More than 10,000 children will occupy desks in the first grades. "At the same time, we expect that their number for the first time in recent years will exceed last year's level," noted Ivan Shchurok, adding that these exact figures will be known after September 5.

The Vitebsk Regional Committee and Inspectorates of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection urge not to burn dry vegetation and not to allow agricultural fires, as fire is a source of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, and warns that responsibility for violating fire safety legislation is provided for in a number of articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

Savings in the number of employees, the introduction of the latest equipment and advanced technologies allow for the production of competitive products, and therefore, to be a long-liver in the industry, believes Viktor Amelchenko, director of OAO 'Mona' (Polotsk).

According to Yuri Pivovarchik, the issue of preserving cattle and pig populations is currently acute for all regions of Belarus. "Each country has its own regional characteristics of diseases in these animals, so it is better to have our own breeding stock and protect it," he emphasized, noting that there are some positive developments in this matter. At the same time, the Vitebsk region, along with the Brest region, has the highest percentage of livestock mortality. And while the latter region has begun to sharply improve this work, this is not observed in the Vitebsk region.

Latgale and Vitebsk region are implementing the international technical assistance project "Support for Home-Based Self-Employment" of the cross-border cooperation program "Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus" this year.

Vitebsk is home to one of the ten river ports in Belarus.

On February 12, as part of the Peter Masherov Memorial Week, a photo-documentary exhibition opened at the Vitebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs of Nepal, the death toll from the devastating earthquake that occurred in Nepal on April 25, 2015, reached 7,240 people, with 14,398 injured. According to the UN, the natural disaster affected 8 million people out of Nepal's 28 million population in one way or another. In this regard, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched an appeal for assistance to Nepal.

In Vitebsk, on August 28, a city procession took place in honor of the great Orthodox holiday – the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos.

On December 7, 2013, a "direct line" with the Head of the Land Management Service of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Igor Ivanovich Levenkov, will be held.

As festive fireworks displays and celebrations marking the anniversary of the liberation of our region from the Nazi invaders echoed across the country on July 3, around 40 babies announced their arrival into the world with their first cries in the region's maternity hospitals, 14 of whom were born in Vitebsk.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has agreed to the appointment of new heads of the State Control Committee for the Mogilev and Vitebsk regions. This was reported by the press service of the head of the Belarusian state.

In 2014, 17 new departments were opened at the territorial centers for social services of the population of the Vitebsk region, which is almost twice as many as in the previous year (9 such departments in 2013). This was reported by Vera Astapenko, head of the department for social support of the population and stationary institutions of the Committee for Labor, Employment and Social Protection of the Regional Executive Committee.

The traditional international beach soccer tournament "Friendship Cup" will be held on July 24-26 in Vitebsk with the participation of national teams from four countries. For the first time this year, the competition will take place under the auspices of FIFA as part of the official events of the international football federation.