Few Report Y2K Glitches So Far

By ROBERT TANNER, AP

A world remade by technology began the rollover to the year 2000 today with no early signs of cyber-chaos, easing anxiety from years of preparation and billions of dollars spent to fix a simple but widespread computer bug.

``It's the greatest anticlimax of the second millennium and probably the third one,'' said Jane Tyler in the Fiji Islands, where Y2K worries led to a smaller tourist crowd than usual. ``Everyone's waiting for something to happen but it's not going to.''

Among the few victims of the Y2K bug was a time display on a satellite weather map posted on the Internet by France's national weather service. It gave ``19100'' as the year in a European forecast. A display panel at the Eiffel Tower counting down the minutes until 2000 went on the blink, but it was not immediately clear if the glitch was Y2K-related.

The millennium began at the stroke of midnight on a tiny, normally uninhabited island in the South Pacific - the renamed Millennium Island in Kiribati. An hour later, New Zealand entered the new year with no reported problems.

``The lights are still on. The situation is normal,'' said Basil Logan, chairman of New Zealand's Y2K readiness commission. Some computers might misread the year 2000 as 1900, causing systems to shut down. Despite all the preparations, experts warned that some failures are inevitable on Jan. 1 and the weeks or months after, given the hundreds of millions of computers worldwide. But in Washington, Bruce McConnell, director of the International Y2K Cooperation Center, said no reports had been received of serious Y2K-related incidents in the first 20 countries that made the transition.

``Things are going as well as can be expected and maybe even better,'' McConnell said.

In Japan, one of the most technologically advanced countries, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said the only problem was that some cell phones and international calls weren't connecting. He blamed it on ``too many 'Happy New Year' calls'' instead of Y2K. There also was nothing out of the ordinary in Sydney, Australia, one of the first major cities; Hong Kong; South Korea; China; Russia's early time zones, including its nuclear reactor at Bilibino; or on Guam, the first civilian piece of American soil to greet the new year.

``This is so exciting. I think everyone was getting too paranoid,'' said Miss Guam 1999 Lourdes Rivera, 18, dancing with friends in the island's tourism center, Tumon Bay.

The mood also grew lighter through the night in a civil defense compound in Guam. ``I think there's probably a lot of people working on New Year's Eve who shouldn't have had to work,'' said Maj. Gen. Benny Paulino, commander of the island's National Guard.

The U.S. military said there was nothing to report after the first New Year rollovers around the world. American Express recorded no early problems on transactions around the globe. 

``I feel like I should be reporting something dramatic, but I'm afraid I can't,'' added Ian Macfarlane, governor of Australia's Reserve Bank, after hearing from 90 percent of the nation's banks. Some officials warned not to let the guard down.

``While we are encouraged by the positive reports thus far, we should all remember that we have many miles to go before we sleep,'' U.S. Y2K czar John Koskinen said at a news conference today.

He said U.S. officials would especially be watching China, Russia and eastern Europe for power, telecommunication and other problems in the days ahead.

Officials took plenty of precautions. Seaports closed and jets were grounded around the world. ATM machines in Beijing were closed. Turkey closed its strategic Bosporus straits to large vessels. Even Disneyland's Matterhorn rollercoaster was set to shut down to avoid the dangers of Y2K.

Though most people remained calm, there were sporadic reports of last-minute shopping clearing shelves in Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, and Egypt. Some were preparing for potential Y2K problems; others for holiday parties.

Hackers added to the worries. In Britain, someone broke into Railtrack's Web site and issued a hoax warning that train service had been canceled due to millennium bug problems. The site was fixed hours later.

Delaware got a taste of the real Y2K problem when 800 slot machines at its three racetracks read ``January 1, 1900'' and shut down Thursday. The machines are programmed to run three days in advance. Most machines were back up by Friday.

China hurriedly rechecked its banking systems after a Y2K glitch frazzled thousands of British credit-card swipe machines earlier in the week. In Louisville, Ky., some cable TV subscribers received invoices for bills due in the year 100 - almost 19 centuries ago. Central banks across the globe have printed tens of billions of dollars worth of currency - from 10 to 40 percent more than normal - to hedge against possible bank runs, though experts are fairly confident the financial sector is in good shape.

An early prophet of the Y2K bug, Capers Jones, chief scientist at Artemis Management Systems, estimated more than $1 trillion will be spent overall on Y2K fixes, and more than twice as much on cleaning up - everything from computer damage to lawsuits filed against those responsible. In Glasgow, Ky., Fire Chief James Wingfield hoped he had done enough: Fire trucks were stationed strategically around town and emergency generators were on hand.

``We just hope it's an overkill,'' he said, ``and everyone can sit around and eat ham and biscuits on New Year's Eve.''

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