Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Passengers alight from the Costa Allegra cruise ship at Mahe port in Seychelles Island on March 1. Tired passengers left a crippled Costa cruise ship in the Seychelles capital Victoria on Thursday, ending a three-day ordeal in the Indian Ocean after a fire knocked out the vessel's main power supply.

Laurent Levy / EPA

Passengers and crew members of the stricken Italian cruise ship Costa Allegra stand on the deck as they wait to disembark at the harbor in the capital Victoria, the Seychelles, March 1.

Eleonor Bradwell / AP

In this image taken on Monday, Feb. 27, 2012 by a passenger of the Costa Allegra cruise ship, passengers sit on the deck of the ship. A disabled cruise ship carrying more than 1,000 people docked in the island nation of the Seychelles Thursday after three days at sea without power since a fire broke out in the generator room on Monday.

VICTORIA, Seychelles -- Tired passengers left a crippled Costa cruise ship in the Seychelles capital Victoria on Thursday, ending a three-day ordeal in the Indian Ocean after a fire knocked out the vessel's main power supply.

The Costa Allegra suffered an engine-room fire on Monday which disabled its engines in waters prowled by pirates.

The ship is owned by the company whose giant liner Costa Concordia smashed into rocks off Italy and capsized last month, killing at least 25 people.

The passengers said they had prepared to abandon ship when fire broke out in the engine room three days ago, leaving the vessel adrift in waters prowled by pirates.

Gregorio Borgia / AP

Costa Allegra cruise ship Captain Niccolo Alba wipes a tear during a news conference in Victoria, Seychelles, on March 1.

But the fire that broke out Monday was brought under control and the more than 1,000 people wound up staying aboard the Costa Allegra, which suddenly had no engine power, no air conditioning, no lights and no running water for showers or toilets.

A French tuna fishing boat towed the Costa Allegra for three days toward the port in Victoria, where a line of ambulances, a Red Cross medical team and a fleet of small buses was waiting.

Passengers lined the railings and a few began to clap as the vessel drew close to the crowded dock Thursday morning.

Read the full story.

-- msnbc.com news services

Laurent Levy / EPA

Towed by a French tuna-fishing boat, the stricken Italian cruise ship Costa Allegra approaches the harbor in the capital Victoria, the Seychelles, on March 1. Towed by a French fishing boat, the ship carrying more than 1,000 people arrived at a port in the island nation of the Seychelles after it had lost all power on Feb. 27 due to a fire in the engine room. The Costa Allegra is operated by the same company that operated the Costa Concordia, which capsized off the coast of Italy on 13 January, killing at least 25 people.

Gregorio Borgia / AP

Passengers of the Costa Allegra cruise ship look for their baggage upon their arrival at Victoria's harbor, Seychelles Island, on March 1.

Sarah DiLorenzo / AP

The village of Saint Nicolas Courbefy, in Limousin, France, on Feb. 28, 2012. The entire hamlet was put up for sale with an asking price of just $400,000, the cost of a studio apartment in Paris.

Sarah DiLorenzo / AP

The village swimming pool could perhaps do with a spring clean.

The Associated Press reports from Courbefy, France — The village of Courbefy has rustic buildings with fireplaces and exposed beams, a horse stable, a tennis court and a swimming pool.

Sound nice? It's for sale.

The saga of the abandoned hamlet is a story of flight from rural France, bad economic times and real estate schemes gone awry. It's turned the mayor of the village next door into a minor celebrity whose office fields inquiries from places as far flung as Qatar and China.

The village in Limousin, about 280 miles southwest of Paris, was put on the block last week because its latest owners, who had run it as a luxury hotel and restaurant, had long stopped paying their mortgage.

The entire hamlet — with more than a dozen buildings — carried an asking price of just €300,000 ($400,000) — about the cost of a studio apartment in Paris.

Take an aerial tour of the village or continue reading the tale of its rise and fall.

Ibrahim Faid / AFP - Getty Images

Maldivian policemen stand guard as a protestor shouts slogans during a rally in Male on March 1, 2012. Opposition MPs in the Maldives have prevented the new president, who is accused of seizing power in a coup, from opening parliament as violent protests erupted outside the building.

The Associated Press reports from Male, Maldives — Supporters of Maldives' former president prevented the country's new leader from opening parliament and protested in the streets Thursday, three weeks after he took office in a contentious power transfer.

Backers of former President Mohamed Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party blocked roads leading to parliament and clashed with police, who attempted to push them aside with their shields. At least three policemen were injured and a dozen protesters were arrested.

• See more images on PhotoBlog of the Maldives controversial transfer of power

The protesters then removed the seats reserved for the president and the speaker in parliament, preventing President Mohammed Waheed Hassan from making an inaugural speech. Continue reading.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Women and children endure wintry weather as they wait in line to buy bread in Al Qusayr, a city in western Syria about 3 miles from Homs, on March 1, 2012.

A few miles from the the unfolding offensive in Homs, Syria, snow fell as people lined up outside a bakery in the town of Al Qusayr on Thursday morning. It was as close as most journalists were able to get to the besieged city, where two of their colleagues remained trapped alongside thousands of civilians after more than three weeks of steady government bombardment.

• Syrian describes horror in Homs, then line goes dead

Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad pounded the Babr Amr district of Homs on Thursday in what appeared to be a final push on the opposition stronghold, activists said. On Wednesday, a Syrian official heightened fears of greater carnage to come when he said the government would "cleanse" the area. 

• Smugglers take 'path of death' to supply Syria revolt

Opposition activists remained defiant.

"Baba Amr will be the straw that will break the regime's back," Mohaimen al-Rumaid told Reuters from an area in Turkey near the Syrian border. "All of Syria is turning into Baba Amr." Read more.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Men wait to buy bread in front of a bakery in Al Qusayr on March 1, 2012.

Rodrigo Abd / AP

Free Syrian Army supporters chant anti-government slogans under snowfall on the outskirts of Idlib, northern Syria, late on Feb. 29, 2012.