TARAWA -- Parts of the island nation of Kiribati, located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean, were the first country in the world to welcome the new year on Saturday.Several thousands of people on Kiritimati, which is better known as Christmas Island and has a population of just over 5,000, were the first to ring in the new year. Other parts of Kiribati's Line Islands also welcomed the new year, but have no official population.
Kiribati is in the world's farthest forward timezone, which is 14 hours ahead of UTC, and puts them at the same time as Hawaii although the date is one day ahead.
About 15 minutes after Kiritimati and the rest of the Line Islands, at 10.15 a.m. GMT/UTC, the Chatham Islands of New Zealand were the second location on Earth to welcome 2011. Around 600 people live there.
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