Walmart has revamped its training program to address the growing shortage of skilled tradespeople, enabling employees like Liz Cardenas to significantly increase their pay and responsibilities, which highlights the broader industry challenge of labor shortages in trades due to retirements and immigration issues. The initiative aims to attract more workers into technical roles, crucial for maintaining operations and reducing costly downtimes, with plans to train 4,000 workers by 2030.
Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, a South African pharmaceutical firm, is making progress in its efforts to develop mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and other diseases, with the goal of expanding global access to vaccines. The company has successfully reverse-engineered the process of making mRNA vaccines and has demonstrated that its version is comparable to Moderna's. Afrigen is also training scientists from 15 countries on mRNA vaccine production and has plans to share its knowledge and expertise. However, the company has faced delays due to the emergence of new variants and is now working on validating its current vaccine in primates and developing a new mRNA vaccine tailored to the more recent strains.
Ukraine and 11 other nations, including Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, have signed a memorandum to train Ukrainian pilots, maintainers, and support staff to operate F-16 Viper fighters. The training program will start in August in Denmark, with a training center to be established in Romania. Ukrainian officials have expressed interest in including other types of fighter aircraft in the program. The first Ukrainian pilots are expected to qualify on F-16s next year, but there are no concrete plans yet for the acquisition of the Vipers.
The Biden administration has agreed to support an international coalition to train Ukrainian pilots on Western fighters, paving the way for modern jets to one day be transferred to the front line. The decision on jets is the latest move in what has become a familiar pattern of incremental military aid to Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was a key driver in convincing Biden to relent on the F-16s, a U.S. official familiar with the issue said. The administration's incremental approach is part of a calculated strategy to get Ukraine the capability it needs quickly on the battlefield, and to prevent escalation.
