At least 11 people died in a boat accident off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera, said public media on Friday.

Nine women and two children were among those who lost their lives, said the AMNA news agency.

Ninety migrants who were rescued by the Greek Coast Guard will be transferred to the port of Piraeus, the agency added.

The agency said the migrants’ boat had sailed from the coast of Turkey and had hoped to reach Italy.

Greece is the main route into the European Union for asylum-seekers arriving via Turkey.

Turkey has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution in their countries.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​/aa

Turkey will provide its domestically developed coronavirus vaccine, Turkovac, to all of humanity, the nation’s president said late Friday.

“Turkey has become one of the nine countries that can produce a COVID-19 vaccine. We tested both the efficacy and safety of our vaccine and after making sure, we made it available to humanity,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told news channel A Haber.

“I know some of our citizens waited for our own product to get vaccinated,” said Erdogan as he urged those who are not vaccinated to make appointments to get the Turkovac shots.

Underlining that the Turkish vaccine has proven its protective effect in studies that have been carried out, Erdogan said Turkovac will be made available first to Turkish citizens and then Turkey will share it with countries that have difficulties obtaining them.

During last week’s Third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, Turkey received strong demand from the leaders of African nations, said Erdogan, adding that Ankara wants to meet all of those demands.

Since early in the vaccine's development, Erdogan vowed to make it available globally, saying it will be used to benefit all of humanity.

After months of development and tests, Turkey announced Wednesday that the homegrown vaccine was approved for emergency use.

"As of today, we have become one of nine countries producing a COVID-19 vaccine," said Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.

It will be in widespread use as of next week, he added.

Turkey has administered more than 128.07 million doses of coronavirus vaccines since it launched an immunization drive this January, according to official figures.  

Turkey’s relationship with Africa

Regarding a question concerning Turkey’s future relationship with African countries, Erdogan said when they came into power, Ankara had embassies in 12 African countries and that has grown to 49 embassies in Africa.

Expressing that African countries are in serious competition with Turkey in terms of opening embassies in Turkey at the moment, Erdogan said; “They currently have 39 embassies in Turkey.”

He said Turkey wants to increase the number of countries where it has an embassy. “We want to be all over Africa by opening embassies to almost all countries in Africa.”

Erdogan added that Turkey wants to walk with Africa on a win-win approach regarding above ground and underground treasures.

“The imperial powers exploited Africa for years,” he said, adding that on the other hand, Turkey’s presence in Africa is based on a win-win principle./aa

Russian President Vladimir Putin said insulting Prophet Muhammad is a violation of freedom of religion and a violation of the holy feelings of people who profess Islam.

This freedom should have in its basis respect for everyone whose feelings can be affected, Putin said at his annual news conference on Thursday.

"What are insults against the Prophet Muhammad? Is this creative freedom? I think not. This is a violation of freedom of religion and a violation of the holy feelings of people who profess Islam, and this brings to life other, even more, acute and extremist manifestations," he said.

The same respect must be shown to the memory of people who fought in World War II against Nazi Germany, and in this regard posting Nazi Germany's leader Adolf Hitler portraits on the website commemorating the contribution of the soldiers to the victory in this war is unacceptable, he stressed.

"Russia was formed as a multinational and multi-confessional state, and we are used to basically treat each other's interests and traditions with respect. This is indeed a very powerful base of existence, a solid basis for the existence of Russia as a multinational state," he said./aa

Recent steps by the Turkish Central Bank and Turkey's new economic model will lead to lower inflation, said the nation’s president on Friday.

Since the nation’s new economic plan was announced, bank deposits in Turkey using the local lira currency grew 23.8 billion Turkish liras ($2.2 billion) as of 15.00 Turkish local time (1200 GMT) on Friday, and the amount continues to grow, Recep Tayyip Erdogan told local broadcaster ATV.

These developments showed that all of Turkey’s citizens should trust in the lira, he added, speaking about a new measure announced Monday in which Turkey will compensate lira depositors for foreign currency fluctuations, while encouraging citizens to move to Turkish lira-based assets.

About the new FX-protected Turkish lira deposits, Erdogan said Turkish citizens have two guarantees, one from the Turkish Central Bank and the other from the Treasury.

Erdogan stressed that the new instrument was developed to ensure financial stability, and emphasized that it is not against the Constitution.

"Foreign exchange rates will stabilize in a very short period of time," he said, pointing to an end to recent fluctuations in the lira’s value.

Erdogan argued that the opposition party and its allies want to index the Turkish lira to the US dollar and the euro.

Since Erdogan announced new financial alternatives for Turkish lira savings accounts late Monday night, the Turkish lira recovered strongly.

The dollar’s value against the Turkish lira plummeted from 18.36 on Monday to as low as 10.23 on Thursday – a 44.3% decline, according to official data. It stood at 10.72 at 21.25 Turkish local time Friday (1825GMT).

Irrational price perceptions ended

Erdogan stressed that the Turkish lira’s strength comes from Turkey's economic infrastructure, production capacity, and its strong financial sector.

He underlined that the recent steps by the Central Bank and the new economic model have ended the irrational price perceptions and movements that aimed to disrupt the trust of depositors.

Legal action will be taken against those who make speculative remarks on exchange rates, and the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) has taken the necessary steps on that, he added.

"Our aim is to reduce the fluctuations in foreign exchange rates for investors, industrialists, and depositors, foster the value of the Turkish lira, and boost its reputation," he explained.

"The economic program will boost market confidence. It will provide stability in exchange rates, which is very important. We expect this to have a positive impact on the budget in the long-term, instead of being a burden," he added.

'We will never allow unjust price increases'

Due to the appreciation in the Turkish lira and depreciation in foreign exchange rates, Erdogan said high prices in Turkish domestic markets should be properly revised downwards.

"We will never allow unjust price increases, we will give no chance to profiteers. We are strictly firm on this," he said.

The president called for producers, suppliers, and retailers not to condescend to extremely high prices or to hoarders.

About a bill that aims to penalize hoarders, Erdogan said the bill, when signed into a law, will give severe punishment to those who unjustly hoard goods.

The president also noted that the government also intends to bring the unemployment rate down to single digits./aa

The World Health Organization on Friday warned that the omicron variant of coronavirus is spreading significantly faster than the delta variant.

Consistent evidence shows that omicron has a substantial growth advantage over the delta, the UN agency said in an update.

“It is spreading significantly faster than the delta variant in countries with documented community transmission,” the WHO said.

“Growth rate estimates in South Africa are now declining, driven largely by the declining rates in Gauteng province,” which includes Johannesburg, it added. “It remains uncertain to what extent the observed rapid growth rate since November 2021 can be attributed to immune evasion or intrinsic increased transmissibility, but is likely a combination of both.”

On Nov. 26, WHO designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern and named it omicron.

“Omicron is a highly divergent variant with a high number of mutations, including 26-32 mutations in the spike protein, some of which may be associated with humoral immune escape potential and higher transmissibility,” the WHO said.

As of Dec. 22, the omicron had been identified in 110 countries across all six WHO regions.

Hospitalization is only one aspect of severity

According to WHO, the data on the clinical severity of patients infected with omicron is growing but is still limited. “Early data from South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Denmark suggest a reduced risk of hospitalization for omicron compared to the delta.”

“However, the risk of hospitalization is only one aspect of severity, which may be altered by admission practices,” it added. “More data across different countries are needed to understand how clinical markers of severity – such as the use of oxygen, mechanical ventilation, and deaths – are associated with omicron.”

At present, "it is still unclear to what extent the observed reduction in risk of hospitalization can be attributed to immunity from previous infections or vaccination and to what extent omicron may be less virulent,” it added.

The WHO said that according to preliminary data from several non-peer-reviewed studies, there is a reduction in neutralizing titers against omicron in individuals who have received a primary vaccination series or in those who have had prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.

“In addition, the increased risk of reinfection reported in the United Kingdom, as well as a growing trend of reinfection cases in Denmark and Israel, can be potentially attributed to immune evasion against omicron,” it added.

To date, there are still limited available data, and no peer-reviewed evidence, on vaccine efficacy against omicron, it said./aa