MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti) - Egyptians changed their clocks for the fourth time in five months at midnight on Thursday, as the country rolled back its clocks one hour for the end of daylight savings time, the Associated Press reported via Haaretz.
Since midnight on Thursday, the country has been two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
The summer-winter switch was first abandoned after the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak, as part of the region-wide events dubbed the ‘Arab Spring’.
Daylight savings time was revived this May, when clocks were adjusted forward in an attempt to alleviate Egypt’s energy crisis and help eliminate power blackouts which had plagued the country’s homes and industries. However, the nation’s clocks were adjusted again ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan late June, only to be adjusted yet again in late July at the end of the celebration; they were adjusted yet again on Thursday.
The initial switch caused confusion and disruptions at airports and for other time-sensitive services, but these have been said to have been alleviated this time.
Other countries have also faced time zone change headaches in the past, although they have generally been nowhere near as confusing. The Russian government has made plans to move clocks back on October 26, and end the annual observance of daylight savings time after that.
