Russia would be prepared to "create a joint staff" to fight the Islamic State in which Moscow would work with France, the United States and even Turkey, the Russian ambassador to France said Wednesday.

"We are prepared to... plan strikes on Daesh (IS) positions together and create a joint staff with France, the U.S., with all the countries who want to be in this coalition," said Alexander Orlov.

Tensions between Moscow and Kiev ratcheted up further Wednesday as Ukraine decided to stop buying gas from Russia and closed its airspace to its giant eastern neighbor’s airlines.

The two measures not only underscore the acrimonious nature of the former Soviet countries' relations but also highlight how difficult one of Europe's deadliest crises since the Balkans Wars of the 1990s may be to resolve.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought to play down tensions with Russia Wednesday after Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane on the Syria border sparked fears among NATO allies of a wider conflict.

Moscow said Russian and Syrian special forces had rescued one of the pilots who ejected from the plane after being shot down early Tuesday but confirmed another was dead, in an incident that threatens to damage relations between two rival players in the Syrian conflict.

The Indian army killed three suspected rebels and another person was shot dead during a six-hour gun battle Wednesday on a military camp in Indian Kashmir near the border with Pakistan, a military spokesman said.

Heavily-armed fighters stormed the army base in Tangdhar, 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of the main city of Srinagar, setting off grenades and firing automatic weapons.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday urged the European Union to limit the number of migrants it allows into the bloc, following heightened security concerns after the Paris attacks.

"Europe must say that it can no longer accommodate so many migrants, it is not possible," he said in extracts from a lunch with foreign media published by Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung.

A political rally by opposition supporters turned violent Tuesday, leaving two police officers wounded, after rocks were thrown and guns fired during disturbances in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.

One of the officers suffered gunshot wounds in the protests, which erupted when supporters of several opposition parties took to the streets to challenge final results of the first round of presidential elections, announced earlier in the day by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP).

Vanuatu President Baldwin Lonsdale has dissolved parliament and called a snap election after a corruption scandal destabilized the government, local media reported Wednesday.

Lonsdale addressed the nation late Tuesday, calling the situation a "man-made disaster", the Vanuatu Post reported.

"I came from my room to see what was happening. I saw the fire and ran outside," says Dawit, a 13-year-old Ethiopian boy living in a Swedish center for asylum seekers.

His voice is steady and lacking emotion, but the arson attack on his temporary home for unaccompanied children has cast a shadow over his hopes of living in safety one day.

Artur Galtsov survived the bombs and bullets on the frontline in east Ukraine but after returning home the army volunteer faced another battle -- overcoming his horrifying memories.

Haunted by the recollection of seeing two comrades blown apart before his eyes in fighting with pro-Russian rebels, Galtsov, 24, got drunk one day and jumped from a third-floor window in a bid to end his life.

A pair of major 7.6-magnitude earthquakes jolted eastern Peru near its border with Brazil on Tuesday, and were felt across several South American nations, but authorities had no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The first quake, which struck at 5:45 pm (2245 GMT), was 601 kilometers (373 miles) deep, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.