Samoa To Jump Forward In Time By One Day

The South Pacific island nation of Samoa, is planning on switching to the west side of the International Date Line. It is hoping to boost it's economy with it's two biggest trading partners, Australia and New Zealand. At the moment, being on the east side of the line, it is 21 hours behind Sydney. The switch on December 29th, will put it to 3 hours ahead, thereby making it easier to trade. Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said: "In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we're losing out on two working days a week."

"While it's Friday here, it's Saturday in New Zealand and when we're at church Sunday, they're already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane."

Samoa is located approximately halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii and has a population of 180,000 people.