Flag of Somalia come up with a design in preparation for independence. The flag was first used in the Trust Territory of Somaliland and the short-lived State of Somaliland, which united on July 1, 1960, to form the Somali Republic. As an ethnic flag, the five-pointed white "Star of Unity" in its center represents the areas where the Somali ethnic group has traditionally resided, namely Djibouti, Somaliland (former British occupied land), the Ogaden region in Ethiopia, the North Eastern Province in Kenya, and southern Somalia (former Italian colony). The Somali flag's light blue backdrop was originally influenced by the flag of the United
Flag of Laos the only current communist country that does not use a five-pointed star in its flag as an emblem. The current flag was adopted on December 2, 1975 when it became a socialist state. This flag replaced the 1952-1975 flag of Laos that represented the royal monarchy, which was red, with a triple-headed white elephant on a pedestal beneath a parasol. This expressed the ancient name of the country, "Land of a Million Elephants", and dated from the 19th century. From 1953 onward the royal government waged war with the Pathet Lao, whose flag was blue with a white disk and