Migrant crisis: EU backs Turkey action plan

EU states have backed an action plan with Turkey, which it is hoped will ease the flow of migrants to Europe. Nearly 600,000 migrants have reached the EU by sea so far this year, many of them travelling from Turkey.

The leaders agreed to speed up visa liberalisation talks for Turks if Ankara stems the influx and to "re-energise" Turkey's accession dialogue.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said he felt "cautious optimism" over the deal.
Meanwhile a migrant thought to be Afghan was shot dead by a Bulgarian border guard after entering the country from Turkey late on Thursday.

One refugees at Turkey

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov left the Brussels talk on hearing the news.
Thursday's summit in Brussels, European leaders agreed to:

. accelerate visa liberalisation for Turks wanting to visit the EU's borderless Schengen area - if Turkey complies with certain criteria
. "re-energised" talks over Turkey joining the EU.

Turkey had also asked for €3bn (£2.2bn, $3.4bn) in aid, something German Chancellor Angela Merkel said EU states were considering. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, said talks over the aid would continue with Turkish officials over the coming days.

Mrs Merkel will travel to Turkey at the weekend. "There is still a huge amount to do," Mrs Merkel said. "But you cannot say that we've achieved nothing."

Russians, Syrians and Iranians setting up military coordination cell in Baghdad

EXCLUSIVE: Russian, Syrian and Iranian military commanders have set up a coordination cell in Baghdad in recent days to try to begin working with Iranian-backed Shia militias fighting the Islamic State, Fox News has learned. 

Western intelligence sources say the coordination cell includes low-level Russian generals. U.S. officials say it is not clear whether the Iraqi government is involved at the moment. 

Describing the arrival of Russian military personnel in Baghdad, one senior U.S. official said, "They are popping up everywhere."

The Russians already have been building up their military presence in Syria, a subject expected to factor prominently in a planned meeting between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin in New York Monday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. 

While the U.S. also is fighting the Islamic State, the Obama administration has voiced concern that Russia's involvement, at least in Syria, could have a destabilizing effect. 

Moscow, though, has fostered ties with the governments in both Syria and Iraq. In May, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi flew to Moscow for an official visit to discuss potential Russian arms transfers and shared intelligence capability, as well as the enhancement of security and military capabilities, according to a statement by the Iraqi prime minister's office at the time. 

Meanwhile, a U.S. official described to Fox News how, over the weekend, the Russians were able to move 24 attack jets into Syria undetected. 

The Russian military flew 12 Sukhoi Su-25 "Frogfoot" and a dozen Sukhoi Su-24 "Fencer" attack aircraft in "tight formations" under the "steady stream" of the large Russian An-124 cargo planes that have been ferrying supplies from bases in Russia through Iran before traveling on to Syria, the official said. 

The large cargo planes appeared as "a big blip" on radar, but flying beneath them were "tight formations" of the smaller Russian fighter jets that used jamming pods and switched off their IFF, which would identify the aircraft to radar. 

The large Russian cargo planes have the capability to fly directly from Russia to Syria, but the smaller attack aircraft do not. 

"The Russian jets did not have the legs to make it directly from Russia to Syria, and needed a base to refuel," said the official, who spoke to Fox News under the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose sensitive information. 

According to the Aviationist, the Russian cargo planes and fighter jets landed at an airbase in Hamadan, Iran, roughly halfway between Baghdad and Tehran on Sept 18-19. 

Fox News also has learned from U.S. military sources that the Russians have begun flying some of the Sukhoi fighter and attack jets from Bassel al-Assad airport, in Latakia, now a Russian forward operating base along the Mediterranean. 

The planes are not dropping bombs or conducting attack missions, but just flying around near the base, according to one official. The official also confirmed that Russian destroyers are in position off the Mediterranean coast. 

On Thursday, State Department spokesman John Kirby denied a U.S. intelligence failure led to U.S. officials being caught unaware of the two dozen Russian warplanes arriving in Syria. 

"I can tell you that we've been watching this very, very closely ... and we have not been ignorant of what the Russians have been doing," said Kirby. 

Asked Thursday about Russia's military involvement in Syria, Defense Secretary Ash Carter cautioned that without Russian support for a "political transition" in Damascus, it could "pour gasoline on the ISIL phenomenon rather than to lead to the defeat of ISIL." 

But just two days ago, Secretary of State John Kerry said the Russian build-up was consistent with defensive measures. 

"For the moment, it is the judgment of our military and most experts that the level and type represents basically force protection, a level of protection for their deployment to an airbase given the fact that it is in an area of conflict,'' Kerry said at the State Department Tuesday. 

This week, former CIA director Gen. David Petraeus testified on Capitol Hill, warning that inaction in Syria carries risks for the United States. 

"Russia's recent military escalation in Syria is a further reminder that when the U.S. does not take the initiative, others will fill the vacuum -- often in ways that are harmful to our interests," Petraeus said.

Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews

Jennifer Griffin currently serves as a national security correspondent for FOX News Channel . She joined FNC in October 1999 as a Jerusalem-based correspondent.

New Poll: Bernie Sanders Opens Up 16-Point Lead Over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire

Bernie Sanders has opened up a 16 point lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, according to a new CNN/WMUR poll released Thursday.

The Vermont senator was favored by 46-percent of surveyed voters between September 17-23.

Hillary Clinton

Clinton, considered to be the likely-Democratic nominee, came in second with 30-percent of the vote. Vice President Joe Biden, who is still mulling a run, earned 14-percent. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley came in with only two-percent of the vote.

The poll had a sampling error of plus or minus 5.5-percent and surveyed 314 Democratic voters in New Hampshire.

Obama seeks elusive progress on cyberspying in China talks

WASHINGTON –  President Obama is banking that tough talk on suspected Chinese cyberattacks will yield changes in Beijing's behavior and justify a decision to hold off penalizing China.

American officials say China is privately showing signs of taking the matter more seriously and noted comments from President Xi Jingping this week that he's willing to work with the U.S. on cybersecurity.

"Those kinds of comments are at least consistent with what we have urged the Chinese to do when it comes to their policies," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday. "But it certainly is not going to eliminate the concerns that we have, and it certainly is not going to reduce the priority that we place on trying to make progress on those issues."

Obama and Xi were to meet over dinner Thursday night and talk again at the White House on Friday.

Hacking attacks on U.S. companies and government agencies have become a growing source of tension between the U.S. and China.

The U.S. has been preparing sanctions against China in retaliation for its suspected theft earlier this year of personal data of millions of current and former U.S. government employees. But officials decided against levying the penalties ahead of Xi's visit — in part because embarrassing the optics-conscious Chinese could have impacted potential cooperation during the talks that begin Thursday night.

However, some analysts say China will only see an incentive to change its cyber behavior if it feels real consequences.

"The Chinese are going to continue to engage in this activity until they begin to pay a cost for it," said Patrick Cronin of the Center for New American Security. "And today they don't pay a cost for it, so it's going to continue."

U.S. officials are particularly concerned with cyberspying that aims to steal intellectual property from private corporations. The White House is seeking commitments from China to protect intellectual property, though officials are downplaying expectations for any particular formal agreement being reached this week.

"We can choose to make this an area of competition, which I guarantee you we'll win if we have to," Obama told business leaders last week. "Or, alternatively, we can come to an agreement in which we say, 'This isn't helping anybody. Let's instead try to have some basic rules of the road in terms of how we operate.'"

In his visit to the West Coast earlier this week, Xi said China has also been a victim of hacking. Acknowledging that China and the United States don't always see eye to eye, Xi said China is ready to set up a joint effort with the United States to fight cybercrimes.

Nick Rossmann, a program manager for the security company FireEye Inc., said his group is tracking about two dozen organizations in China that use malware to breach U.S. organizations and companies. He cited defense, health care and high-tech firms as among the most frequently targeted companies.

"It's really a range across American industry that we see this economic espionage occurring in," Rossmann said.

The complaint from those companies is that they spend years developing innovative products while companies in China are able to launch comparable products without that same level of effort and cost, Rossmann said.

Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser at the White House, said the U.S. will make the appeal during talks that China's failure to crackdown on cyber spying could alienate a business community that has been a strong backer of deepening U.S.-China relations, and could also antagonize U.S. lawmakers into taking more aggressive action.