by BRIAN HANDWERK
Clock confusion will occur again this weekend when daylight saving time (also called daylight savings time) gets under way in the United States.
…
But the federal government doesn’t require U.S. states or territories to observe daylight saving time, which is why residents of Arizona (except for residents of the Navajo Indian Reservation), Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas Islands won’t need to change their clocks this weekend. Other states could soon follow suit, or mandate permanent DST, or even do something else entirely.
…
Around the rest of the world the observance of DST is also very much a mixed bag. Most North American and European nations observe DST, while most African and Asian nations do not.
In Russia, which abolished daylight saving time in 2011, dark mornings are so unpopular that in 2013 a coalition in the nation’s Duma proposed legislation to reinstate the practice.
Meanwhile in Japan, which hasn’t observed DST in over 60 years, some politicians suggest a return could help ease the nation’s post-Fukushima energy crunch. (Related: “Pictures: The Nuclear Cleanup Struggle at Fukushima.”)
National Geographic for more