Miles and miles from nowhere in the Pacific, this tiny island nation is a drowsy place where barefoot fishermen flit about the coral reefs in outrigger canoes.

Hardly anyone visits Kiribati, and thirsty foreigners and local residents are spinning dreams of the next ship due in port, for the country recently ran out of beer.

Yet while Kiribati may at first seem backward, in one way it is ahead of every other country in the world -- hours ahead. Because of a bit of fiddling with the international date line, each new day now apparently begins in Kiribati.

This means that tiny Kiribati, presumably resupplied with beer by then, is in place to hold the party to top all parties, the first New Year's celebration on Jan. 1, 2000. Kiribati, which few people have heard of and even fewer can pronounce, insists that it has moved the international date line in such a way that it will be the first country to usher the world into the next millennium.