While broad progress had been made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, the statistics hid “massive” disparities within countries and regions, which underlined the urgent need to remove the barriers impeding key interventions, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today at a Headquarters press conference.

The Secretary-General today shared his choices for the following three Under-Secretaries-General positions: Special Adviser on Africa, Maged Abdelaziz of Egypt; High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane; and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Sven Alkalaj.

Millions of poor women around the world who could never get a loan or other forms of financing to build more secure, prosperous lives would soon have access to credit, thanks to a microfinance initiative launched today at Headquarters to coincide with International Women’s Day.

The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, upon leaving Syria, asked the Syrian Government to consider, with the utmost urgency, a proposal submitted to it to allow unhindered access to evacuate the wounded and deliver desperately needed supplies.

The head of the United Nations Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees today praised Brazil and India for recently increasing their financial aid to the Agency’s operations and called on other emerging economic powerhouses to follow suit. “We hope that other countries will step up to the plate and share the burden of this effort, which is important for the stability of the region and beyond, and more than anything else for the almost 5 million people that deserve attention,” said Filippo Grandi.

The United Nations stepped up its efforts to combat conflict-related sexual violence today, as the Department of Political Affairs unveiled new guidelines to help mediators confront that widespread scourge by placing the issue high on the agenda early on when brokering peace agreements and ceasefires, three top United Nations officials said today at a Headquarters press conference.

This morning at the Security Council meeting on changes in the Middle East, the Secretary-General noted that people across the region — women and youth in the vanguard — continue to call for freedom, human rights, dignity, opportunity, accountable Government and an end to corruption.

The United Nations humanitarian aid chief today expressed extreme alarm over the destruction she witnessed in Syria last week and called on the Syrian Government to allow aid agencies to deliver desperately needed relief supplies to civilians in the worst-hit parts of the strife-torn Arab country.

The United Nations-League of Arab States Joint Special Envoy, Kofi Annan, told media in Ankara this morning that he was expecting to hear from the Syrian authorities today about the concrete proposals he had left with them to consider. He reiterated his main message: the killing and the violence must stop.

Protecting against double taxation on cross-border income, helping developing countries to encourage foreign investment, and combating the “scourges” of tax avoidance and tax evasion were the main priorities of the newest United Nations economic guidance document, said top officials at a Headquarters press conference today.