The trial of the captain of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner has begun in Tuscany, in a theatre converted into a courtroom to accommodate all the survivors and relatives of the 32 victims who want justice over the 2012 tragedy.

The captain of the cruise ship Costa Concordia is due to go on trial in Italy today, some 18 months after the luxury liner ran aground with the loss of 32 lives.

A security guard accused of killing his sister, her husband and six others had a history of mental problems and feared his sister wanted to kick him out of the home they shared, relatives and others said.

Bomb squad police were detonating a huge explosives haul today at the home of a man accused of shooting dead eight people in Virginia's worst mass killing incident since 2007.