Arab League foreign ministers adopted a decision to readmit Syria after more than a decade of suspension on Sunday, a spokesperson for the League said, consolidating a regional push to normalise ties with President Bashar al-Assad.
The decision was made at a closed meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo, said Gamal Roshdy, spokesman for the Arab League's secretary general.
Syria's membership of the Arab League was suspended in 2011 after a bloody crackdown on street protests against Assad that led to a devastating civil war, and many Arab states pulled their envoys out of Damascus.
Recently, several Arab states including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have re-engaged with Syria in high-level visits and meetings, though some, including Qatar, remain opposed to full normalisation without a political solution to Syria's conflict.
Arab states have been trying to reach consensus on whether to invite Assad to an Arab League Summit on May 19 in Riyadh to discuss the pace of normalising ties and on what terms Syria will be allowed back.
Peace talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan broke down, although a ceasefire continues between the South Asian neighbours, a Taliban spokesperson said on Saturday.
UPS and FedEx have aid they have grounded their combined fleet of more than 50 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo planes following a crash in Louisville, Kentucky, this week that killed at least 14 people.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Friday he could force airlines to cut up to 20 per cent of flights if the government shutdown did not end, as US airlines on Friday scrambled to make unprecedented government-imposed reductions.
The Philippines' weather bureau warned of life-threatening storm surges of up to five metres and destructive winds as Typhoon Fung-wong churns toward the country's eastern coast, where it is forecast to intensify into a super typhoon before making landfall on Sunday night.
The Indian airports authority said late on Friday that a system used to generate flight plans was "up and running", more than a day after a technical glitch led to delays of hundreds of flights at Delhi airport, one of the world's busiest.