News stories from Sunday January 9, 1972

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Howard Hughes, by avoiding all public contact, has become one of the most famous people in the country; Hughes hasn't appeared in public in 25 years. He controls his $2.5 billion financial empire from seclusion, initially in Las Vegas, now in the Bahamas.Hughes spoke to selected newsmen in Los Angeles via telephone from Paradise Island, a conference set up by Dick Hannah (P.R. representative for the Hughes Tool Company) on January 7. Hughes denied taping an autobiography with Clifford Irving. A recording of the conference was sent to a voiceprint lab in New Jersey, where Dr. Lawrence Kersta confirmed that analysis of the voice showed it to be that of Howard Hughes. [NBC] Whether Hughes did or did not collaborate in the preparation of a book written by Clifford Irving is now debatable. The book is set to be published by McGraw Hill and Life Magazine. Harold McGraw, Jr., president of the McGraw-Hill Book Company, says that he stakes the integrity of McGraw-Hill on the authenticity of Hughes' autobiography. James Shepley, president of Time, Inc., says that the autobiography is an extraordinarily revealing document, which is perhaps causing Hughes' denial of it. [NBC] Bangladesh leader Sheik Mujibur Rahman left London, where he went after his release by West Pakistan, to return to Bangladesh. He will stop in India to greet Prime Minister Indira Gandhi en route. [NBC] A fire in Victoria harbor in Hong Kong destroyed the Queen Elizabeth, once the ultimate ocean liner. The ship was to be repaired and refitted as a floating university. [NBC] North Vietnamese raiders attacked Long Cheng, Laos, but were driven off. [NBC] China confirmed that it conducted a nuclear test on Friday. [NBC] In the midst of the British coal strike, fire broke out in one mine but management personnel brought it under control. [NBC] The latest pictures from Mars via Mariner 9 are described as clear and detailed. A "Grand Canyon" on Mars has been discovered. [NBC] Prisoners staged an uprising in a Belfast jail after IRA members were thwarted in their escape attempt. [NBC]