A treaty to prevent such water-related diseases as cholera, dysentery and typhoid through the provision of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation in cross-boundary European river basins entered into force today, following its ratification by the required 16 countries, according to the United Nations health agency.

Swedish-born former United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld "embodied the very definition of a visionary," for he was deeply aware that development, security and human rights were not only ends in themselves, but that they reinforced each other, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today in a message marking the centenary of Mr. Hammarskjöld's birth.

Just months after publishing a report showing the Mediterranean as one of the regions where fish stocks are in greatest need of recovery, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today called on countries in the region to continue working together to strengthen fisheries management so as to rebuild stocks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has paid tribute to British epidemiologist Richard Doll, whose pioneering research established a link between tobacco use and major diseases that kill millions of people each year, particularly lung cancer and other smoking-related illnesses.