Xinhua world news summary at 0030 GMT, Feb. 25

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades flew to Moscow on Tuesday for an official visit during which he will sign a controversial defense cooperation agreement extending military facilities to Russia on the eastern Mediterranean island.

Anastasiades, trying to play down the agreement, has said that it will renew an old one which covered Russia's servicing of military equipment purchased by Cyprus. (Cyprus-Russia-Agreement)

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LONDON -- British Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday Britain was not supplying lethal equipment to Ukraine "at this stage," but stressed the need for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

"We are not at this stage of supplying lethal equipment. We have announced our series of non-lethal equipment ... which we have already said we will give to Ukraine," Cameron told the Parliament's Liaison Committee on Tuesday. (Britain-Ukraine-Weapons)

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CANBERRA -- Australia is set to send more troops to Iraq to join the fight against Islamic State (IS), according to local media reports on Wednesday.

Although foreign minister Julie Bishop refused to confirm speculation that Australia would send additional troops overseas, she did reveal that Australia's presence in Iraq was "under review". (Australia-Iraq-IS)

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PRAGUE -- A 62-year-old local man shot eight people dead in the eastern Czech town of Uhersky Brod on Tuesday afternoon, said Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec.

The victims include seven men and one woman, the gunman shot dead himself after the attack in Druzba restaurant in the town.(Czech-Shooting)

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MOSCOW -- An official with Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that his country looks forward to creating a system involving rating agencies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, claiming leading western agencies downgraded his country's rating out of political motivation.

Evgeny Stanislavov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of Economic Cooperation, believed western agencies' claims that the state of Russian economy has been in the non-investment zone are wrong and have matched "the logic of the consistent and well-orchestrated anti-Russian campaign." (Russia-economy)

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UNITED NATIONS -- The UN Security Council on Tuesday extended the sanctions on individuals and parties threatening the ongoing political transition in Yemen for another year, while expressing concerns over the current violence and wide- ranging challenges in the Arab country.

In a resolution unanimously adopted here, the Council renewed until Feb. 26 2016 the assets freeze and travel ban measures against individuals and organizations undermining the peaceful transition process in Yemen, which was imposed by resolution 2140 a year ago. (UN-Yemen) Endi