At the opening of its new session, delayed a day because of the deadly attacks against U.S. targets, the General Assembly decided to postpone the children's summit to an undetermined date.

More than 75 world leaders, thousands of delegates and hundreds of children were scheduled to attend the Sept. 19-21 children's summit in New York.

The first World Summit for Children was held in 1990, and delegates this year were to assess the successes and failures of the last decade and adopt a new plan to tackle tragedies such as AIDS orphans, child soldiers and trafficking in children.

Diplomats said privately they expected the conference to be rescheduled for 2002. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged countries to continue with preparatory work for a new action plan for children.

Carol Bellamy, director of the U.N. Children's Fund, welcomed the postponement and said the summit would be rescheduled when the time is right. The former New York City councilwoman said New York ''needs to focus its energies on more urgent matters right now.''