New Year's Day 1973...For President Pompidou of France one of the day's highlights was a meeting with members of his government, parliament, administration and civil service..... For Greek Premier George Papaopulos there was a church service in his capacity as Regent....For the Pope, his usual blessing to a crowd in St. Peter's Square....and for Israeli settlers in the Golan Heights area, a worried return to normal after Syrian shelling.

M. Pompidou had a good report for his administrators: that France, despite a year of inescapable difficulties, had made greet progress on the economic and social fronts.

Mr. Papadopoulos led his entire Cabinet, military chiefs, political and church leaders at the ceremony in Athens Cathedral. Later there was a reception for the diplomatic corps.

The Pope, still suffering from the effects of a mind bout of influenza, spoke to the crowd about the need for peace. he said peace must be possible, just as it most be possible to defeat disease, illiteracy, wretchedness and hunger.

On the Golan Heights, a high state of military alert existed on Monday (1 January) after two days of shelling by Syrian artillery and counter attacks by Israeli guns and aircraft. Some of the Syrian shells fell in the central and southern sectors of the Israeli-occupied territory, near the settlements of Beni Yehuda, Kfar Ginat and Afik. Many settlers spent the nights in underground shelters as a precaution.

SYNOPSIS: In Paris on Monday, President Pompidou called members of his government, parliament, civil service and administration to the Elysee Palace for a formal reception. He had a message for them. It was that France, despite some inescapable difficulties, had made good progress during the year in economic and social matters. And he forecast further progress in the year ahead.

In Athens, the Greek Premier, Mr. George Papadopoulos, attended the traditional New Year's day service at the main cathedral. In the absence of the Greek Royal Family, he was once again acting as Regent at a service attended by the entire cabinet, military chiefs, ??? and members of the Church.

In St. Peter's Square, a large crowd gathered for the traditional message from The Pope. This year, he talked about the need for peace and an end to violence, saying that peace must be possible.

In the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, there was more violence, as Syrian and Israeli guns and aircraft fought intermittently for two days. On New Year's Day, worried settlers who had spent two nights in underground shelters, began to return to their homes with a lull in the fighting. But the tension in the area remained high with troops from both sides on the alert.