Samoa to skip a day

The country of Samoa isn't bothering with Friday this week. They will go to bed on Thursday night and wake up on Saturday morning.

At the moment, Samoa is the last country in the world to see the sunset. But this switch will make it the first to see day.

The reason? Currently Samoa is 10 hours behind London, five hours behind New York and almost a day behind Australia and New Zealand their closest trading partners. Samoa's government believes it makes good financial sense to be closer to them on the clock.

The move will put Samoa three hours ahead of Sydney rather than 21 hours behind. Originally the timezone was agreed back in 1892, to work in line with American traders based in California. The international date line has to shift to accomodate the country's plan.

Samoan prime minister Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi sais to the Samoa Observer: "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 on Sunday they're already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane."

Images: Rex/Wikipedia Commons