Joel

Celebrated author Cormac McCarthy, an unflinching chronicler of America's bleak frontiers and grim underbelly, died on June 13 aged 89, his publisher said.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who wrote "The Road" and "No Country for Old Men" - both of which became feature films - passed away at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Police in southern Italy said on Tuesday they had seized 2,700 kg of highly pure cocaine hidden in two refrigerated containers containing bananas that had been shipped from Ecuador.

The haul found in the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro would have been worth more than 800 million euros, Italy's Guardia di Finanza police said in a statement.

A reboot of classic gangster movie "Scarface" scripted by the Coen brothers and set in Los Angeles is moving forward with a new director at Universal Pictures, a source familiar with the deal told AFP on May 14.