Friday, December 30, 2011has been cut for the tiny South Pacific island nation, Samoa as it moved its time zone 24 hours ahead to catch up with Asia, New Zealand and Australia.On New Year's Eve, Samoa will Slave jumped to the west of the international dateline, which runs through the Pacific Ocean and broadly follows the 180 degree line of longitude  . Its Prime Minister said it would make it easier for Samoa to trade with their key partners."No longer shall we have people ringing us up on Monday from New Zealand and Australia thinking it is Monday when we are closing our eyes and praying at churches.And in the same way, on our Fridays when we ring up and already our contacts are holidaying on their Saturdays," he told Radio New Zealand on Friday. To help win public support, the government declared employers must still pay workers for the missing Friday, although banks will not be allowed to charge interest for the lost day. Countries are free to choose whether the dateline passes to the east or west, and Samoa's decision means all new maps will need to change.But some tourism operators are worried Samoa will lose business by losing its position as the last place on earth to see the sunset each day, although it is now one of the first places to see in each new day. Samoa, a country of about 180,000 people, used to be in the same time zone as New Zealand and Australia, but went back a day in 1892, celebrating July 4 twice and  _ itself with the United States.The date change is not the first major change in Samoa in recent years.In 2009, the country switched to driving on the left hand side of the road from the right hand side, in line with New Zealand and Australia. What's the text mainly about?
The change of international dateline. The first nation to greet New Year. A new neighbor of Australia. A new date change in Samoa.