February 2, 1974

Sen H D Scott says he is not 'backtracking one single inch' on his charge that ex-White House counsel John W Dean 3d lied about Pres Nixon's role in Watergate cover-up, statement following meeting with Pres; hints that his charge that Dean committed perjury might have been based on evidence that special prosecutor Leon Jaworski has not seen; Sen's aide says White House chief of staff Alexander M Haig Jr went to Scott's home between Christmas and New Yrs Day and showed Sen 'thick file of documents' about Watergate which consisted of white paper prepared in White House that detailed Pres's position on variety of Watergate-related issues and transcripts of tapes of several conversations between Nixon and his former staff members about Watergate burglary; White House press sec Ronald L Ziegler says he doubts Scott has seen material that has not been made available to Jaworski; says, in response to former White House speech writer John K Andrews Jr's assertion that both Haig and State Sec H A Kissinger urged Pres to break with H R Haldeman and John D Ehrlichman, that Andrews is referring to 'mixture of supposed discussions, some of them out of context'; says from now on he will cut short reporters' questions about Watergate issues; Rose Mary Woods's atty Charles S Rhyne asserts that ct-apptd tech experts who found June 20 '72 tape of Nixon-Haldeman conversation had been manually erased are not experts but '6 profs who don't know what they're doing' (L)

Fire on Feb 1 rages through upper floors of modern 25-story bldg in Sao Paulo Brazil, killing at least 170 people, many of whom were attempting to escape flames by jumping from bldg; among bodies identified was that of Amer William Franz Williams who worked in Brazil for Natl City Bank of NY; fire and rescue operations described; previous fires in Dec '70 and Feb '72 noted; Mayor Miguel Colasuonno says fire swept through top floors because bldg was constructed largely with flammable plastic; illus (L)

Econ prospects for W Eur look brighter than they did few mos ago because oil is now flowing more plentifully; econ experts are concerned that recessionary forces could get out of hand, reflecting deflationary impact of 4-fold increase in oil prices, but are no longer forecasting deep recession this yr; see only downswing in growth rate instead; EEC Exec Comm now estimates real growth for EEC nations should be around 2%; had predicted in Nov a decline in econ activity; situation in specific countries discussed; EEC issues study on effect of higher oil prices; EEC aide Ugo Mosca says he expects higher oil prices to add 2% to cost of living this yr (M)

Sen Mike Mansfield calls for Pres Nixon to join Dem Cong leadership in pressing for public funding of Fed elections, speech responding to Pres' State of Union Address; Mansfield illus (S)

Egyptian Pres Sadat tells leaders of Palestine liberation movement that he will refuse to open Suez Canal to Israeli shipping until Israel recognizes 'the legitimate rights of the Palestinians' and returns all Arab territories seized during '67 war; Egyptian Govt appropriates about $40-million for clearing operations on canal (M)