Some of Gandhi’s ashes scattered off South Africa

Some of Gandhi’s ashes scattered off South Africa

DURBAN, South Africa — Six decades after his death, some of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s ashes have been scattered off the coast of South Africa, where he was confronted by racial discrimination and developed some of his philosophies of peaceful resistance.

An early-morning service Saturday in a harbor in the eastern city of Durban on the 62nd anniversary of Gandhi’s death included the laying of flowers and candles on the water’s surface.

Gandhi, known as the Mahatma or “great soul,” was shot and killed by a Hindu hard-liner in 1948 in New Delhi. His ashes were divided, stored in steel urns and sent across India and beyond for memorial services. It was not unusual for some of the ashes to have been preserved instead of scattered as intended.

Macmillan pulls books from Amazon over pricing

NEW YORK — New copies of Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall,” Andrew Young’s “The Politician” and other books published by Macmillan were unavailable Saturday on Amazon.com, a drastic step in the ongoing dispute over e-book prices.

Macmillan CEO John Sargent said he was told Friday that its books would be removed from Amazon.com, as would e-books for Amazon’s Kindle e-reader. Books will be available on Amazon.com through private sellers and other third parties, Sargent said.

Sargent met with Amazon officials Thursday to discuss the publisher’s new pricing model for e-books.

Macmillan and other publishers have criticized Amazon for charging just $9.99 for best-selling e-books on its Kindle e-reader, a price publishers say is too low and could hurt hardcover sales, which generally carry a list price of more than $24.

Car recyclers given more time in ‘clunkers’ program

SEATTLE — The federal government has extended the number of days that car recyclers have to crush vehicles they received under the popular “Cash for Clunkers” program over the summer.

Initially, they were required to crush or shred clunkers within 180 days of receiving them or face a $15,000-per-car fine.

The National Highway and Safety Administration has extended the crush deadline by 90 days, to 270 days altogether, as part of the program officially called the Car Allowance Rebate System.

Still no word on hikers

MINNEAPOLIS — It’s been six months since three young Americans were taken into custody in Iran, and the mother of one said even hiring an attorney in Iran has brought no new information on how they are doing.

“It’s like there’s this brick wall in front of us, and we can’t get through,” Cindy Hickey, the mother of Shane Bauer, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were hiking in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region in July when they accidentally crossed the border, their families have said.

Iran’s foreign minister said in late December that the three would be tried in court, but he did not say when a trial would begin or what the three would be charged with other than to say they had “suspicious aims.” Earlier, the country’s chief prosecutor said they were accused of spying.

Woman drugged her grandchild, police say

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri woman is accused of drugging her 1-year-old granddaughter, hoping that the child’s divorcing parents would get back together if they had a sick child.

Jefferson City police allege in a probable-cause statement that 41-year-old Terri Chilton fed her granddaughter blood thinner Jan. 12, causing the girl to bleed uncontrollably from her mouth, nose and two minor scratches. The girl survived, but it’s not yet known if there was long-term organ damage.

Chilton is charged with one count of first-degree child endangerment.

16 die in suicide attack

KHAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber killed 16 people Saturday at a police checkpoint in a northwest Pakistani tribal area where the military declared victory over the Taliban and al-Qaida last year, highlighting the difficulty Islamabad has in holding regions once the battle phase of its army offensives end.

Elsewhere in the lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, suspected U.S. missiles killed nine alleged militants, intelligence officials said.

Fourteen civilians and two police officers died in the suicide attack in the Bajur tribal region, and 20 people were wounded, local government official Bakhat Pacha said. The attacker, on foot, struck a market area in the region’s main town, Khar, he said.

Combined dispatches