There are 484 centenarians in Belarus, BelTA learned from Tatyana Maksimova, the spokeswoman for the Labor and Social Security Ministry. Women considerably prevail among Belarusian long-livers. 426 women and 58 men have turned 100. Thus, women are 7 times as many as men among long-livers in the country. As of 1 April, there were seven people over 110 in Belarus. Two of them living in Grodno and Minsk Oblasts were born at the dawn of the last century and can be called super...

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko supported the proposal to hold the election to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly on 11 September, Lidia Yermoshina told media after the meeting with the head of state. "Today we discussed the optimal date for the election. The President agreed that it will be 11 September. The election campaign shall commence no later than 10 June. However, the head of state agreed that the decree announcing the date of the election should be...

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko signed decree No. 137 "Concerning the improvement of the pension system" on 11 April, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian leader. The document aims to improve the pension system in the changing social and demographic conditions. In accordance with the decree, starting from 1 January 2017 the standard pension age will be gradually increased by six months every year until it reaches 63 years for men and 58 years for women; there...

The House of Representatives approved the government action plan for 2016-2020, BelTA has learned. The document was presented by Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov. It specifies approaches, measures and mechanisms that will be used to develop Belarus' economy and ensure the economic growth rate which will be higher than the average global level by the end of the five-year period. The government action plan is included in the package of program documents for 2016-2020. It correlates to the...

The Volgodonsk-based branch Atommash of the Russian company AEM Technologies (part of Atomenergomash, which is the mechanical engineering division of the Russian state corporation Rosatom) has successfully completed the hydraulic testing of the lid of the first VVER-1200 reactor of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, the Atomenergomash press service told BelTA. The hydraulic tests were carried out using a dedicated stand. The reactor lid was placed on the stand the way the lid will be...

Belarus will not suffer from a shortage of potable water in foreseeable future, said Olga Vasneva, the head of the hydrogeology and groundwater monitoring department at the national geology research center, at a press conference to mark the upcoming International World Water Day, BelTA has learned. "Belarus has great amounts of drinking water. We will not suffer from a deficit, as rains replenish our water stocks," Olga Vasneva noted. She said that Belarus has a large database on...