Tropical Storm Cristobal churns in the Caribbean

Tropical Storm Cristobal formed early Sunday in the Caribbean, having strengthened from a tropical depression, the National Hurricane Center said.

It has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.

The hurricane center issued tropical storm warnings on Sunday for the southeastern and central Bahamas as well as for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Cristobal is moving to the northwest but is expected to turn to the northeast in the coming days and miss the U.S. coastline.

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Exchange of fire on Pakistan-India border; deaths reported

Pakistan and India exchanged fire near the border in the disputed Kashmir region early Saturday, killing at least two people from each country.

The Indian paramilitary border security force said Pakistani forces fired shots and mortar rounds near the border, killing a father and his 8-year-old son, and injuring four others, including a trooper. A spokesman for the security force called the action from the Pakistani side "unprovoked."

The Pakistani military said an intermittent exchange of fire continues between the countries. It accused Indian troops of "unprovoked" opening fire on the working boundary near Sialkot, killing two civilians -- a woman and a 60-year-old man.

The two nuclear-armed countries agreed to a bilateral ceasefire in November 2003. But while it has held well, it has suffered breaches since last year. The latest round of violence has triggered the dislocation of more than 1,000 border residents, an Indian official said.

Kashmir has been in the throes of separatist violence since 1989; officials say it has claimed 42,000 lives, but rights groups and nongovernmental organizations put the number at twice that.

Talks called off

The latest bloodshed comes amid recent diplomatic tensions.

India called off talks planned for Monday with Islamabad after Pakistan's New Delhi-based high commissioner, Abdul Basit, invited Kashmiri separatist leaders for consultations ahead of the summit.

The New Delhi foreign secretary told Basit "in clear and unambiguous terms, that Pakistan's continued efforts to interfere in India's internal affairs were unacceptable," India's External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

"The meetings with these so-called leaders of the Hurriyat undermines the constructive diplomatic engagement initiated by Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi in May on his very first day in office," the ministry said.

But Pakistan said in a statement it is a "longstanding practice" to meet with Kashmiri leaders before India-Pakistani talks are held.

"The Indian decision is a setback to the efforts by our leadership to promote good neighborly relations with India. The prime minister of Pakistan has clearly articulated the vision of peace for development," the statement said.

"It seems a knee-jerk reaction," said Mirwaiz Moulvi Umar Farooq, a moderate Kashmiri separatist leader. "We have been meeting the Pakistani officials, including the country's New Delhi-based high commissioner, for the past 20 years. I don't know what happened today. It is a backward step."

He said the move is short-sighted.

"The decision lacks political maturity and cannot be termed as far-sighted," he said.

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Torn page from Quran sells for $68,000 at auction

A torn page in a cheap, tatty frame has sold at auction for an eye-watering $68,000 (A$74,000), plus commission.

Sydney auctioneer Mark Owens confesses he still knows very little about lot 11, which appears to be a page of the Quran.

"I've never even spoken directly to the person who put it in apart from a couple of e-mails," he said.

"He said it came from an estate in Melbourne. I don't think he knew a great deal about it. How old it is, I still don't know."

The double-sided page was brought by an anonymous dealer in London who presumably knew it was worth more -- a lot more -- than the pre-auction estimate of $37 to $55 (A$40 -- A$60).

Owens had a clue it might arouse some interest. A few months ago, he sold another page of the Quran -- which he says was in worse condition -- for $27,000 (A$29,000). It had been previously bought for less than $10 at a local auction.

Since the weekend sale, half a dozen other people have emailed Owens with photos of their own tattered pages.

"I like to think we're becoming world experts without having any knowledge whatsoever," he laughed.

His auction house, Bargain Hunt Auctions, sells everything from fridges to paintings, many from deceased estates, and mostly for less than $100.

On this sale alone, the company made about $22,000 (A$24,000) in commission, before tax.

"It was a good win for everyone," he said.

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French government dissolved amid turmoil among ministers

The French government was dissolved Monday amid turmoil among top ministers.

President Francois Hollande asked Prime Minister Manuel Valls to form a new government, which will be announced Tuesday, Hollande's office said in a statement posted on Twitter.

French media reported that the upheaval was caused by public calls from Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg for a major reorientation of economic policy in a country where growth has stalled and unemployment remains high.

Montebourg's comments were seen as a challenge to the authority of Hollande and Valls.

"The crisis in the heart of the government is clear, and it promises to be bloody," reported Le Figaro, a right-leaning national newspaper.

Socialist leader Hollande said he wants the new government to be "a team that is coherent with the course that he himself has set for our country," the statement from his office said.

Hollande has the worst approval ratings of any French President on record. Valls' popularity, meanwhile, has shown a decline in recent opinion polls.

Valls has been in the post of Prime Minister since March 31, replacing Jean-Marc Ayrault. Hollande has held the presidency since 2012, when he defeated his predecessor, the center-right leader Nicolas Sarkozy.

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Britain close to identifying James Foley's killer

 British officials "are close" to identifying the ISIS militant who beheaded American journalist James Foley, according to Britain's ambassador to the United States, Peter Westmacott.

Westmacott told CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday he couldn't elaborate on the identity of the killer, who is seen decapitating Foley in a video posted last week on YouTube.

"We're putting a great deal into the search," he said, referring to the use of sophisticated technology to analyze the man's voice.

In the video, Foley, 40, is seen kneeling next to a man dressed in black, who speaks with what experts say is a distinctly English accent.

Linguists said that based on his voice, the man sounds to be younger than 30. He also appears to have been educated in England from a young age and to be from southern England or London.

Voice, words may provide clues about Foley's killer

The video shows another U.S. journalist, identified as Steven Sotloff, being held by ISIS. The militant warned that Sotloff's fate depends on what President Barack Obama does next in Iraq.

A day after the video was posted, Obama vowed the United States will be "relentless" in striking back against ISIS.

Airstrikes continued to hit ISIS targets near Irbil and the Mosul Dam on Sunday, U.S. Central Command said in a news release. The majority of the strikes have been in support of Iraqi forces near the dam, which briefly fell under ISIS control.

Mourners pack Foley's hometown church

Meanwhile Sunday, hundreds of mourners crammed into Foley's hometown church in New Hampshire to attend his memorial Mass.

"This moment in our lives is international in scope; crossing all boundaries, yet very personal," Bishop Peter A. Libasci said. "[We are] bound together by a deep sense of human compassion and heartfelt remorse."

Foley's parents, who received a standing ovation, asked for privacy and thanked mourners for their support.

Foley disappeared on November 22, 2012, in northwest Syria, near the border with Turkey. He was reportedly forced into a vehicle by gunmen; he was not heard from again. At the time of his disappearance, he was working as a freelancer for the U.S.-based online news outlet Global Post.

His family released a letter Sunday said to be written in June by Foley. Because his letters were confiscated in captivity, Foley's family said he asked another hostage set to be released to commit the letter to memory.

In the letter, Foley reflects on favorite family memories -- a trip to the mall with his father, a bike ride with his mom -- and gives details of his time in captivity.

Comfort from others being held

"Eighteen of us have been held together in one cell, which has helped me. We have had each other to have endless long conversations about movies, trivia, sports," Foley wrote, describing makeshift games of checkers, chess and Risk.

"The games and teaching each other have helped the time pass. They have been a huge help."

He had specific messages of love for his brothers and sister, and to his grandmother he told her, "please take your medicine, take walks and keep dancing."

By the time he wrote the letter, he had already been held captive for a year and half, and seemed to waver between remaining hopeful for his release, while also resigned to his fate. While addressing his brothers and sister, he gives specific wishes on who his money should go to and thanks them for "happy childhood memories." But he closes the letter by addressing his "Grammy."

"Stay strong," he told her, "because I am going to need your help to reclaim my life."

The following month, over the July 4 weekend, U.S. special operations units were sent into Syria to rescue Foley and other hostages held by Islamist militants, a U.S. official told CNN. Several dozen of the most elite U.S. commandos from Delta Force and Navy SEAL Team 6 flew in on helicopters but couldn't find the hostages, including Foley.

His captors recently sent an e-mail to his family threatening his death -- a message Philip Balboni, the CEO of GlobalPost, described as "vitriolic and filled with rage against the United States."

Foley's captors demanded 100 million euros ($132.5 million) in exchange for his release, Balboni told CNN last week.

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Ivory Coast closing borders in response to Ebola outbreak

Ivory Coast announced Saturday that it's closing its borders in response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Prime Minister Daniel Duncan signed the order that closes the land borders Ivory Coast shares with Guinea and Liberia.

The borders will remain closed until further notice in an effort to prevent the Ebola virus from spreading into its territory, according to the government statement.

The announcement comes the same day the British government announced one of its citizens was infected with the deadly virus.

The Briton, who lives in the West African nation of Sierra Leone, tested positive for the Ebola virus, according to Britain's Department of Health.

The man, simply identified as "William," was living in a home established by an American university for researchers in Sierra Leone.

"William" was a volunteer nurse in Kenema Government Hospital and was working with Ebola patients in the hospital, according to Dr. Robert Garry of Tulane University. Garry is manager of the university's program that researches Ebola. The hospital is run by the government of Sierra Leone, but receives support from Tulane researchers.

Garry said that no one else living in the house was "significantly exposed" and "William" is still in Sierra Leone.

According to the Tulane doctor, "William" got sick on Friday and had a low viral load, meaning he wasn't infected for a long time. Garry added that the British national has a fever but none of the other symptoms of the Ebola virus.

In a statement on the United Kingdom's government website Saturday, British Chief Deputy Medical Officer John Watson said the overall risk to the public in the UK is very low.

Medical experts are "assessing the situation in Sierra Leone to ensure that appropriate care is provided," Watson said.

Ebola is one of the world's most virulent diseases, according to the World Health Organization.

The virus is introduced to human populations through the human handling of infected animals -- like fruit bats, gorillas and monkeys, to name a few -- found sick or dying in the rainforest.

The infection is then transmitted among humans through direct contact with the blood and bodily fluid of infected people.

WHO's maps of confirmed cases show the Ebola outbreak is limited to four West African nations -- Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria. So far, nearly 2,500 suspected cases have been reported in what the WHO says is the worst known outbreak of the disease.

However, the WHO's website says the survival rate for people with Ebola in this outbreak has been 47%, which is a substantial improvement over the disease's survival rate, historically.

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A Chinese fighter jet made several "dangerous" and "unprofessional" passes at a U.S. Navy plane this week -- coming as close as 20 feet at one point -- in what the White House called a "deeply concerning provocation."

The incident occurred Tuesday in international air space in the South China Sea about 135 miles east of the Chinese island of Hainan, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Rear. Adm. John Kirby, the Defense Department spokesman, described a flamboyant approach by what he called an armed Chinese fighter jet that three times crossed beneath the Navy Poseidon patrol aircraft with "only 100 feet of separation."

"The Chinese jet also passed the nose of the P-8 at 90 degrees with its belly towards the P-8 Poseidon, we believe to make a point of showing its weapons load," he said.

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Galileo satellites go into wrong

The European Space Agency (Esa) says the latest two satellites for Europe's version of the American GPS satellite navigation system have not gone into the correct orbit.

However, it says the fifth and sixth satellites launched from French Guiana on Friday are under control.

The agency is examining the implications of the anomaly.

The satellites Doresa and Milena went up on a Soyuz rocket after a 24-hour delay because of bad weather.

"Observations taken after the separation of the satellites from the Soyuz VS09 (rocket) for the Galileo Mission show a gap between the orbit achieved and that which was planned," said launch service provider Arianespace, in a statement.

"They have been placed on a lower orbit than expected. Teams are studying the impact this could have on the satellites," it added.

Arianespace declined to comment on whether their trajectories could be corrected, the AFP news agency reports.

After years of delay, Galileo is now finally moving towards full deployment.

Esa, which is building the system on behalf of the EU, expects to have a 26-satellite constellation in orbit by 2017.

The EU is investing billions in its sat-nav project.

It believes Galileo will bring significant returns to European economies in the form of new businesses that can exploit precise timing and location data delivered from orbit.

A project of the European Commission and the European Space Agency

30 satellites are likely to be launched in batches in the coming years

Galileo will work alongside GPS and the Russian Glonass systems

Full system promises real-time positioning down to a metre or less

It should deepen and extend high-value markets already initiated by GPS

Cost to date: 6bn euros (£4.8bn); budget set aside to 2020: 7bn euros

European GDP reliant now on GPS applications: 800bn euros per annum

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Ukraine in $3bn military investment

Petro Poroshenko said that a "constant military threat will hang over Ukraine" for the foreseeable future.

He was speaking ahead of a large military parade in the capital Kiev.

Meanwhile, fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, where more than 2,000 people have died in recent months.

Mr Poroshenko said the investment would be spread out over two years, from 2015-2017.

"The events of the last months have for us turned into a real war, albeit an undeclared one," he said in a televised speech on Ukrainian independence day.

"Over the last six months, a new Ukrainian army has been born in heavy and exhausting fighting," he said.

The military parade featured hundreds of marching servicemen and military hardware. Critics said it was inappropriate when Ukraine was at war.

Continued fighting

Pro-Russian rebels in the eastern city of Donetsk - the scene of the heaviest fighting - say they will hold their own parade and display captured soldiers.

More than 330,000 people have fled their homes because of fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The bodies of six civilians, including a child, were seen by an AFP correspondent in Donetsk on Saturday.

Prayers and wreaths

On Saturday Kiev marked the Day of the National Flag. Sunday's independence events include a parade involving military hardware and several hundred service personnel.

A naval parade is also being held in the port of Odessa.

These are the first military parades since 2009, when the previous pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, abolished them.

Prayers were said and wreaths laid for those who fought on the Ukrainian government side, including those killed during protests against Mr Yanukovych in Kiev last winter.

Meanwhile, security officials quoted by Ukrainian media said that five people accused of planning attacks on bases for pro-government volunteers in the Kiev area, timed to coincide with the celebrations, had been arrested.

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Many dead in Madrid plane crash

Nineteen people survived when the plane swerved off the runway but some are in critical condition, said Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez.

It is thought the left engine caught fire as the Spanair flight took off for the Canary Islands at about 1420 (1220 GMT) with 172 people on board.

Helicopters dumped water on the burning plane and some 70 ambulances attended.

Spain's development minister told a news conference that investigators had ruled out foul play and considered the crash an accident.

As night fell, recovery teams were still removing bodies from the crash site, which is now silent and in darkness, except for the occasional flashing blue lights of emergency vehicles, the BBC's Steve Kingstone in Madrid says.

See satellite image of airport

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero cut short his holiday in the south of the country to visit the scene of the crash.

Speaking at the airport, he said: "The government will make all its efforts to support the families in this hard moment as they have received the news of such tragedy."

Spanish journalist Manuel Moleno, who was near the area when the accident happened, said the plane appeared to have "crashed into pieces".

"We heard a big crash. So we stopped and we saw a lot of smoke," he said.

A British man who witnessed the aftermath of the accident, Alan Gemmell, : "The whole back end of the plane was just burned to a crisp."

Safety record

Spanair flight JK 5022, bound for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, came down during or shortly after take-off from Terminal Four at Barajas.

TV footage showed the plane had come to rest in a field.

Now the crash site is essentially a huge patch of scorched earth, our correspondent says.

Spanair's parent company, Scandinavian firm SAS, said the accident happened at 1423 local time.

According to Spain's airport authority, Aena, the plane had been due to take off at 1300 but its departure had been delayed.

No details of the nationalities of the passengers on board have yet been released.

A local emergency service official, Ervigio Corral, told Efe news agency that there were many children among the victims.

The plane was a codeshare flight with German airline Lufthansa, which said it was investigating whether German passengers were on board.

The aircraft was a MD82, a plane commonly used on short trips around Europe, aviation expert Chris Yates told the BBC.

He said Spanair had a very good safety record.

Reports say it was the first crash at Barajas airport, some 13km (8 miles) from central Madrid, since 1983.

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UN warns of possible Amerli 'massacre'

Special representative Nickolay Mladenov says he is "seriously alarmed" by reports regarding the conditions in which the town's residents live.

The town, under siege by Islamic State for two months, has no electricity or drinking water, and is running out of food and medical supplies.

The majority of its residents are Turkmen Shia, seen as apostates by IS.

"The situation of the people in Amerli is desperate and demands immediate action to prevent the possible massacre of its citizens," Mr Mladenov said in a statement.

"I urge the Iraqi government to do all it can to relieve the siege and to ensure that the residents receive life-saving humanitarian assistance or are evacuated in a dignified manner."

On Friday, the most influential Shia cleric in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, expressed concern over the plight of the town's inhabitants.

Residents say they have had to organise their own resistance to the militants and no foreign aid has reached the town since the siege began.

IS has seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria in recent months. Since 8 August, the US has carried out air strikes to support Iraqi and Kurdish troops tackling the insurgents.

On Thursday, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel described the group as an imminent threat to the US.

Gen Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said IS was "an organisation that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be defeated".

He also said that IS fighters could not be defeated without attacking their bases in Syria. The militants, he said, should be confronted "on both sides of what is essentially at this point a non-existent border".

The Shia-dominated Iraqi government has been trying to secure backing from Sunni groups in its battle against IS jihadists.

Prime Minister designate Haider al-Abadi, a moderate Shia, is trying to form a more inclusive government - following international criticism of outgoing PM Nouri Maliki, who was widely seen as a divisive figure.

The rise of the IS has sparked widespread violence. An attack by suspected Shia militiamen on a Sunni mosque in Iraq's Diyala province killed at least 68 people on Friday.

On Saturday, a suicide bomber blew up a car in central Baghdad, killing at least nine people and injuring several others.

The IS campaign has displaced an estimated 1.2 million people in Iraq, many of them minority Christians and Yazidis.

Refugees say the hardline Islamists have demanded that Christians and Yazidis convert to Islam, threatening them with death if they refuse.

France welcomed about 40 Iraqi Christian refugees on Friday.

But Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere opposed granting sanctuary to large numbers of refugees from Iraq.

This would give militants "an intolerable victory", Mr de Maiziere told Germany's most popular newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

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Russian lorries leave as Merkel visits

The convoy of more than 200 vehicles was returning from the eastern city of Luhansk, which is held by pro-Russian separatists battling government forces.

Meanwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kiev for talks.

On Friday she described the convoy's movement as a "dangerous escalation".

Kiev and Western officials fear the trucks could have contained military equipment to help the rebels, but Kremlin officials say the vehicles were only carrying generators, food and drink.

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said there was no information about what most of the convoy was carrying.

The head of the OSCE mission, Paul Picard, told the BBC that only the first 37 trucks had been inspected by the Red Cross before they set off into Russia.

The lorries had already been waiting at the border for a week, while Russia, the Ukrainian government and the Red Cross tried to come to an agreement on their passage.

The Russians said the convoy started moving because it could not wait any longer, owing to the worsening humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine, which is held by pro-Russian separatists.

Four months of fighting in the region have left more than 2,000 people dead. More than 330,000 people have fled their homes.

'Violation of sovereignty'

The White House and the Ukrainian government both described the deployment of the convoy as a flagrant violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.

In a phone call, US President Barack Obama and Mrs Merkel said the conflict had "continued to deteriorate" since a Malaysian airliner was downed last month over rebel-held territory, with the loss of all 298 people on board.

Ukraine called the Russian convoy a "direct invasion" of Ukraine.

Nato and the European Union have also criticised what they said was a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty.

Nato officials have accused Russia of building up troops on its border, saying significant numbers of Russian forces are operating within Ukraine, using artillery.

But speaking to the UN Security Council, Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin accused Western powers of distorting reality.

"Sometimes it reminded me of the kingdom of crooked mirrors because some members of the Council were not concerned about the fact hundreds of civilians are dying."

He said Russia had to act to save perishable goods and that he hoped the Red Cross would help distribute the aid.

"We waited long enough. And it was time to move, and this is what we did," he said.

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US accuses China fighter of reckless mid-air intercept

Spokesman John Kirby said that the US had protested to the Chinese military over the mid-air intercept, calling the fighter pilot's actions "unsafe and unprofessional".

He said that the Chinese aircraft came within 10 metres of the US Navy plane.

Correspondents say that it is the fourth such incident since March.

So far there has been no comment about the reported near-miss from China.

Rear Admiral Kirby said that the incident happened on Tuesday when an armed Chinese Su-27 fighter intercepted a US Navy P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft that was on a routine mission.

Rear Adm Kirby was highly critical of the conduct of the Chinese pilot

"We have registered our strong concerns to the Chinese about the unsafe and unprofessional intercept, which posed a risk to the safety and the well-being of the air crew, and was inconsistent with customary international law," he said.

He said that the Chinese manoeuvre detracted from efforts to improve American relations with China's military.

The warplane flew close to the surveillance aircraft three times, he said, flying above, underneath and alongside it. At one point it performed "a barrel roll" in an apparent display of its weapons.

Rear Adm Kirby said that the Chinese manoeuvre was "very, very close, very dangerous".

Near-misses between aircraft and naval vessels of the US and China are commonplace off the coast of China.

In December China said one of its warships "encountered" a US guided missile cruiser, confirming US reports of a near-collision in the South China Sea.

Shortly before this incident China set up an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, and said that aircraft flying through the zone must follow its rules, including filing flight plans.

The US, Japan and South Korea have rejected China's zone, and flown undeclared military aircraft through it. The US has called the move a unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the region.

The most serious incident in recent years however took place in 2001, when a Chinese fighter jet collided with a US Navy EP-3 spy plane, killing the Chinese pilot.

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Galileo satellites go into wrong, lower orbit - Esa

he European Space Agency (Esa) says the latest two satellites for Europe's version of the American GPS satellite navigation system have not gone into the correct orbit.

However, it says the fifth and sixth satellites launched from French Guiana on Friday are under control.

The agency is examining the implications of the anomaly.

The satellites Doresa and Milena went up on a Soyuz rocket after a 24-hour delay because of bad weather.

"Observations taken after the separation of the satellites from the Soyuz VS09 (rocket) for the Galileo Mission show a gap between the orbit achieved and that which was planned," said launch service provider Arianespace, in a statement.

"They have been placed on a lower orbit than expected. Teams are studying the impact this could have on the satellites," it added.

Arianespace declined to comment on whether their trajectories could be corrected, the AFP news agency reports.

After years of delay, Galileo is now finally moving towards full deployment.

Esa, which is building the system on behalf of the EU, expects to have a 26-satellite constellation in orbit by 2017.

The EU is investing billions in its sat-nav project.

It believes Galileo will bring significant returns to European economies in the form of new businesses that can exploit precise timing and location data delivered from orbit.

Europe's Galileo system under construction

A project of the European Commission and the European Space Agency

30 satellites are likely to be launched in batches in the coming years

Galileo will work alongside GPS and the Russian Glonass systems

Full system promises real-time positioning down to a metre or less

It should deepen and extend high-value markets already initiated by GPS

Cost to date: 6bn euros (£4.8bn); budget set aside to 2020: 7bn euros

European GDP reliant now on GPS applications: 800bn euros per annum

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Capitals of The Countries

Afghanistan - Kabul
Albania - Tirana
Algeria - Algiers
Andorra - Andorra la Vella
Angola - Luanda
Antigua and Barbuda - Saint John's
Argentina - Buenos Aires
Armenia - Yerevan
Australia - Canberra
Austria - Vienna
Azerbaijan - Baku
The Bahamas - Nassau
Bahrain - Manama
Bangladesh - Dhaka
Barbados - Bridgetown
Belarus - Minsk
Belgium - Brussels
Belize - Belmopan
Benin - Porto-Novo
Bhutan - Thimphu
Bolivia - La Paz (administrative); Sucre (judicial)
Bosnia and Herzegovina - Sarajevo
Botswana - Gaborone
Brazil - Brasilia
Brunei - Bandar Seri Begawan
Bulgaria - Sofia
Burkina Faso - Ouagadougou
Burundi - Bujumbura
Cambodia - Phnom Penh
Cameroon - Yaounde
Canada - Ottawa
Cape Verde - Praia
Central African Republic - Bangui
Chad - N'Djamena
Chile - Santiago
China - Beijing
Colombia - Bogota
Comoros - Moroni
Congo, Republic of the - Brazzaville
Congo, Democratic Republic of the - Kinshasa
Costa Rica - San Jose
Cote d'Ivoire - Yamoussoukro (official); Abidjan (de facto)
Croatia - Zagreb
Cuba - Havana
Cyprus - Nicosia
Czech Republic - Prague
Denmark - Copenhagen
Djibouti - Djibouti
Dominica - Roseau
Dominican Republic - Santo Domingo
East Timor (Timor-Leste) - Dili
Ecuador - Quito
Egypt - Cairo
El Salvador - San Salvador
Equatorial Guinea - Malabo
Eritrea - Asmara
Estonia - Tallinn
Ethiopia - Addis Ababa
Fiji - Suva
Finland - Helsinki
France - Paris
Gabon - Libreville
The Gambia - Banjul
Georgia - Tbilisi
Germany - Berlin
Ghana - Accra
Greece - Athens
Grenada - Saint George's
Guatemala - Guatemala City
Guinea - Conakry
Guinea-Bissau - Bissau
Guyana - Georgetown
Haiti - Port-au-Prince
Honduras - Tegucigalpa
Hungary - Budapest
Iceland - Reykjavik
India - New Delhi
Indonesia - Jakarta
Iran - Tehran
Iraq - Baghdad
Ireland - Dublin
Israel - Jerusalem*
Italy - Rome
Jamaica - Kingston
Japan - Tokyo
Jordan - Amman
Kazakhstan - Astana
Kenya - Nairobi
Kiribati - Tarawa Atoll
Korea, North - Pyongyang
Korea, South - Seoul
Kosovo - Pristina
Kuwait - Kuwait City
Kyrgyzstan - Bishkek
Laos - Vientiane
Latvia - Riga
Lebanon - Beirut
Lesotho - Maseru
Liberia - Monrovia
Libya - Tripoli
Liechtenstein - Vaduz
Lithuania - Vilnius
Luxembourg - Luxembourg
Macedonia - Skopje
Madagascar - Antananarivo
Malawi - Lilongwe
Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur
Maldives - Male
Mali - Bamako
Malta - Valletta
Marshall Islands - Majuro
Mauritania - Nouakchott
Mauritius - Port Louis
Mexico - Mexico City
Micronesia, Federated States of - Palikir
Moldova - Chisinau
Monaco - Monaco
Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar
Montenegro - Podgorica
Morocco - Rabat
Mozambique - Maputo
Myanmar (Burma) - Rangoon (Yangon); Naypyidaw or Nay Pyi Taw (administrative)
Namibia - Windhoek
Nauru - no official capital; government offices in Yaren District
Nepal - Kathmandu
Netherlands - Amsterdam; The Hague (seat of government)
New Zealand - Wellington
Nicaragua - Managua
Niger - Niamey
Nigeria - Abuja
Norway - Oslo
Oman - Muscat
Pakistan - Islamabad
Palau - Melekeok
Panama - Panama City
Papua New Guinea - Port Moresby
Paraguay - Asuncion
Peru - Lima
Philippines - Manila
Poland - Warsaw
Portugal - Lisbon
Qatar - Doha
Romania - Bucharest
Russia - Moscow
Rwanda - Kigali
Saint Kitts and Nevis - Basseterre
Saint Lucia - Castries
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Kingstown
Samoa - Apia
San Marino - San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe - Sao Tome
Saudi Arabia - Riyadh
Senegal - Dakar
Serbia - Belgrade
Seychelles - Victoria
Sierra Leone - Freetown
Singapore - Singapore
Slovakia - Bratislava
Slovenia - Ljubljana
Solomon Islands - Honiara
Somalia - Mogadishu
South Africa - Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judiciary)
South Sudan - Juba (Relocating to Ramciel)
Spain - Madrid
Sri Lanka - Colombo; Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte (legislative)
Sudan - Khartoum
Suriname - Paramaribo
Swaziland - Mbabane
Sweden - Stockholm
Switzerland - Bern
Syria - Damascus
Taiwan - Taipei
Tajikistan - Dushanbe
Tanzania - Dar es Salaam; Dodoma (legislative)
Thailand - Bangkok
Togo - Lome
Tonga - Nuku'alofa
Trinidad and Tobago - Port-of-Spain
Tunisia - Tunis
Turkey - Ankara
Turkmenistan - Ashgabat
Tuvalu - Vaiaku village, Funafuti province
Uganda - Kampala
Ukraine - Kyiv
United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi
United Kingdom - London
United States of America - Washington D.C.
Uruguay - Montevideo
Uzbekistan - Tashkent
Vanuatu - Port-Vila
Vatican City (Holy See) - Vatican City
Venezuela - Caracas
Vietnam - Hanoi
Yemen - Sanaa
Zambia - Lusaka
Zimbabwe - Harare

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