NEWS “with comment”

AS ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT YEARS THE WORLD HAS EXPERIENCED DRAWS TO A CLOSE AND WE WELCOME THE NEW YEAR 2021 – A FEW THOUGHTS TO PONDER OVER:

First to see 2021:

The Pacific island of Tonga is first to ring in the New Year and celebrated at 10am GMT on December 31 – making the tiny island nation the first to head into a fresh year.

Last to see 2021:

The last place or places to ring in 2021 will be Baker Island and Howland Island (USA) the uninhabited islands will see the New Year at 12pm GMT on January 1.

Whereas the second to last ise American Samoa at 11am. Only 558 miles from Tonga, where they were celebrating a full 25 hours before.

It’s therefore possible to get a quick flight in between the two and countdown to 2021 twice.

Using GMT, the world will welcome 2021 at:

 December 31, 2020:

10am –                   Samoa and Christmas Island/Kiribati

10:15am –             New Zealand

1pm –                     Most of Australia

3pm –                     Japan, South Korea and North Korea

4pm –                     China, Philippines, Singapore

5pm –                     Thailand, Cambodia and large parts of Indonesia

6pm –                     Bangladesh

6.15pm –               Nepal

6.30pm –               India and Sri Lanka

7pm –                     Pakistan

8pm –                     Azerbaijan

8.30pm –               Iran

9pm –                     Turkey, Iraq, Kenya and most of Russia

10pm –                   Greece, Romania, South Africa, Hungary and other central and eastern European cities

11pm –                   Germany, France, Italy, Algeria, Belgium, Spain

Midnight –            UK, Ireland, Ghana, Iceland, Portugal

January 01, 2021:

2am –                     Regions of Brazil

3am –                     Argentina, regions of Brazil, Chile, Paraguay

4am –                     Some regions of Canada, Bolivia, Puerto Rico

5am –                     Eastern Standard Time in the US – New York, Washington, Detroit and Cuba

6am –                     Central Standard Time in the US – Chicago

7am –                     Mountain Standard Time in the US – Colorado, Arizona

8am –                     Pacific Standard Time  in the US – LA, Nevada

9am –                     Alaska

10am –                   Hawaii

11am –                   American Samoa

12pm –                   Baker Island, Howland Island

A Thought for a New Year:

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go. They merely determine where you start.” —Nido Qubein

 

To all WAPI Members, eGroup Subscribers and other Readers;

Wherever you are, whatever time your midnight tolls – WAPI wishes you a happy, positive and better New Year 2021

Posted by: Ian (D. Withers)

www.WAPI.org