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The Philippine foreign secretary says he is recommending to President Benigno Aquino III to pull out all Filipino U.N. peacekeepers from the Golan Heights following the abduction of four by Syrian rebels.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - In a break from months of saber rattling, China under new President Xi Jinping appears to be moderating its approach to a potentially explosive territorial dispute with Japan and taking measures to prevent accidental conflict.

China’s new leader Xi Jinping capped his rise Thursday by adding the largely ceremonial title of president, though he will need cautious maneuvering to consolidate his power.

Park Geun-hye is sworn in as South Korea's president, making her the first woman to lead the East Asian nation.

The Philippine government has reached a framework peace agreement with the country's largest Muslim rebel group, President Benigno Aquino says. The deal follows long negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to end a 40-year conflict that has cost more than 120,000 lives.

China's presumed next leader has made a public appearance for the first time in two weeks. The official Xinhua News Agency says Vice President Xi Jinping arrived at China Agricultural University in Beijing on Saturday for activities marking National Science Popularization Day.

With still no sign of China’s designated new leader, Xi Jinping, who has not been seen in public since Sept. 1, many insiders and well-connected analysts say the Chinese political ship is adrift, with factions jockeying to shape an impending Communist Party conclave.

China’s president-in-waiting, Xi Jinping, canceled a planned meeting in Beijing on Monday with the visiting Danish prime minister —his third no-show for a meeting with a foreign dignitary this month —fueling speculation that the country’s carefully orchestrated leadership transition had run into more unexpected turbulence.

Reuters reports that Syrian President Bashar Assad and Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby have agreed to measures that could end months of violence. DP news reports that Syria said Assad and Elaraby agreed on a number of “practical steps” to speed up the reform process.

Security forces in the Syrian capital of Damascus intensify checkpoints and patrols to keep an overnight surge of protests from spreading into the heart of the city, a stronghold for President Bashar Assad.