Hundreds of thousands of the Muslim-minority Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine state after authorities launched a brutal crackdown on insurgents six months ago that the UN has called “ethnic cleansing”.

Myanmar has vehemently denied the allegations, insisting it was responding to attacks by Rohingya militants in late August.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak raised fears that so many desperate and displaced people could fall prey to extremist groups like Islamic State.

With Myanmar’s de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi sitting just metres away at a special Australia-ASEAN summit in Sydney, Najib said it was no longer a domestic issue.

“Because of the suffering of Rohingya people and that of displacement around the region, the situation in Rakhine state and Myanmar can no longer be considered to be a purely domestic matter,” he said.

“In addition, the problem should not be looked at through the humanitarian prism only because it has the potential of developing into a serious security threat to the region.

“Rakhine with thousands of despairing … people who see no hope in the future will be a fertile ground for radicalisation and recruitment by Daesh and affiliated groups.”

Daesh is an alternative name given to Islamic State.

The United Nations on Friday launched an appeal for nearly US$1 billion to care for Rohingya refugees, who have mostly fled to Bangladesh.

Najib said Malaysia was ready to assist in finding “a just and durable solution”, while urging Southeast Asian nations to work closely to deter any extremist threats.

“We must be vigilant and increase our collaboration, because the collapse of Daesh territories in Iraq and Syria has forced it to go underground and re-emerge elsewhere, especially in crisis zones where it can grow and operate.”

He pointed to pro-Islamic State militants seizing the southern Philippine city of Marawi last year as a warning of what can happen.

“We must draw lessons from Marawi and be extremely concerned that at least 10 militant groups in the Mindanao region (of the Philippines) have declared their affiliation to Daesh,” he said.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with Australia a dialogue partner since 1974.

All leaders are attending the summit in Sydney except the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte, who cited more pressing developments at home.

The twin-engined aircraft crashed into a house just after taking off in Plaridel town, killing all five aboard as well as at least two people others on the ground, said Superintendent Julio Lizardo.

The death toll could rise as rescuers were still going through the ruins of the house, Lizardo, the town’s police chief said.

“We are still digging through the rubble. There may be more dead,” he told AFP.

Officials declined to say what may have caused the crash of the Piper PA-23 Apache operated by a local charter company.

Thousands demonstrated in the city against a raft of grievances on the sidelines of an Australia-ASEAN special summit, where Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has vowed to tackle human rights issues.

They came together to urge the release of political prisoners in Vietnam, an end to strongman Hun Sen’s regime in Cambodia and a halt to the military crackdown on Rohingya in Myanmar.

“We are here to protest issues that are happening in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, the Rohingya — you name it, we are here to send a clear voice to these governments that you do not mistreat human rights,” Vietnamese-Australian protestor Davy Nguyen told AFP.

Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations including Hun Sen, Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Vietnam’s Nguyen Xuan Phuc, are in Sydney for talks. The Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte opted not to attend.

All have been accused of oppression.

“The summit is here, and the (Australian) government needs to do something — they need to put human rights before economics, before money,” Nguyen added.

Among banners was one portraying Aung San Suu Kyi with a Adolf Hitler moustache, calling on her to “Return the Nobel Prize”.

The Nobel laureate is accused of failing to do enough to halt the persecution of the Muslim-minority Rohingya community who have been brutally forced out of Rakhine state by the Myanmar military.

Others urged Hun Sen, who is accused of overseeing widespread human rights violations, to quit. The protest followed a rally by several hundred Cambodian-Australians against him on Friday.

“We are here today in solidarity among the communities from Southeast Asia who are facing dictatorship and genocide, of course particularly in the Rohingya community,” Shawfikul Islam from the Australian Burmese Rohingya Organisation said.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with Australia a dialogue partner since 1974.

A Soviet-trained economist from southern Vietnam, Khai held office for nine years starting in 1997, a period of reform that saw Vietnam transform into one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economies.

Khai also made history as the country’s first post-war leader to visit Washington in 2005, a landmark trip that helped cement ties between the former war time foes.

A government statement announcing the former premier’s death in the early hours of Saturday hailed his “spirit of innovation”.

He “brought into play the capabilities of the whole economic sector, especially the private sector, in parallel with the opening up and international integration (of the country),” the statement said.

It did not detail the cause of Khai’s death, though his health has reportedly been ailing for several weeks.

While the former premier helped open the communist country’s economy and launch it onto a world stage, his administration made no departure from Vietnam’s repressive one-party rule at home, where independent media is banned and critics are routinely jailed.

His government was also plagued by corruption.

Born on December 25, 1933 in Ho Chi Minh City’s suburban Cu Chi district, Khai became a political activist at 14 by joining a children’s revolutionary movement against the French colonial regime.

He later joined the communist party at age 26, shortly before being sent to study in Moscow from 1960 to 1965.

He became the mayor of Ho Chi Minh city in 1985, and six years later entered Vietnam’s top decision-making body, the politburo.

Before taking office as prime minister, Khai was deputy premier to his patron and mentor Vo Van Kiet from 1991-97.

Xi’s reappointment by the Communist Party-controlled legislature was a foregone conclusion, but all eyes had been on whether his former anti-corruption enforcer, Wang Qishan, would become his deputy.

Xi received a standing ovation after winning all 2,970 votes at the annual session of the National People’s Congress. In 2013, Xi had received 2,952 votes, with one against and three abstentions, a 99.86 percent share.

Only one delegate voted against Wang, who received 2,969 votes in favour.

Elevating Wang, 69, allows Xi to keep a formidable ally by his side, as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong cements his authority and sets his sights on a possible lifelong tenure.

Wang was at the frontline of Xi’s anti-corruption crusade, heading the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which punished 1.5 million officials in the past five years, from low-level cadres to regional leaders and generals. He stepped down last year.

Known internationally in his previous role as China’s pointman on trade, Wang could help Xi deal with increasingly tense relations with the United States amid fears of a looming trade war, analysts say.

The White House said Trump had signed the “Taiwan Travel Act,” which “encourages visits between officials of the United States and Taiwan at all levels.”

US representatives can already travel to democratic Taiwan and Taiwanese officials occasionally visit the White House, but meetings are usually low profile to avoid offending China.

Washington cut formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979 in favor of Beijing. But it maintains trade relations with the island and sells it weapons, angering China.

China sees Taiwan as a renegade province and has long stated its desire for reunification.

The new law describes Taiwan as “a beacon of democracy” in Asia, and states that “Taiwan’s democratic achievements inspire many countries and people in the region.”

Senator Jim Inhofe welcomed the move, saying high-level meetings “remain extremely valuable, especially as China continues their unprecedented reclamation in the South China Sea.”

He described the legislation as “an important tool as we continue to ensure Taiwan has the ability to defend itself and remains a committed US partner in the region.”

Trump’s signature, announced late on Friday — when the White House usually tries to bury news — comes amid increasing tensions between the mainland and the self-ruled island.

Beijing has cut off official communications with Taipei because President Tsai Ing-wen refuses to acknowledge the democratic island as part of “one China”.

The war of words between Moscow and London over the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy escalated as Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said his government’s “quarrel” was with Putin rather than the Russian people.

“We think it overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision to direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the UK, on the streets of Europe, for the first time since the Second World War,” Johnson said in London.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded saying Johnson’s claims violated all rules of diplomatic protocol.

Linking Putin to the attack on Sergei Skripal, who moved to Britain in a 2010 spy swap, “is nothing but shocking and unforgivable behaviour from the point of view of diplomacy”, Peskov told Russian news agencies.

The crisis has unravelled in the thick of Russia’s presidential campaign, with Putin expected to win a fourth Kremlin term on Sunday.

In a rare joint statement, the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and the United States on Thursday condemned the attack on Skripal and his daughter Yulia — both in a critical but stable condition in hospital — as an “assault on UK sovereignty”.

They said there “no plausible alternative explanation” for the use of the Soviet-designed nerve agent other than Russian responsibility.

Police officer Nick Bailey, who initially attended to the Skripals, was also in hospital in a critical state, though conscious, but his health has improved and he is now in a stable condition, England’s health service said Friday.

Alexander Yakovenko, Russia’s ambassador to Britain, told Channel 4 television that Britain’s response to the attack was a “gross provocation”.

He branded the British investigation “untransparent and secret”, adding that there was “no proof” that Skripal was gravely ill.

Moscow opens probes

The Kremlin has vehemently denied it had a hand in the poisoning of its former spy in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

London’s key allies have closed ranks against Putin after British Prime Minister Theresa May announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and suspended high-level contacts, among other measures.

On Friday, Russia said it could hit back at Britain at “any minute” with its own raft of punitive measures.

The Kremlin has indicated it would expel British diplomats in a riposte to London’s move as well as adopt other measures that would “most suit Moscow’s interests”.

“All the steps will be well thought out,” Peskov said.

Meanwhile the Investigative Committee, which reports to Putin, opened a probe into the “attempted premeditated murder” of Skripal’s daughter, a Russian national, which it said had been “carried out in a way that was dangerous to the public”.

At the same time a separate probe was opened into the mysterious death of Nikolai Glushkov, a Russian exile who was found dead at his London home this week.

London’s Metropolitan Police later announced their own murder investigation, saying Glushkov had suffered compression of the neck.

– Scepticism in Russia –

Putin has barely weighed in on the row, telling a BBC reporter this week: “Sort things out from your side and then we will discuss this with you.”

Russia insists it had no motive to target Skripal with what Britain says was a highly potent Soviet-designed nerve agent called Novichok, in the first such attack in Europe since World War II.

Skripal had taken his daughter, who was on a visit from Moscow, out for lunch before they both collapsed on a bench.

Many Russians remain sceptical that the state was responsible and some analysts have not ruled out the involvement of ordinary criminals or rogue agents.

The incident revived memories of the fate of Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian dissident who died of Polonium radiation poisoning in a 2006 attack in Britain that London blamed on Moscow.

EU president Donald Tusk said Friday that the bloc would discuss the attack at a Brussels summit next week, adding it would send a “clear message”.

– ‘We don’t want Cold War’ –

Vil Mirzayanov, a Soviet-era chemist who helped create Novichok but later revealed the existence of Moscow’s classified programme, said terrorists could not produce it.

“To create its components one needs powerful labs and very experienced personnel which only exist in several countries,” the now US-based whistleblower told opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

Britain on Friday said that it had invited the chemical weapons watchdog OPCW to take a sample of the poison for analysis, under Article 8 of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

May warned more measures could follow against Russia, noting that the US-led NATO alliance and the UN Security Council had discussed the attack.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday the alliance did not want a return to Cold War hostilities with Russia while expressing support for Britain’s stance.

“We don’t want a new Cold War,” he told BBC radio.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told an ASEAN-Australia special summit in Sydney that the use of the “dark web” by extremists and other criminals was a spiralling problem.

“The use of encrypted messaging apps by terrorists and criminals is potentially the most significant degradation of intelligence capability in modern times,” he said.

Dutton added at the meeting of Southeast Asian leaders that the only way to deal with the threat, and the increasing use of the internet by groups like Islamic State to radicalise and recruit new members, was together.

“While our nations are focused on countering the ongoing threat of terrorism domestically, it would be a mistake to approach the problem from a purely national perspective,” he said.

“Terrorism and violent extremism transcend national borders.

“Countering the threat requires a united and cohesive regional effort involving coordination between our respective national security and law enforcement agencies.”

Canberra is already helping Southeast Asian states choke terrorist financing and counter violent extremism.

The problem has been exacerbated by jihadists now being forced out of Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State caliphate mostly crushed.

The issue was driven home last year when pro-Islamic State militants seized the southern Philippine city of Marawi, with Australia aiding Manila to win it back.

A memorandum of understanding will be issued at the summit later Saturday, reportedly with an agreement to pool cyber intelligence and police resources across the region for the first time.

The Australian newspaper said it would include a regional digital forensics taskforce and uniform criminal legislative frameworks to secure prosecutions.

Australia has suffered six terror attacks in recent years and disrupted 14 more, including a plot to bring down a plane departing Sydney.

In response, Canberra has consolidated key functions like national security, immigration, counter-terrorism, cyber-security, and border protection under a newly-created Home Affairs department, headed by Dutton.

He said that to address the issue of apps which allow extremists to operate clandestinely, Canberra planned to introduce legislation to strengthen agencies’ ability to adapt to encryption.

This will include making companies that provide communications services and devices obliged to assist when asked, while also making the use of surveillance devices and computer network exploitation by authorities easier.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with Australia a dialogue partner since 1974.

The Interior Department’s International Wildlife Conservation Council had its first meeting in Washington Friday.

But it was already having an impact since the end of last year, when the department moved to allow the importation of lion and elephant safari trophies from certain African countries, which sparked outrage among conservationist groups.

The bans were set years ago to protect the species, and hunting groups have been pushing hard for the government to lift them and allow hunters to bring back the heads and pelts of game animals.

The panel, created and chosen by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a hunter himself, is chaired by Steven Chancellor.

The coal mining tycoon and top Republican donor is known for his Indiana home which is jammed full of hundreds of stuffed animals — lions, bears, leopards, antelope and others, attesting to his love for hunting.

Online photographs at an Argentina hunt show him dressed like an old-west gunslinger, in a black leather hat, black shirt, and black leather chaps, with a six-gun and bullets around his waist.

The board also sports Paul Babaz, president of Safari Club International, and John Jackson, a former president of the pro-hunting group.

Zimbabwe native Ivan Carter, one of Africa’s leading hunting guides, is a board member, as well as two other American guides.

Of four women on the board, one, Olivia Opre, has her own cable television reality show where she is known as the “Extreme Huntress”. Another, Denise Welker, was recently named the Houston Safari Club’s “Huntress of the Year 2018”.

A photograph on Safari Club International’s website from 2013 shows Welker in front of a massive, felled African elephant, with a text from her businessman husband describing how she downed it from five paces.

Zinke announced the formation of the International Wildlife Conservation Council in August, to provide him advice and recommendations.

“This council will provide important insight into the ways that American sportsmen and women benefit international conservation from boosting economies and creating hundreds of jobs to enhancing wildlife conservation,” Zinke said.

The tilt of the Trump administration toward big game hunters is not totally surprising: his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr are hunters. Pictures published in 2012 showed Eric Trump holding the tail cut from a dead elephant, a knife in his other hand.

But the International Wildlife Conservation Council has no representatives from the non-hunting conservation community.

It does include, however, the gun community. It includes two former lobbyists of the powerful National Rifle Association. Babaz was recently nominated to the NRA board. Another board member is an executive of gunmaker Beretta USA.