NATIONAL Public Holidays: Commercial offices and government establishments are closed on Fridays. In 2005 the major holidays are: January 21^* (Eid al Adha, Feast of the Sacrifice); February 10^* (Islamic New Year); February 19^* (Ashoura); March 28 (Evacuation Day); April 21^* (Mouloud, Birth of Muhammad); June 11 (Evacuation Day); September 1 (Revolution Day); September 2^* (Leilat al Meiraj, ascension of Muhammad); October 7 (Evacuation Day); November 4^* (Eid al Fitr, end of Ramadan). Holidays that vary according to the Islamic lunar calendar are marked with an asterisk.

Flag:

The flag is plain green, the traditional color of Islam (the state religion).

RECENT NEWS ARTICLES

LIBYA SEEKS TO BECOME AEROSPACE CENTER  -  24 Oct 2006
Middle East Newsline,CAIRO [MENL] -- Libya, wooed by Western and Russian contractors, plans to become the aerospace center of North Africa. The regime of Libyan ruler Col. ...

Phoenicia Group Partners With The Beyster Institute to Bring MEET ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Yahoo! News (press release)TRIPOLI, Libya, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Phoenicia Group Libya LLC, (http://www.phoenicia-group.net), the US-Libyan diversified business ...

Phoenicia Group Partners with The Beyster Institute to Bring MEET ...  -  24 Oct 2006
Send2Press (press release),TRIPOLI, Libya - Oct. 24 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- Phoenicia Group Libya LLC, (www.phoenicia-group.net), the US-Libyan diversified ...

Anjana Ahuja  -  Oct 22, 2006
Times Online,NEXT WEEK five nurses and a doctor will go on trial in Libya accused of deliberately infecting children with the HIV virus, as part of a Western conspiracy to ...

Taiwan oil firm to drill in Libya  -  Oct 16, 2006
Monsters and Critics.com,Taipei - Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) is seeking to drill for oil in Libya and is considering an investment to build a petrochemical industrial park ...

Experts worry Pyongyang will sell nuclear weapons  -  Oct 21, 2006
Houston Chronicle,...that North Korea could add plutonium to the inventory of arms components and technologies it already has sold to such nations as Syria, Pakistan and Libya. ...

France, Libya in arms talks  -  Oct 19, 2006
Middle East Times,PARIS -- France is in talks with Libya about modernizing the North African country's weapons arsenal as part of the defense cooperation deal that they renewed ...

Libya detains 1 930 migrants trying to reach Europe  -  Oct 17, 2006
Express Outlook,Libya is due to host an Africa-Europe conference on migration in November. New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report last ...

Libya Detains 1,481 Illegal Immigrants  -  Oct 16, 2006
Mathaba.Net,The Public Relations and Cooperation Department at the GPC (Ministry) for Public Security said that the security authorities detained 1481 infiltrators from ...

Phoenicia Group Wins VSAT Contract in Libya From Occidental ...  -  Oct 18, 2006
Market Wire (press release)TRIPOLI, LIBYA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- October 18, 2006 -- Phoenicia Group Libya LLC, (http://www.phoenicia-group.net), a leading US-Libyan integrated business ...

Lobbying For Libya  -  Oct 18, 2006
BusinessWeekLibya, perhaps most reviled for its downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, has taken steps in the past few years to legitimize itself. ...

Book on Libya's U-turn  -  Oct 19, 2006
Times Now.tv,Within days Libya, viewed as a pariah state for decades, announced it would abandon its weapons of mass destruction project in a bid to rejoin the ...

Oceania Cruises cancels spring sailing with Libya call  -  Oct 16, 2006
Travel Weekly (subscription),Oceania Cruises has replaced its previously scheduled April 17 voyage that included Libya with a Barcelona to Athens itinerary that commences the Regatta's ...

Libya: Libya nabs 398 illegal emigrants  -  Oct 17, 2006
AngolaPress,...general people`s committee has decided to work towards curbing illegal immigration and to review the measures on the irregular stay of foreigners in Libya. ...

ZTE helps Libyana to set up WCDMA network in Libya  -  Oct 20, 2006
Telecom Paper (subscription),ZTE, global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, is helping Libyana, Libya-based mobile operator, to construct a WCDMA network. ...

Libya: US Anti-Militant Partnership  -  Oct 16, 2006
StratforThe United States wants to add Libya to the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP), a group of nine North and West African countries cooperating ...

US courts Libya for Africa security network  -  Oct 15, 2006
Washington Post,STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - The United States is keen to add Libya to a group of nine north and west African nations with which it is working closely to ...

Exxon, Chevron, BP Among Companies Seeking Libya Oil Permits  -  Oct 13, 2006
Bloomberg...biggest energy companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and Chevron Corp., are among 47 corporations that qualified to bid in Libya's third auction of ...

Report: Libya to Buy Laptops for Kids  -  Oct 11, 2006
The Age,The government of Libya has reached an agreement with an American nonprofit group to provide inexpensive laptop computers for all of the nation's 1.2 million ...

A Medical-Legal Travesty in Libya  -  Oct 13, 2006
New York Times,Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor are facing the death penalty in Libya based on preposterous charges that they deliberately infected hundreds of ...

Report: Libya buys laptops for schoolchildren  -  Oct 11, 2006
CNN InternationalNEW YORK (AP) -- The government of Libya reached an agreement with an American nonprofit group to provide inexpensive laptop computers to all of its 1.2 ...

CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-Libya's Tamoil buys stakes in Exxon units  -  Oct 10, 2006
ReutersMr. Tillerson has held a variety of management... Full Bio. (Corrects to Tamoil Africa Holdings, Libya's African oil company, in first paragraph from Tamoil ...

Libya buying laptops for all schoolkids  -  Oct 11, 2006
BusinessWeekOCT. 11 12:56 PM ET Libya reached an agreement with an American nonprofit group to provide inexpensive laptop computers to all of its 1.2 million schoolchildren ...

Libya Buys Into '$100 Laptop' Initiative  -  Oct 11, 2006
CIO,The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative on Tuesday added Libya to its list of program participants when the nationâ€™s government placed a $250 million ...

Libya may be first buyer of $100 laptops  -  Oct 11, 2006
ZDNetThe warming of relations with Libya and the US has made inroads for nonprofits, including an agreement between the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project and the ...

Libya to Buy 1.2 Million $100 Laptops for Children  -  Oct 12, 2006
DailyTech,According to the New York Times yesterday, Libya is planning to purchase 1.2 million $100 laptops for children to use. The nation ...

Libya to Buy Cheap Laptops for Kids  -  Oct 12, 2006
BusinessWeekLibya will reportedly be dishing out $100 laptops to its schoolchildren, after signing a deal with Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. ...

Libya to Buy 1.2M Linux Laptops?  -  Oct 13, 2006
PC Magazine...founder and chairman of the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) nonprofit association, told the New York Times that the deal had been reached in Libya on Oct. 10. ...

Libya rumoured to be buying OLPC laptops  -  Oct 12, 2006
VNUNet.com,The deal, reported to be worth $250m, would make Libya the first country to officially place an order for the 2B1 laptops. OLPC ...

UPDATE 1-Libya's Tamoil buys stakes in Exxon Africa units  -  Oct 9, 2006
ReutersTRIPOLI, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Tamoil, Libya's European oil company which is up for sale, said on Monday it had agreed to buy shares in a string of African fuel ...

Libya to Buy 1.2 Million $100 Laptops  -  Oct 11, 2006
BetaNewsMost people would likely not think of Libya as the beacon of technology in education, but if the government has its way it could soon be. ...

Carrots and sticks work. Ask Libya.  -  Oct 9, 2006
USA TodayFor decades, Libya, led by Moammar Gadhafi, was a leading US adversary and sponsor of terror. In 1986, President Reagan ordered ...

Libya to buy $100 laptops for every child  -  Oct 12, 2006
Inquirer,2006, 12:37. LIBYA IS planning to purchase 1.2 million "$100 laptops" for its kids to use, the New York Times reported. The $250 ...

CORRECTED-Libya's Tamoil buys stakes in Exxon Africa units  -  Oct 10, 2006
ReutersTRIPOLI, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Tamoil Africa Holdings, Libya's African oil company, said on Monday it had agreed to buy shares in a string of African fuel and ...

This series of profiles of foreign nations is part of the Country Studies Program, formerly the Army Area Handbook Program. The profiles offer brief, summarized information on a country’s historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security. In addition to being featured in the front matter of published Country Studies, they are now being prepared as stand-alone reference aides for all countries in the series, as well as for a number of additional countries of interest. The profiles offer reasonably current country information independent of the existence of a recently published Country Study and will be updated annually or more frequently as events warrant.