The year 2000 arrives in Kiribati

The first place on Earth to reach the year 2000 was Caroline Island in Kiribati, which had moved itself across the date line five years earlier partly in order to be first.

Kiribati straddled the line and had been living in two days at once, which is inconvenient for a government. Redrawing it in 1995 put the whole country on the same date and gave the eastern islands the earliest clocks in the world, UTC plus fourteen hours.