Middle East war:  Concerns grow over vital raw minerals 

We start in the Middle East where the shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz has exposed a new threat: a looming shortage of strategic minerals that drive economies all over the world - and a race by countries to obtain them. 

That’s according to the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which warned on Thursday that shortages of key minerals and related materials used to produce items from semiconductors to solar panels will become evident if the war grinds on. 

Here’s Dario Liguti, Director of UNECE’s Sustainable Energy Division, speaking to journalists in Geneva: 

“The impact of the Gulf War, it is not only is in the energy market. It's been impacting as well some sub-products coming from oil, and you mentioned sulphur correctly, but helium as well, and then naphtha, which are byproducts of the oil refining and are used in different processes.” 

The current crisis erupted in late February and prior to this, there were no shortages of these key minerals. For example, 30 per cent of the world's production of sulphur - which is used in metals processing - transited through the now-closed Strait of Hormuz chokepoint. 

But as the conflict goes on, the pressure to obtain these same raw materials has increased, resulting in higher prices on commodities markets and other impacts. 

UN mourns French peacekeeper wounded in weekend attack in Lebanon 

One of two French peacekeepers who were severely injured in an incident in South Lebanon on 18 April died at a hospital in Paris on Wednesday. 

Corporal Anicet Girardin, 31, was deployed with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). 

The “blue helmet” was part of an explosive ordnance disposal team that came under attack on Saturday while clearing a road in the village of Ghanduriyah in order to re-establish access to isolated UNIFIL positions.   

Corporal Girardin was the fifth UNIFIL peacekeeper to lose his life due to the current hostilities in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres again called on all combatants to uphold their obligations under international law and to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel. 

Millions of children vaccinated in Big Catch-Up campaign  

We end with some good news on the health front: 

More than 18 million young children across 36 countries in Africa and Asia are now protected against life-threatening illnesses such as measles and polio thanks to a historic multi-year vaccination initiative – the largest of its kind. 

The Big Catch-Up campaign, launched three years ago, has delivered more than 100 million doses of vaccines in efforts to address declining vaccination rates largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, alongside two UN agencies - the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF - announced the news at the start of World Immunisation Week, celebrated in the last week of April. 

The campaign reached an estimated 18.3 million children aged one to five between 2023 and 2025.  Of that number, roughly 12.3 million were so-called “zero-dose children”, meaning they had not yet received any vaccines. 15 million had never received a measles vaccine.  

The Big Catch-Up concluded last month and the partners say they are on track to meet the target of 21 million children. 

They warn, however, that many infants still miss out on lifesaving vaccines through routine immunisation. 

Dianne Penn, UN News.