More than three months after the cruise ship Costa Concordia sank off the coast of Italy, the two missing American passengers have been confirmed dead after their bodies were identified several weeks after they were found.

Barbara and Gerald Heil of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, were the only two U.S. victims to die in the accident that occurred on January 13, and on Tuesday their family confirmed their passing in an online statement, reported local paper the Hastings Star Gazette.

Like a scene from a horror film, a Via Rail train has derailed killing at least three people and leaving dozens more trapped for several hours.

The Toronto-bound train was traveling from Niagara Falls when the cars went off the track on Sunday afternoon.

Around 60 of the 75 passengers were trapped for hours in the wreckage before they were finally freed.

As passengers desperately struggled to escape the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship, a group of rich Russians reportedly bribed crewmembers to get coveted spots on the life boats.

Italian officials are reportedly investigating whether expensively dressed Eastern Europeans stuffed handfuls of cash into the pockets of cruise line staff after the massive vessel hit a reef on January 13, reported the Sun.co.uk.

A resident who lives on the island of Giglio near where the ship capsized four miles off course has revealed that instead of seeing women, children and wounded when the first life boats reached dry land, she was shocked to come face-to-face with, "healthy men and elegant women in evening gowns who were speaking Russian," Franca Anichini told German media.

Disturbing new audio has emerged from Italy revealing that the captain of the doomed cruise ship radioed the port insisting the Costa Concordia had simply had a blackout, a full 30 minutes after the vessel had crashed into a rocky reef.

An unidentified crew member -- who the AP has named as captain, Francesco Schettino -- can be heard radioing to Livorno port officials at 10:12 p.m. on Friday night, telling staff that he was checking out reasons for the blackout.

What he doesn't reveal is that the massive vessel -- which was carrying 4,200 passengers, including 120 Americans -- had already capsized on its side, reported the Washington Times.

A massive cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Italy Friday night, and the disaster is already being compared to the Titanic.

The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, was off the Tuscan coast when it ran aground on the tiny island of Giglio, tearing a 160-ft. gash in the hull.

Seventy passengers are still missing and feared dead, and many of those who were rescued are telling shocking stories of disorganization and slow response on part of the crew.

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"Have you seen 'Titanic?' That's exactly what it was," Valerie Ananias, 31, a schoolteacher from Los Angeles who was traveling with her sister and parents, told AP.  They all bore dark red bruises on their knees from the desperate crawl they endured along nearly vertical hallways and stairwells, trying to reach rescue boats.

"We were crawling up a hallway, in the dark, with only the light from the life vest strobe flashing," her mother, Georgia Ananias, 61 said. "We could hear plates and dishes crashing, people slamming against walls."

Several passengers said crew members initially told passengers a simple "technical problem" had caused the lights to go off and the ship to shudder. Experienced cruise travelers who suspected more, grabbed their life vests and raced to their "muster stations," the emergency stations each passenger is assigned to.

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Once there, though, crew members delayed lowering the lifeboats even thought the ship was listing badly

"We had to scream at the controllers to release the boats from the side," said Mike van Dijk, from South Africa. "We were standing in the corridors and they weren't allowing us to get onto the boats. It was a scramble, an absolute scramble."

Three passengers are already confirmed as dead.

Capt. Francisco Schettino is today being questioned by Italian authorities as to exactly what happened.

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A rare East coast earthquake shook Washington D.C. at around 2 p.m. EST on Tuesday, reaching 5.9 on the Richter scale, RadarOnline.com can report.

According to AP reports, both the Pentagon, the White House and many buildings along Capital Hill were evacuated in fear of after shocks.

The epicenter of the quake was in Mineral, Virginia and shocks were reportedly felt as far north as New York City, Philadelphia, Toronto and Martha's Vineyard, where President Barack Obama is currently vacationing and was playing golf at the time.

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It is the strongest earthquake to be based in Virginia since 1897.

As the ten year anniversary of 9/11 approaches, many people in the nation's capital feared that the tremors were caused by a terrorist attack.

After the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, actress Maria Bello and a group of women started the WE ADVANCE charity to improve the health, safety and well-being of women throughout the slums of the ravished country's capital city, Port-au-Prince.

The group recently re-visited the developing nation, bringing a camera crew with them to document their program in action, and RadarOnline.com has the inspiring video, narrated by the critically acclaimed actress and directed by Paul Galichia.

A monster tornado destroyed the city of Joplin, Missouri late Sunday, killing at least 89 persons; the death toll is expected to rise Monday as rescue workers frantically search for more victims.

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Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency Sunday night and activated the Missouri National Guard in response to the widespread destruction.