News Dabba for 13 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 Supreme Court on Bihar roll revision, Greece wildfire, to Gaza doctor describing ‘daily patterns’ in Israeli maiming at GHF sites.

SC to hear plea for restoring Jammu & Kashmir statehood on August 14: Hindustan Times

The Supreme Court would on Thursday hear a plea for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, Hindustan Times reports. A bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran is likely to hear the matter, according to the causelist. On December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the revocation of Article 370, even as it ordered that assembly elections be held in Jammu and Kashmir by September 2024 and its statehood be restored "at the earliest", the report mentions. Read the full report here.

SC says ECI now allowing 11 documents as identity proof, Indian Express

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) permitting to present 11 documents as proof of identity for the latest Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters list in Bihar, compared to only seven documents for the summary revision carried out in the state in 2003, showed that the process is “in fact voter-friendly.” Indian Express reports that a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said this while hearing petitions challenging the SIR process. The court said this as Senior Advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, contended that the process was exclusionary. Singhvi, however, continued to insist that it was, the report adds. Read the full report here.

Al Jazeera report: Gaza doctor describes ‘daily patterns’ in Israeli maiming at GHF sites

An American paediatrician who volunteered in the Gaza Strip says the injuries inflicted on Palestinian aid seekers at sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) suggest that Israeli forces there shot the men and boys deliberately, by targeting specific body parts on specific days, Al Jazeera reports. Ahmed Yousaf made the comments to Al Jazeera from the Jordanian capital, Amman, on Tuesday, hours after returning from Gaza, where he had spent two and a half weeks working at Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Deir el-Balah and al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The doctor said he witnessed “mass casualty incidents” from Israeli shootings at the distribution points run by the United States-backed GHF on an almost daily basis. Read the full report here.

Typhoon Podul blows through southern Taiwan, The Straits Times

Typhoon Podul blew through southern Taiwan on Wednesday, The Straits Times reports, packing winds of up to 191kmh and leaving one person missing, as a large swathe of the island shut down and hundreds of flights were cancelled. Taiwan is regularly hit by typhoons, generally along its mountainous east coast facing the Pacific, the report mentions. Podul slammed into the south-eastern city of Taitung around 1pm, passed through the southern tip of the island, and then passed into the Taiwan Strait some three hours later, said Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration. Read the full report here.

Greece battles wildfires as heatwave rages across southern Europe, BBC reports

Firefighters are battling several wildfires in Greece as a scorching heatwave wreaks havoc across southern Europe, BBC reports. In the past 24 hours alone, more than 152 new fires have broken out across Greece - and thousands of people have been evacuated. Around 4,850 firefighters are engaged in a multi-front battle to contain the flames. The report says, at least three people have died in Spain, Albania and Turkey, with dozens more, inlcuding firefighters, taken to hospiitals with smoke inhalation and burns. Read the full report here.