New Year's Day

Writing on her website, federicamogherini.net, the EU official singled out "12 special moments marking 2017 that she brings with her into the new year."

The third on the list - after "Relaunching our Union, starting with defense," and, "At work with Africa for migrants" - is "The Balkans' path towards our Union."

"It was not an easy year in the Balkans," Mogherini writes.

The Vienna Philharmonic did its best to give a troubled world a soothing start to 2018 on Jan. 1 with its traditional New Year's Concert, broadcast live in over 90 countries.

500 people have been treated in the hospital for the last 24 hours. This was said by the Executive Director of the University Hospital "N. I. Pirogov" Prof. Assen Baltov during a briefing in the hospital, a FOCUS News Agency reporter informs.

2018 has been welcomed with outdoor concerts and fireworks in several Serbian towns.

According to police, 40,000 people gathered in Belgrade's Nikole Pasica Square, to ring in the new year without any major incidents.

The celebrations were peaceful elsewhere in the country as well.

Turkish citizens have woken up in the New Year to face a series of price hikes across various fields, from electricity to bridge and highway tolls.

The New Year’s Eve was celebrated across Turkey amid tight security measures, with several roads closed to vehicle traffic and bans on celebrations in popular districts.

Conservative New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis indicated in his New Year's message that 2017 was a tough year for Greeks and that the leftist-led government had done little to improve life for austerity-weary citizens.

The Boston Celtics rang in a new year on Dec. 31 with a 108-105 victory over the Brooklyn Nets that recalled glorious years gone by.

However, he revealed in an interview for the daily Vecernje Novosti, he gets along best with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

"I'm not saying it for political reasons or because of Russophilia, but because our meetings are always pleasant, we socialize nicely," Dacic said.

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has vowed to reduce terrorism in 2018 in his first public address of the new year.