Lebanon has awoken in two time zones amid an intensifying dispute between political and religious authorities over the decision to extend winter time by a month.

This is reported by Aljazeera.

Acting Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that daylight saving time would be delayed until April 20 instead of moving the clocks forward one hour on the last weekend of March.

Mikati's decision was seen as an attempt to "appease" the country's Muslim population by allowing those fasting during Ramadan to break their fast an hour earlier.

The holy month for Muslims begins on March 22 and ends on April 21.

If the time remains unchanged, Muslims will be able to wake up an hour earlier, at about 6:00 PM instead of 7:00 PM, when the sun sets.

However, the Christian Maronite Church said that no consultations were held with other parties and international standards were not taken into account.

The church said it was moving the clock forward on Saturday (March 25) evening.

Other Christian organizations, parties and schools followed suit.

Two news channels, LBCI and MTV, moved their clocks forward on Sunday morning.

The national carrier Middle East Airlines made a compromise.

The company said it would remain on daylight saving time in accordance with Mikati's decision, but would adjust the timing of its flights to the international schedule.

There was also confusion for users of mobile phones and other electronic devices that automatically switch to DST, as many operators were not notified of the change in time.

Meanwhile, Muslim institutions and parties appear to be in hibernation.

It deepens divisions in the country, which saw a 1975-1990 civil war between Christians and Muslims, and where seats in parliament are split between religious denominations.

At a cafe in Beirut on Saturday night, a Reuters reporter heard a customer ask: "Will you be working the Christian or Muslim clock from tomorrow?"

Earlier it was reported that due to the transition to summer time in Finland, there was a failure on the railway.

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