Christmas Island preparing for New Year

December 30, 2006



Christmas Island, also known as Kiritimati, is preparing for the new year while only hours are left. The island, which is home to about 5,100 people, is the first country in the world to welcome the new year.

Christmas Island will kick off the new year at UTC+14 (05 am ET). Just 15 minutes later, clocks on Chatham island of New Zealand will hit midnight.

Later, at UTC+13 (06 am ET), mainland New Zealand; Tonga; McMurdo, Antarctica and several other small stations on the South Pole, will celebrate the new year.

American Samoa is the last country to enter 2007. That will happen at UTC-11 (6 am ET, Monday morning).