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March 27 round-up: Over-70s Covid booster; Plan to refloat Suez ship; Honda sells plant; Easter travel jams unlikely

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Time 6:58 am, March 27, 2021

  • Here are the headlines for Saturday, March 27

Covid booster shots for over-70s could begin in September

The over-70s could begin getting booster shots to protect them against new coronavirus variants in September under plans for the future of the vaccine rollout.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the first booster doses would go to the top four priority groups, including care home staff, NHS workers and the clinically extremely vulnerable.


He told the Telegraph that this would likely begin in September and was said to have added that the government is expecting up to eight different jabs to be available by the autumn, including one protecting against three different variants in a single dose.

Plan made to refloat ship blocking Suez Canal

The company that owns the giant container ship stuck across the Suez Canal said an attempt will be made to refloat the vessel by taking advantage of tidal movements.


The Ever Given, owned by Japanese firm Shoei Kisen KK, got wedged on Tuesday in a single-lane stretch of the canal, north of the southern entrance near the city of Suez.

Shoei Kisen president Yukito Higaki said 10 tugboats were deployed and workers were dredging the banks and seafloor near the vessel’s bow to try to get it afloat again as the high tide starts to go out.

Honda sells Swindon plant

Japanese car giant Honda has sold its plant in England to a logistics firm, which is planning a huge investment in the site.

Panattoni will take over the 370-acre site in Swindon, which is being closed down by the carmaker in July.

Honda said the closure, announced in 2019, was due to global changes in the car industry and the need to launch electric vehicles.

Record March temperatures predicted

The UK could break its record high March temperature next week following a ‘mixed’ weekend, forecasters have said.

Parts of the UK will be hotter than Saint Tropez and Ibiza as the mercury could rise to 24C in south-east England by Tuesday.


It would be only the second day in March that the temperature has reached this high in records going back to 1884.

No Easter travel rush expected

Millions of people remain cautious about socialising over Easter despite lockdown rules being relaxed, a new survey suggests.

A quarter of the 1,200 drivers polled for the RAC said they are not planning a leisure trip by car over the bank holiday weekend because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Motorists expect to make just 5.6 million trips by car to see friends and family between Good Friday and Easter Monday, the research indicates.

Liberty Steel asks government for £170m

Liberty Steel has asked the Government for £170m in financial support, it has emerged.

The company, which employs 5,000 UK workers, has told the Government support was needed to pay operating expenses and deal with recent losses.

Concerns over the future of the company have been expressed after financial backer, Greensill Capital, went bust.

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Biden invites Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping to climate talks

President Joe Biden is including rivals Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China among the people he has invited to the first big climate talks of his administration.

The US hopes this event will help shape, speed up and deepen global efforts to cut climate-wrecking fossil fuel pollution, administration officials said.

The president is seeking to revive a US-convened forum of the world’s major economies on climate that George W. Bush and Barack Obama both used and Donald Trump let languish.

EU expects plan for post-Brexit NI Protocol this week

The European Union is expecting the UK to set out a road map detailing how it plans to fully implement the post-Brexit agreement on Northern Ireland in the ‘coming days’.

Both sides said talks between officials on the Northern Ireland Protocol took place in a ‘constructive atmosphere’ on Friday after a period of high tensions.

The EU launched legal action, accusing the UK of again breaching international law, after London unilaterally extended the post-Brexit grace periods on trade in the region.

Dry start for most

Most of the UK will wake up to dry and bright weather this morning although there will be some lingering showers in the northwest and central areas, according to the BCC.

However, this afternoon the cloud will begin to build and Northern Ireland and Scotland will see blustery showers creep in.

Tonight this will continue to spread across northern England and Wales.

Rebecca Chaplin's avatar

Rebecca has been a motoring and business journalist since 2014, previously writing and presenting for titles such as the Press Association, Auto Express and Car Buyer. She has worked in many roles for Car Dealer Magazine’s publisher Blackball Media including head of editorial.



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