A groundbreaking study published in July 2025 demonstrates that African savannah elephants use intentional gestures to communicate their goals, similar to great apes[^1]. The research team presented semi-captive elephants with desired and undesired items, recording their communication attempts when experimenters met, partially met, or failed to meet their goals[^1].

The study identified 38 different gesture types that elephants used almost exclusively when a visually attentive experimenter was present[^1]. The elephants showed three key criteria for intentional communication:

1. Audience directedness - signaling only when someone was watching
2. Persistence - continuing to gesture when goals were partially met
3. Elaboration - using new signals when communication failed

The research was conducted at the Jafuta Reserve in Zimbabwe, where elephants combined specific vocalizations with gestures in greeting behaviors[^6]. They used different types of signals including:

• Silent-visual gestures
• Audible gestures
• Tactile gestures
• Rumble vocalizations

The findings reveal that elephants, like apes, assess the communicative effectiveness of their gesturing and adjust their signals based on the audience's visual attention[^6]. This expands understanding of intentional communication beyond the primate lineage[^9].

[^1]: Royal Society Open Science - Investigating intentionality in elephant gestural communication

[^6]: Nature - Multimodal communication and audience directedness in the greeting behaviour of semi-captive African savannah elephants

[^9]: Pangea Trust - Gestures and greetings used by elephants show intentional multimodal communication

Investigating intentionality in elephant gestural communication – DOAJ

A crucial feature of language is the ability to communicate cognitive goals to a specific audience, i.e. goal-directed intentionality. Core criteria for...

^doaj.org

【#TheHagueGroup】To Bogotá | Progressive International (2025-07-12)

progressive.international/wire…
———

>> This week, more than 25 states from around the world will gather in Bogotá, Colombia, for the “Emergency Conference” to halt the Gaza genocide: the most ambitious multilateral response since Israel began its campaign of devastation two years ago.

>> “The Bogotá conference will go down as the moment in history that states finally stood up to do the right thing,” said UN Special Rapporteur #FrancescaAlbanese, calling the formation of The Hague Group the “most significant political development of the last 20 months.”

>> Jointly convened by Colombia and South Africa, The Hague Group’s Co-Chairs, the conference brings together states far beyond the boundaries of the Group — from Algeria to Brazil, China to Spain, Indonesia to Qatar — “to move from condemnation to collective action,” in the words of Colombian President Gustavo Petro…

#BogotaConference #StopGenocide
@palestine@a.gup.pe

PI Briefing | No. 25 | To Bogotá

Convened by Colombia and South Africa as co-chairs of The Hague Group, the Emergency Ministerial Conference marks the boldest stand yet against the Gaza genocide and the collapse of the multilateral order.

^{Progressive International}

From Sebastian Wick’s Mastodon

Blender is getting HDR on Linux via Wayland before Windows! This isn't by accident, but shows how creating a system with a different design creates better results for users and application developers.

Firefox is in this same boat too. It will get HDR support on Linux* sooner than Windows. Firefox currently only supports HDR on MacOS.

Blender HDR and the reference white issue

The latest alpha of the upcoming Blender 5.0 release comes with High Dynamic Range (HDR) support for Linux on Wayland which will, if everything works out, make it into the final Blender 5.0 release on October 1, 2025.

^{swick's blog}

France has announced a “historic” accord with New Caledonia in which the overseas territory, rocked by deadly separatist violence last year, would remain French but be declared a new state.

“A State of New Caledonia within the Republic: it’s a bet on trust,” the French president, Emmanuel Macron, posted on X on Saturday, hailing a “historic” agreement.

Receiving the signatories later, the president said that “after two agreements and three referendums, New Caledonia, through what you have signed, is opening a new chapter in its future in a peaceful relationship with France”.

Macron had called for talks to break a deadlock between forces loyal to France and those wanting independence. New Caledonian elected officials, as well as political, economic and civil society leaders, gathered near Paris to hammer out a constitutional framework for the territory.

After 10 days of talks, the parties agreed that a “State of New Caledonia” should be created.

Manuel Valls, the minister for overseas territories, called it an “intelligent compromise” that maintains links between France and New Caledonia, but with more sovereignty for the Pacific island.

The priority now is New Caledonia’s economic recovery.

Last year’s violence, which claimed the lives of 14 people, is estimated to have cost the territory 2bn euros ($2.3 bn), shaving 10% off its gross domestic product, he said.

The French prime minister, Francois Bayrou, said Saturday’s deal – which still requires parliamentary and referendum approval – was of “historic dimensions”.

Home to about 270,000 people and located nearly 17,000km (10,600 miles) from Paris, New Caledonia is one of several overseas territories that remain an integral part of France.

It has been ruled from Paris since the 1800s, but many indigenous Kanaks still resent France’s power over their islands and want fuller autonomy or independence.

Unrest broke out in May 2024 after Paris planned to give voting rights to thousands of non-indigenous long-term residents. Kanaks feared this would leave them in a permanent minority, crushing their chances of winning independence.

As part of the agreement, New Caledonia residents will in future only be allowed to vote after having lived 10 years on the archipelago.

The last independence referendum in New Caledonia was held in 2021, and was boycotted by pro-independence groups over the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Kanak population.

It was the latest of three since 2018, all of which rejected New Caledonian independence. Since the 2021 referendum however, the political situation in the archipelago has been deadlocked.

Macron declared in early June he wanted a “new project” for New Caledonia.

The 13-page agreement announced on Saturday calls for a New Caledonian nationality, and the possibility for residents there to combine that status with French nationality.

Under the deal, a “State of New Caledonia” would be enshrined in France’s constitution, and other countries could recognise such a state.

The deal also calls for an economic and financial recovery pact that would include a renewal of the territory’s nickel processing capabilities.

Both chambers of France’s parliament are to meet in the fourth quarter of this year to vote on approving the deal, which is then to be submitted to New Caledonians in a referendum in 2026.

New Caledonia to be declared a state in ‘historic’ agreement – but will remain French

Emmanuel Macron hails ‘new chapter’ for New Caledonia as politicians agree on statehood after 10 days of talks

^{Guardian staff reporter (The Guardian)}

Most file managers I've encountered default to icon view. One of the first things I do is set the default to detailed list view. Might be a preference for seeing names and dates over many identical folder icons, or just an old habit from using Windows. But I'd be curious to hear about the benefits of icon view and why it's usually the default in Linux GUI file managers.

What does everyone else use and any reasons to prefer one over the other?