UN Security Council talks on more sanctions against Iran were cancelled when Russia withdrew from a meeting planned this week in New York, Russian officials said Wednesday.

An official in the Russian delegation to the UN told news agency Ria-Novosti that Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov could not take attend due to "the intensity of his schedule."

The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said it saw no need for an emergency session on Iran.

New York -Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili issued a dramatic call late Tuesday for the United Nations to mediate in the Caucasus republic's conflict with Russia and breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia, in a speech to the UN General Assembly.

Saakashvili called on the UN to denounce Russia's "brutal invasion" of his country last month and to help implement a stalled ceasefire plan that calls for a complete pullback of Russian troops from Georgian territory.

The Hague  - Fewer charges are to be brought against former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, according to the amended indictment released Tuesday by the prosecution at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

The Hague-based court reduced the number of municipalities where Karadzic was allegedly responsible for war crimes from 41 to 27 - a move expected to speed up the trial. However, the court has yet to approve the altered indictment.

Karadzic faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. He was arrested in Serbia in July after being on the run for more than 12 years.

New York - French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Tuesday a quicker pace in reforming the UN Security Council and the world's group of eight leading industrialized nations (G-8) in order to meet the demands of emerging countries.

Sarkozy said the world is still governed by 20th-century institutions in a 21st century world.

"Let today's major powers and the powers of tomorrow unite to shoulder together the responsibilities their influence gives them in world affairs," Sarkozy said in an address to the UN General Assembly.

Amman  - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed "understanding of Jordan's concerns" over excavations being conducted by Israel at the al-Aqsa Mosque's al-Magharebah Gate in East Jerusalem, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry reported Tuesday.

In response to a message from Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir, "the Secretary General said in his letter that he was well- aware of the circumstances surrounding the excavations and the planned building near al-Magharebah Gate and that he understands Jordan's concerns in this respect," the Foreign Ministry statement said.

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday that a series of global crises were threatening the world at a time when the leadership to address the turmoil was lacking.

In a stark address before the General Assembly, he said: "We all recognize the perils of our current passage. We face a global financial crisis. A global energy crisis. A global food crisis."

But "we also face a crisis of a different sort ... a challenge of global leadership," Ban said.