An Italian appeals court on May 9 confirmed a lower court's sentence against former Italian Prime Minister and leader of the center-right People of Freedom party Silvio Berlusconi for fiscal fraud, la Repubblica reported.

China Construction Bank has stopped doing business with two North Korean banks, the Chosun Ilbo daily reported May 9, citing diplomatic sources in Beijing.

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline was bombed May 8 in the district of Shirqat in Iraq's Salah ad Din province, a source in the North Oil Company said, Alsumaria reported.

Libyan militias withdrew their trucks with mounted machine guns from outside the foreign and justice ministries May 8, but protesters remained, AFP reported.

Syria's Internet and communications were restored May 8 after a two-day blackout, Syrian state TV announced, AFP reported.

Thousands of Malaysians gathered in a stadium outside Kuala Lumpur to protest the May 5 election results, which they claim are fraudulent, Al Jazeera reported May 8.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that he would return to the Middle East later in May for separate talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Reuters reported May 8.