Morning bird: Ukraine faced the largest drone attack at night so far. The Czech Republic has insufficient anti-alcohol treatment capacities

Hundreds of drones attacked Ukraine at night

Russia launched almost 500 unmanned aircraft on Ukraine, which was the largest night bombing during the three-year war, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on Monday. The Kremlin continues its summer offensive amid direct peace talks that have so far failed to make progress in stopping the fighting. Despite difficulties in achieving a ceasefire, Russia and Ukraine exchanged another batch of war prisoners on Monday.

In addition to 479 drones, 20 rockets of various types were fired at different parts of Ukraine from Sunday to Monday, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, which said the shelling was mainly aimed at central and western areas. The Ukrainian air defense intercepted and destroyed 277 drones and 19 rockets, claiming that only 10 drones or rockets hit their targets. Officials reported that one person was injured. It was not possible to independently verify these claims, reported the agency AP.

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There is a shortage of places for anti-alcohol treatment in the Czech Republic

About 30,000 people in the Czech Republic struggle with mental illnesses caused by alcohol consumption. Most of them deal with these problems on an outpatient basis, and 4,000 patients with this diagnosis are hospitalized long-term.

"There is a desperate lack of shorter forms of institutional treatment and capacity for detoxification. As for the most severe groups of patients, they go through more or less the same system, which, in terms of bed capacity, has hardly changed in the last 20 years. The biggest shortfall remains in the small capacity of outpatient facilities, especially highly specialized clinics, corresponding to the concept of psychiatric clinics with extended care,"

Michal Miovský, the head of the Clinic of Addictology of the First Faculty of Medicine at Charles University, commented on the problem for ČTK.

China wants epidural anesthesia in all hospitals, population decline troubles communist government

China announced that by the end of this year all higher-level hospitals must provide epidural anesthesia at childbirth, which according to it, will contribute to a "favorable environment for mothers." Tertiary level hospitals, which have more than 500 beds, must provide epidural anesthesia services by 2025, while secondary level hospitals with smaller capacity must provide these services by 2027.

Authorities are trying to increase the birth rate in the second largest economy in the world after the population of China fell for the third year in a row in 2024, and experts warn that this decrease will worsen in the coming years. Approximately 30% of pregnant women in China receive anesthesia to alleviate pain during childbirth, while in some developed countries it is more than 70%, reported CNN.

Brits won't cancel heating subsidies for pensioners

The British government on Monday scrapped its unpopular plan to end winter heating subsidies for millions of pensioners. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hinted at a turnaround last month amid loud public protests and some members of his Labour Party, who found the relatively modest savings of 1.5 billion pounds (about 45 billion CZK) too politically expensive.

Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, who canceled the heating payment for all pensioners except the poorest upon the Labour's rise to power last summer, said this benefit will be restored for 9 million people, that is, three quarters of pensioners in England and Wales, whose incomes are less than 35,000 pounds (over one million CZK). Reeves said that this step was necessary last year because the previous conservative government left public finances in a sorry state, reports the agency AP.

Sources: ČTK, AP, CNN