Which South Pacific nation that used to market itself as the last place to see the sun set adjusted its clocks and jumped forward by one day in 2011 (omitting Dec 30) and has now become the first country to greet the new day?
"now drive on the left side of the road like in most other Commonwealth countries. This brought Samoa into line with many other countries in the region. Samoa thus became the first country in the 21st century to switch to driving on the left. At the end of December 2011, Samoa jumped forward by one day, omitting 30 December from the local calendar, when the nation moved to the west of the International Date Line. This change aimed to help the nation boost its economy in doing business with Australia and New Zealand. Before this change, Samoa was 21 hours"
"Samoa is among the first places on earth to see each new day, along with Tonga, Tokelau (during Standard Time) and parts of Kiribati. The IANA time zone database in the file zone.tab contains one zone for Samoa, named ""Pacific/Asia"". Until the end of 2011, Samoa fell east of the International Date Line, observing ( during daylight saving time). This was in line with neighboring American Samoa, which continues to observe UTC−11:00 (Samoa Time Zone) year-round. At the end of Thursday, 29 December 2011, Samoa continued directly to Saturday, 31 December 2011, skipping the entire calendar day of Friday 30"
"the sign became lit. Hawaiian celebrations were centered in Honolulu. The party was headed by then-governor Benjamin Cayetano and his family. Samoa, the last independent nation to celebrate the new millennium, remains unchallenged in its claim as the last place on Earth to celebrate the closing of the century. This time zone remained until 29 December 2011 when it would be shifted to UTC+13. Millennium celebrations The millennium celebrations were a worldwide, coordinated series of events celebrating the start of the year 2000. These celebrations were generally characterised as marking the turn of the millennium, though it can also be"
"in April 2010 not to change its clocks back and to stay on UTC−3 all year round. The most recent history of Argentina observing DST dates from 2007 to 2009. After a period of not observing DST, Argentina observed DST in some provinces in an attempt to save energy. For each period, the executive branch of the government set the specific start and end dates for DST, i.e. there was no fixed annual schedule. In 2011, Bolivia planned to observe DST starting September 1 for the first time in its history, advancing the clock an hour on a nationwide basis"
"century. The Samoan Islands, now divided into Samoa and American Samoa, were on the west side of the IDL until 1892. In that year, King Malietoa Laupepa was persuaded by American traders to adopt the American date (three hours behind California) to replace the former Asian date (four hours ahead of Japan). The change was made by repeating , American Independence Day. In 2011, Samoa shifted back to the west side of the IDL by removing Friday, from its calendar. This changed the timezone from to . Samoa made the change because Australia and New Zealand have become its biggest"
"themselves put. Daylight saving time in Bolivia Since 2011, Bolivia was going to apply the time change from September 1 for the first time in its history, advancing the clock 60 minutes throughout the national territory, in order to offset their energy problems. The schedule change would take place every year between September and March, corresponding to the spring and summer of the South American country. However, the August 31, 2011 (eve of the failed schedule change), the national government of that country indefinitely suspended the summer time, due to opposition from experts in electricity, neighborhood and school leaders and"
"portions of the Republic of Kiribati, including Millennium Island in the Line Islands, as well as Samoa during the southern summer. The first major cities to experience a new day are Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand (; with daylight saving time). A 1995 realignment of the IDL made Caroline Island one of the first points of land on Earth to reach January 1, 2000 on the calendar (UTC+14). As a result, this atoll was renamed Millennium Island. The areas that are the first to see the daylight of a new day vary by the season. Around the June solstice, the"
"other Caribbean nations. The Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten do not observe Daylight Saving Time. The French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin do not observe Daylight Saving Time. Haiti had reestablished Daylight Saving Time again in 2012, following the US/Canada DST Rules, starting on second Sunday in March and ending on first Sunday in November. This was then discontinued in 2016,but was re-introduced in 2017. Jamaica previously used Daylight Saving Time, utilising the US and Canadian rules. The practise was used from 1974 before being discontinued in 1983. Trinidad"
"simultaneously. The revision of Kiribati's time zone meant that the date line in effect moved eastwards to go around this country, so that the Line Islands, including the inhabited Kiritimati island, started the year 2000 on its territory before any other country on Earth, a feature the Kiribati government capitalized on as a potential tourist draw. Tonga—IANA time zone database zone name Pacific/Tongatapu—used UTC+14 for daylight saving time from 1999 to 2002 & 2016 to 2017, and therefore celebrated new year 2000 at the same time as the Line Islands in Kiribati. At the end of (), Samoa advanced its"
"Year, just west of the International Date Line, is located in the Line Islands, a part of the nation of Kiribati, and has a time zone 14 hours ahead of UTC. All other time zones are 1 to 25 hours behind, most in the previous day (December 31); on American Samoa and Midway, it is still 11 PM on December 30. These are among the last inhabited places to observe New Year. However, uninhabited outlying U.S. territories Howland Island and Baker Island are designated as lying within the time zone 12 hours behind UTC, the last places on earth to"
"promise of Kiribati President Teburoro Tito to eliminate the confusion of Kiribati straddling the Date Line and therefore being constantly in two different days. However, Kiribati officials were not reluctant to attempt to capitalize on the nation's new status as owners of the first land to see sunrise in 2000. Other Pacific nations, including Tonga and New Zealand's Chatham Islands, protested the move, objecting that it infringed on their claims to be the first land to see dawn in the year 2000. In 1999, in order to further capitalize upon the massive public interest in celebrations marking the arrival of"
"Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. Cambodians also use Buddhist Era to count the year based on the Buddhist calendar. For 2018, it will be 2562 BE (Buddhist Era). , derived from Sanskrit , is the name of the first day of the new year celebration. It is the end of the year and the beginning of a new one. People dress up and light candles and burn incense sticks at shrines, where the members of each family pay homage to offer thanks for the Buddha's teachings by bowing, kneeling and prostrating themselves three times in front of his"
"New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve (also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries), the last day of the year, is on 31 December which is the seventh day of Christmastide. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings, where many people dance, eat, drink alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the new year. Some Christians attend a watchnight service. The celebrations generally go on past midnight into New Year's Day, 1 January. Samoa, Tonga and Kiritimati (Christmas Island), part of Kiribati, are the"
"December 2011 and effectively re-drawing the International Date Line. Prime minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi stated that the change was intended to improve business with New Zealand, Australia, China and other places in Asia. Time in Samoa Samoa uses as standard time and as daylight saving time, which it observes during summer in the Southern Hemisphere. In 2011, daylight saving time ended on Saturday 2 April 2011, 04:00 local daylight time and started on Sunday 24 September 2011, 03:00 local standard time. Due to its location in the South Pacific Ocean, Samoa traditionally did not observe daylight saving time. Initially planned"
"the first to enter the new millennium. Variously, the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji and Kiribati all laid debatable claims to the status – by moving the dateline itself, institution of daylight savings and claiming ""first territory"", ""first land"", ""first ""inhabited"" land"" or ""first city"". The US Navy submarine ""Topeka"" positioned itself 400m (1312.34ft) underwater, straddling both the International date line and the equator. At Caroline Island, renamed as ""Millennium Island"" in the mid-Pacific, the republic of Kiribati claimed the first land to see the new millennium. On the Chatham Islands () there was a Maori blessing. ""As they"
"The United States territory of Puerto Rico adopted DST through legislation passed in 2000 but, after a change in governors, dropped it in 2001, three days before it would have gone into effect. Since 2007, in areas of Canada and United States in which it is used, daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November. In Mexico, Congress has consistently been refusing to adopt this schedule on a nationwide basis for nearly a decade. Therefore, only certain border cities in Mexican states that observe DST follow the same pattern as"
"not included in the relative ranking in this edition. The 2012 rankings were: In 2013, the Index added four new Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Panama) and new indicators for financial inclusion, LGBT rights and women’s rights. It also disaggregated many of the previous indicators by gender and race. In this edition, Uruguay was the only country to increase its score and surpassed Chile to be ranked first in social inclusion. In total, nine countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Peru) moved down in the Index. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama"
"Daylight saving time in Bolivia Since 2011, Bolivia was going to apply the time change from September 1 for the first time in its history, advancing the clock 60 minutes throughout the national territory, in order to offset their energy problems. The schedule change would take place every year between September and March, corresponding to the spring and summer of the South American country. However, the August 31, 2011 (eve of the failed schedule change), the national government of that country indefinitely suspended the summer time, due to opposition from experts in electricity, neighborhood and school leaders and the people"
"of the year other than the Southern Hemisphere summer, as both Fiji and Tonga are to the east. In summer, however, because of the tilt of the Earth's axis, it does receive the sun's rays earlier than these places. It does not receive them earlier than the Chatham Islands (or, of course, Antarctica), however. This did not stop the mountain gaining world prominence in the celebrations for the new Millennium, however. According to the Department of Conservation, the mountain is ""recognised and accepted as the first point on the mainland to greet the morning sun"". The traditional greeting of South"
"electricity. The experiment failed to deliver the intended results, possibly due to Colombia's low latitude, and the DST experiment was discontinued. President Sixto Durán Ballén imposed daylight saving time in 1992 in an energy-saving effort. It was poorly received by the populace and did not last long. DST (UTC−3) is generally observed from the first Sunday of September to the third Sunday of April. However, the Falklands remained on DST throughout 2011 and 2012. Paraguay observes DST under decree 1867 of March 5, 2004. DST ends on the second Sunday of March and starts on the third Sunday of October."
"Islands (28 November 2009), Brazil (7 June 2010), Guyana (1 August 2010), Trinidad and Tobago (December 2010), Chile (18 January 2011), Turkey (April 2011), Saint Lucia (27 September 2011), Uruguay (27 December 2011), Guam (15 January 2012), Georgia (until December 2000, visa-free for residents of Caucasian Regions from October 2010, resumed for all citizens on 29 February 2012), Macau (30 September 2012), Mauritius (November 2012), Jamaica (11 March 2013), Saint Kitts and Nevis (28 May 2013), South Korea (1 January 2014), Costa Rica (until 1 February 2008, resumed from 12 April 2014), Panama (14 April 2014), Paraguay (20 October 2014),"
"United States conventions on DST because it is a US air base, meaning it is part of the Atlantic Time Zone. Bermuda has observed DST annually since 1974. The Commonwealth of The Bahamas observes DST according to the American schedule. Although not part of the Caribbean geographically, it is often included in the Caribbean in regional interactions and shares much of its culture with its southern neighbours. Barbados in the western Atlantic no longer observes Daylight Saving Time, like many Caribbean nations. The last observance of a daylight savings related time clock adjustment was between Sunday, 20 April 1980 at"
"the remaining time zones to calculate start time in their own areas. The Bahamas officially observe both Eastern Standard Time during the winter months and Eastern Daylight Time during the summer months. Cuba generally follows the U.S. with Eastern Standard Time in the winter, and Eastern Daylight Time in the summer, but the exact day of change varies year to year. Cayman Islands,Barbados, Haiti, and Jamaica use Eastern Standard Time year-round. The Turks and Caicos Islands used to follow eastern time with daylight saving but switched in 2015 to the Atlantic Time Zone. The Central American countries from Guatemala to"
"nation's new status as owners of the first land to see sunrise in 2000. Other Pacific nations, including Tonga and New Zealand's Chatham Islands, protested the move, objecting that it infringed on their claims to be the first land to see dawn in the year 2000. In 1999, in order to further capitalize upon the massive public interest in celebrations marking the arrival of the year 2000, Caroline Island was officially renamed Millennium Island. Although uninhabited, the island hosted a special celebration featuring performances by Kiribati native entertainers and attended by Kiribati president Tito. Over 70 Kiribati singers and dancers"
"In 2007, DST started on October 15, 2006 and ended on March 11, 2007. In 2010, Paraguay changed its own DST rules because of the energy crisis, ending DST on the second Sunday in April, a month later than previous years. The start date remains unchanged. Since 2004, Uruguay has observed DST. Starting in 2006, DST begins on the first Sunday in October and ends on the second Sunday in March of every year. On 30 June 2015, Uruguay abolished DST. Daylight saving time in the Americas Daylight saving time in the Americas is the arrangement in the Americas by"
"and Tobago remains on Atlantic Standard Time and does not observe DST. Turks and Caicos discontinued Daylight Saving Time in March 2015, at the same time moving from Eastern Time to Atlantic Time. The end result being the same as having year-round Daylight Saving in the Eastern Time Zone. Guatemala has used DST during energy crises. The last time it used DST was on April 30, 2006, ending on October 1, 2006. However DST was not observed in 2007-09. Honduras adopted DST from May 1994 until September 1994 but then abandoned it. On May 7, 2006 it again used DST;"
"has Daylight Saving time in effect during late December, but Russia does not (see time in New Zealand and time in Russia). This became moot in 1995, however, when the International Date Line was moved to the east of Kiribati and that country's easternmost time zone (GMT+14) is now the world's earliest. The Soviet government relocated the indigenous population of Big Diomede Island to mainland Russia, and the island is now inhabited only by military units. Little Diomede has an Inupiat Inuit population of 170, entirely in the village site on the west side of the island, though the island"
"synchronized with its observance in the United States to facilitate consistent economic and social interaction. When the United States extended DST in 1987 to the first Sunday in April, all DST-observing Canadian jurisdictions followed suit to mimic the change. The latest United States change (Energy Policy Act of 2005), adding parts of March and November starting in 2007, was adopted by the various provinces and territories on the following dates: Most of British Columbia (BC) is on Pacific Time and observes DST. However, there are two main exceptions: While the rest of Nunavut observes DST, Southampton Island including Coral Harbour"
"(above). The bill was discarded by congress on June 29, 2016. The state of Baja California (not Baja California Sur) has observed daylight saving time from several decades ago and until 1996 was the only Mexican state to observe it. The state of Sonora has not observed DST since 1998 because of the non-observance of DST by its neighbor Arizona and its important economic ties with that US state. The Marías Islands and the Revillagigedo Archipelago do not observe DST. The westernmost island of the Revillagigedo Archipelago, Clarion Island, uses UTC−8 (PST) all the time. The state of Quintana Roo"
"town, Queenstown is also a major new year party venue, with music and fireworks. Since changing the time zone from UTC-11 to UTC+13 in winter and UTC+14 in summer (including new year), Samoa is the first country to receive the New Year as a whole, sharing it with some parts of Kiribati. Music associated with New Year's Eve comes in both classical and popular genres, and there is also Christmas song focus on the arrival of a new year during the Christmas and holiday season. New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve (also known as Old Year's"
"should cover only the states of Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Nayarit; while the ""Hora del Centro"" (90° W) was used for the rest of the country. The time zone ""Hora del Sureste"" (75° W) was created for tourist reasons in 1981, originally covering the states of Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo. The three states returned one year later to the ""Hora del Centro"" (90° W); Quintana Roo, however, returned to the ""Hora del Sureste"" (75° W) from October 1997 to August 1998 and then again in February 2015. First observation of DST was in 1931, but only for"
". Effective Wednesday, , the Philippines, Guam, Mariana Islands and Caroline Islands switched back to Asian date. Western publications were generally unaware of this change until the early 1890s, so erroneously gave the International Date Line a large western bulge for the next half century. The Russian Empire settled northwest North America from Siberia, from the west with its own Julian calendar (it did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1918). The United States purchased Russian America while based in the contiguous United States, from the east with its own Gregorian calendar (adopted in 1752 while several British colonies). The"
"traveled to Caroline from the capital Tarawa, accompanied by approximately 25 journalists. The celebration, broadcast by satellite worldwide, had an estimated audience of up to one billion viewers. Despite many media and government claims to the contrary, Caroline Island was not the first point of land to see sunrise on January 1, 2000 (local time); that distinction belongs to a point of land between Dibble Glacier and Victor Bay on the coast of East Antarctica, at , where the sun rose 35 minutes earlier. As this point is close to the Antarctic Circle, and the area beyond the Antarctic Circle"