News Dabba for 06 August 2025: Five stories for a balanced news diet

Indie Journal brings you the daily updates that the internet is talking about through various news websites. Here's a glance through some of the National and International news updates, from updates on Uttarkashi disaster, Fadnavis's update on elephant's return from Vantara, to 80 years of Hirishima atomic bombing.

Indian Express report on Uttarkashi disaster in notified eco-sensitive zone

Dharali in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, the ground zero of the flash flood and debris avalanche on Tuesday, is located in the fragile Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone (ESZ), and Indian Express reports experts believe that unregulated activities, like construction on river floodplains, could have contributed to making the disaster more severe. Over 60 people are reported to be missing in the flash floods in Uttarkashi as the rescue operations entered the second day Wednesday. The Bhagirathi Eco-Sensitive Zone is a 4,157 sq km expanse between Gangotri and Uttarkashi town, and it was notified in 2012 to protect the Ganga river’s ecology and watershed near its origin. The ESZ tag provides the region with a safety net against unregulated development. However, the region has been in the spotlight due to the construction of the Centre’s flagship Char Dham all-weather highway project, the report adds. Read the full report here.

Hindustan Times: Fadnavis shares update on elephant's return from Vantara

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday held discussions with officials of the Vantara project, an animal rescue and rehabilitation centre run by the Reliance Foundation in Gujarat’s Jamnagar, regarding the return of the elephant Mahadevi, Hindustan Times reports. A Vantara official assured Fadnavis of full cooperation with the Maharashtra government in the legal process, stating that the centre has no intention of keeping Mahadevi, a 36-year-old arthritic elephant, in its possession and is only caring for her in compliance with a Supreme Court order. Read the full report here.

Great Barrier Reef suffers worst coral decline on record, BBC reports

Parts of the Great Barrier Reef have suffered the largest annual decline in coral cover since records began nearly 40 years ago, BBC says according to a new report. Northern and southern branches of the sprawling Australian reef both suffered their most widespread coral bleaching, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) found. Reefs have been battered in recent months by tropical cyclones and outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish that feast on coral, but heat stress driven by climate change is the predominant reason, AIMS said. As per the report, AIMS warns the habitat may reach a tipping point where coral cannot recover fast enough between catastrophic events and faces a "volatile" future. Read the full report here.

PM Modi to visit China, his first since Galwan clash, NDTV reports

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China to attend the regional summit SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) in Tianjin city from August 31 to September 1, NDTV reports. This will be his first visit to China since the Galwan clash of 2020. He last visited China in 2019. The report adds that discussions with SCO member countries will cover regional security, terrorism, and trade. Efforts will be made to restore stability and dialogue in India-China relations. The report also says that there is a possibility of informal meetings with Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the summit. Read the full report here.

Japan’s Hiroshima marks 80 years since US atomic bombing, Al Jazeera

Thousands of people have gathered in Hiroshima to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the world’s first wartime use of a nuclear bomb – as survivors, officials and representatives from 120 countries and territories marked the milestone with renewed calls for disarmament. Al Jazeera special report says that the western Japanese city was flattened on August 6, 1945, when the United States dropped a uranium bomb, codenamed Little Boy. Roughly 78,000 people were killed instantly. Tens of thousands more would die by the end of the year due to burns and radiation exposure. The report says, at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park on Wednesday, where the bomb detonated almost directly overhead eight decades ago, delegates from a record number of international countries and regions attended the annual memorial. Read the full report here.