn as he approached a parked car.

The service tunnel is kept at a higher air pressure than the surface atmosphere for safety reasons, so workers first have to transit through a chamber at intermediate pressure before they can drive down into it.

None of their vehicles have number plates, nor right-side mirrors to avoid hitting each other when they cross paths.

"We used to have Clios," said Dezoomer, referring to a small French-made hatchback similar in size to a VW Beetle.

"But now the vehicles are getting bigger and it's becoming tricker."

U-turns are near impossible between the tunnel's hemmed-in walls, and everybody dreads having to deal with a flat tyre so far away from base.

- Brisk work -

Caution is key, Dezoomer said.

The speeding limit is set at 50 kilometres an hour (30 miles per hour) when the tunnel lights are off, but just 30 kph when they are on, which usually indicates someone is in the area.

Two nights a week, during the weekend, Eurotunnel at least partially closes one of the two train tunnels to perform maintenance, while carriages continue ferrying passengers or goods on the other track.

Workers drive up and down in buses, or vehicles pulling trailers, and firemen make the rounds.

Every 375 metres along the service tunnel, corridors lead up to highly secured, heavy yellow doors that open onto the adjacent railway tracks.

On Saturday night alone, 160 workers were busy working on 66 different spots up and down the railway, Jeffrey Guy, one of the project managers, told AFP.

"It's a normal night," he said.

Most -- some 70 people -- were busy replacing rail sections as part of a three-year plan to renovate the entire length of the track.

Jean-Louis Merlin, who is in charge of that project, said his team had to carry out brisk work.

"Tonight, we have five hours and ten minutes to replace more than a kilometre of tracks," he said.

- Underwater border -

Over the years since the tunnel opened in 1994, freight trains as well as carriages carrying lorries and cars have worn down the tracks.

"It's the fourth time we're replacing them since the start" of operations, Merlin said.

Miner lights ablaze on their white helmets, staff have to be quick to finish before trains start up again at dawn.

Some weld, while others attach the new tracks to railroad ties.

In another part of the tunnel, workers in orange safety jackets pump resin into the sides of the tunnel to avoid any water filtering through.

"Water and the 25,000 volts of the overhead catenary don't really mix," maintenance supervisor Dezoomer said.

Elsewhere, workers blast a high-pressure hose against the wall to clean it, creating thick clouds of droplets in the dim golden light.

And halfway between both countries they have their own touristic landmark.

At the border under the sea, near a small sign reading "midpoint", some visitors have graffitied their names on the wall to leave a mark.

liu/ah/sjw/js

Colombia, ELN rebels resume peace talks in Mexico after ceasefire confusion

Representatives of the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army pose for a picture ahead of peace talks in Mexico City © ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP

February 13, 2023 —
Written by Sarah Kinosian for Reuters ->

MEXICO CITY, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Colombia's government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group resumed peace talks in Mexico City on Monday after a temporary halt caused by a misunderstanding over a mooted ceasefire.

Mexico is one of the guarantor nations for the talks, along with Norway, Venezuela, Cuba, Brazil and Chile. The first round of discussions to end the guerrillas' part in nearly six decades of war took place in Caracas last November.

On New Year's Eve, President Gustavo Petro had announced that a ceasefire had been agreed with the ELN and other rebel groups.

But a few days later the ELN said it was merely a proposal that had not been agreed to. The government blamed the confusion on a misunderstanding of the ELN's position.

The ELN is Colombia's oldest remaining rebel group, founded by radical Catholic priests in 1964, and the talks are the cornerstone of efforts by leftist Petro - himself a former member of another insurgent group - to bring "total peace" to Colombia.

Petro, who took office just over six months ago, has vowed to negotiate peace or surrender deals with remaining rebels and crime gangs as well as to fully implement a previous accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed in 2016.

Negotiations with the ELN under previous administrations faltered on the group's diffuse chain of command and dissent within its ranks, though Pablo Beltran, the head of the ELN delegation, and top commander Antonio Garcia have said fighters are on board with these talks.

On Monday, leaders of the negotiations on both sides said the talks would focus on a bilateral ceasefire and agreements to get humanitarian aid to areas of Colombia most affected by the conflict.

"Agreements are to be fulfilled... we have to produce results," said Otty Patiño, head of the Colombian government delegation.

Beltran gave an overview of the group's core grievances, including the long-standing war on drugs, war on terrorism, and social inequality.

"The economy and the state must be placed at the service of society," he said. "This is the main change for which we fight so that there is peace with justice."

(Reporting by Sarah Kinosian; additional reporting by Julia Cobb in Bogota, editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Rosalba O'Brien)