Pope, near abdication, says pray "for me and next pope"

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict asked the faithful to pray for him and for the next pope, in his penultimate Sunday address to a crowded St. Peter's Square before becoming the first pontiff in centuries to resign.

The crowd chanted "Long live the pope!," waved banners and broke into sustained applause as he spoke from his window. The 85-year-old Benedict, who will abdicate on February 28, thanked them in several languages.

Speaking in Spanish, he told the crowd which the Vatican said numbered more than 50,000: "I beg you to continue praying for me and for the next pope".

It was not clear why the pope chose Spanish to make the only specific reference to his upcoming resignation in his Sunday address.

A number of cardinals have said they would be open to the possibility of a pope from the developing world, be it Latin America, Africa or Asia, as opposed to another from Europe, where the Church is crisis and polarized.

"I can imagine taking a step towards a black pope, an African pope or a Latin American pope," Cardinal Kurt Koch, a Swiss Vatican official who will enter the conclave to choose the next pope, told Reuters in an interview.

After his address, the pope retired into the Vatican's Apostolic Palace for a scheduled, week-long spiritual retreat and will not make any more public appearances until next Sunday.

Speaking in Italian in part of his address about Lent, the period when Christians reflect on their failings and seek guidance in prayer, the pope spoke of the difficulty of making important decisions.

"In decisive moments of life, or, on closer inspection, at every moment in life, we are at a crossroads: do we want to follow the ‘I', or God? The individual interest, or the real good, that which is really good?" he said.

FOR THE GOOD OF THE CHURCH

The pope has said his physical and spiritual forces are no longer strong enough to sustain him in the job of leading the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics at a time of crisis for the Church in a fast-changing world.

Benedict's papacy was rocked by crises over the sex abuse of children by priests in Europe and the United States, most of which preceded his time in office but came to light during it.

His reign also saw Muslim anger after he compared Islam to violence. Jews were upset over his rehabilitation of a Holocaust denier. During a scandal over the Church's business dealings, his butler was convicted of leaking his private papers.

Since his shock announcement last Monday, the pope has said several times that he made the difficult decision to become the first pope in more than six centuries to resign for the good of the Church. Aides said he was at peace with himself.

"In a funny way he is even more peaceful now with this decision, unlike the rest of us, he is not somebody who gets choked up really easily," said Greg Burke, a senior media advisor to the Vatican.

"I think that has a lot to do with his spiritual life and who he is and the fact he is such a prayerful man," Burke told Reuters Television.

People in the crowd said the pope was a shadow of the man he was when elected on April 19, 2005.

"Like always, recently, he seemed tired, moved, perplexed, uncertain and insecure," said Stefan Malabar, an Italian in St. Peter's Square.

"It's something that really has an effect on you because the pope should be a strong and authoritative figure but instead he seems very weak, and that really struck me," he said.

The Vatican has said the conclave to choose his successor could start earlier than originally expected, giving the Roman Catholic Church a new leader by mid-March.

Some 117 cardinals under the age of 80 will be eligible to enter the secretive conclave which, according to Church rules, has to start between 15 and 20 days after the papacy becomes vacant, which it will on February 28.

But since the Church is now dealing with an announced resignation and not a sudden death, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the Vatican would be "interpreting" the law to see if it could start earlier.

CONSULTATIONS BEGUN

Cardinals around the world have already begun informal consultations by phone and email to construct a profile of the man they think would be best suited to lead the Church in a period of continuing crisis.

The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected and then formally installed before Palm Sunday on March 24 so he can preside at Holy Week services leading to Easter.

New details emerged at the weekend about Benedict's health.

Peter Seewald, a German journalist who wrote a book with the pope in 2010 in which Benedict first floated the possibility of resigning, visited him again about 10 weeks ago.

"His hearing had deteriorated. He couldn't see with his left eye. His body had become so thin that the tailors had difficulty in keeping up with newly fitted clothes ... I'd never seen him so exhausted-looking, so worn down," Seewald said.

The pope will say one more Sunday noon prayer on February 24 and hold a final general audience on February 27.

The next day he will take a helicopter to the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, where he will stay for around two months before moving to a convent inside the Vatican where he will live out his remaining years.

(Additional reporting by Hanna Rantala; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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Football: Coutinho shines on debut as Liverpool rout Swansea

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool ended a winless run of five games in impressive fashion on Sunday as they whipped an under-strength Swansea 5-0 in their Premier League clash.

Victory saw Liverpool leapfrog Swansea into seventh spot and give former Swans manager Brendan Rodgers something to smile about at the end of a week that saw defeats by West Brom and then Zenit St Petersburg in the Europa League.

A penalty from Steven Gerrard got them on their way and three goals early in the second-half from impressive debutant Philippe Coutinho, Jose Enrique and Luis Suarez wrapped up the points against a side seemingly distracted by the League Cup final with Bradford next Sunday.

Daniel Sturridge, who like Coutinho missed the Europa League match, added a fifth from the penalty spot.

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup was made to regret sending out a starting line-up shorn of several first choice players, including leading scorer Michu, preferring to give the 15-goal Spaniard time on the bench.

Rodgers was delighted with the reaction of his players to the poor results in the week.

"It was a brilliant performance and the players' attitude was tremendous. It was important to get a clean sheet today," said the Northern Irishman.

"It's always been the case at Swansea that you can change players and still be strong."

Laudrup for his part apologised to the fans who had made the trip and said the players on the pitch should have performed better.

"I wanted to leave a few out but that's not an excuse, we could have lost 10-0," he said.

"We are all to blame, starting with me and the players. You can't play like that. It wasn't what we wanted in the build-up to the final but now we have to get back on the horse."

Liverpool, who in three previous Premier League meetings with Swansea had failed to score, made all the running from the kick-off with Suarez looking particularly sharp.

However, he should have done better after Sturridge had done all the work in beating two defenders and then goalkeeper Michel Vorm before going to ground, but with the goal at his mercy the Uruguayan put the ball wide.

Liverpool's appeals for a penalty for a foul on Sturridge fell on deaf ears.

However, the hosts did get a penalty in the 34th minute as Suarez was needlessly pushed by Kemy Agustien and Gerrard, who had missed a penalty in the defeat by West Brom last Monday, made no mistake from the spot.

The hosts doubled their lead almost immediately from the second-half kick-off as Coutinho, taking advantage of the Swansea defence not going in for the tackle, saw his shot go under Vorm and into the net.

The hosts added a glorious third in the 50th minute as Luis Enrique finished off a beautiful passing move involving Coutinho, Suarez and Sturridge.

Swansea had completely capitulated and Suarez added a fourth six minutes later with a brilliant individual effort and soon after Rodgers decided Coutinho had done more than enough on his debut and took him off.

Sturridge was also a vibrant presence and Vorm had to be at his best to keep out a stinging effort but he deservedly did get his name on the scoresheet with a penalty in the 71st minute awarded for a handball by Wayne Routledge.

The hosts were reduced to 10 men for the last 10 minutes of the match, not that it mattered much to the outcome, after Fabio Borini, who had just come on as a substitute, was taken off in agony with what looked like a dislocated shoulder.

"He will probably be out for the season. It looks like he has dislocated his shoulder. It's a big blow for us," Rodgers said.

-AFP/ac

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Facebook pic of toy mortar leads to armed cops raid

The picture as it appears on Driscoll's Facebook page. Yes, that's a toy mortar.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

When you make your Facebook profile picture that of Action Man (aka the British G.I. Joe), it can be a clue to your fascination with fantasy.

It also suggests that if there's a toy mortar in the background of the picture, that, too, might actually not be entirely real.

Please try telling that to the five carloads of police who raided Ian Driscoll's house in Tewkesbury, England, armed with guns and a search warrant.

"The Action Man looked a bit like me, so I decided to put it as my Facebook picture. I didn't even notice the mortar in the background," 43-year-old Driscoll explained to the Daily Mail.

The image offered more clues as to the mortar's unreality. There was a TV remote control by its side. It offered what some might call scale and perspective.

Sadly, perspective is not always something the police embrace with anything other than loaded arms.

"It's tiny and quite clearly a toy. I can't stop laughing. I think it's hilarious," Driscoll told the Mail.

More Technically Incorrect

The police did manage to see the funny side, but only after reportedly telling him that he was lucky he was at home, otherwise they would have been forced to break down his front door.

They didn't even seem to have considered that this profile picture had been up for a month.

It isn't clear which wise "friend" of Driscoll's contacted the police to tell them of his arms cache. It might have been polite of this person to at least own up to the marginal over-reaction.

A representative for the Gloucestershire police told the Mail: "We are sure that the community would rather we acted quickly on information given to us of this nature, in case it had turned out to be a weapon."

Many will be glad of the police's confidence in this matter. Perhaps a phone call to Driscoll might have obviated the necessity for a raid.

Still, it is heartening that he has stood his ground and continued to make believe that he is really Action Man.

The profile picture, with mortar in the background, is still on his Facebook page today.

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Dorner's cause of death revealed

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. Fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner apparently killed himself with a gunshot to the head amid a fierce battle with police, law enforcement officials said Friday. He fired his last shot as the cabin he was holed up in was going up in flames.

Police initially weren't sure if Dorner was killed by one of their bullets or by a fire sparked when they launched incendiary tear gas inside. Now they believe he died by his own hand.

"When about a quarter of the cabin was on fire, we heard a distinct single gunshot come from inside the house, which was a much different-sounding shot than what he'd been shooting at us," San Bernardino sheriff's Capt. Kevin Lacy said.

Play Video

Gun battle with wanted ex-cop - caught on tape

CBS News correspondent Carter Evans was there caught in the crossfire when the gun battle took place on Tuesday. It was so intense that Evans was forced to take cover, but left a cell phone on. At the very beginning of the shootout, one can hear authorities near the phone talking about burning Dorner out of the cabin he was holed up in:

Officer 1: "Burn that (expletive) house down."

Officer 2: "Get going right now."

Officer 1: (expletive) burn that mother(expletive)

After the crack of the distinctive gunshot, investigators only heard ammunition popping in the flames as the cabin burned to the ground. Dorner's body was later found in the basement.

The day after the shootout, McMahon had insisted that authorities did not burn down the cabin on purpose. At Friday's press conference with the sheriff's department, Evans about the officers' remarks during the standoff. "We did not intentionally burn that cab down," said McMahon. "I stand by that remark. They had just been involved in probably one of the most fierce firefights. Sometimes, because we're humans, they say things they may or may not be appropriate."

Police also confirmed that law enforcement had a near miss with Dorner as he hid in a mountain condominium. Dorner is believed to have entered the condo through an unlocked door sometime Feb. 7, soon after he arrived in the resort area of Big Bear Lake after killing three people. He locked the door and hunkered down for six days until the condo's owners came to clean it, San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told reporters Friday.

Deputies knocked on the door that first night but moved on when they found it locked and no sign of a break-in, McMahon said.

"Our deputy knocked on that door and did not get an answer, and in hindsight it's probably a good thing that he did not answer based on his actions before and after that event," the sheriff said of Dorner.

Play Video

Couple recall encounter with Christopher Dorner

When the owners arrived, he tied them up and fled in their car, leading to a chase, a shootout that killed a sheriff's deputy and, ultimately, Dorner's death in a remote cabin where he barricaded himself for a last stand.

Dorner was equipped with an arsenal of weapons, including assault rifles with flash suppressors that masked the sound of gunfire and the location it was coming from as he fired on the first two deputies to arrive at the cabin, killing Det. Jeremiah MacKay.

"Our officers had not even pulled their guns out at that point and were not prepared to engage anybody and they were ambushed," McMahon said.

The next five responding deputies got into a fierce firefight with bullets whizzing through trees. They deployed smoke bombs to block Dorner's view so they could pull the wounded to safety as other officers provided cover with a hail of bullets, said Capt. Gregg Herbert.

"Every time they tried to move, Dorner was shooting at them," he said. "There was bullets snapping through the trees."

Worried he was lying in wait to ambush them, they eventually used heavy machinery to peel back walls and windows to see if they could see Dorner, who used smoke bombs to obscure their view. They eventually resorted to the tear gas, though McMahon said they didn't intend to start the fire.

Play Video

Dorner reward money: Will anyone get to claim it?

The search for the former cop began last week after authorities said the former Navy reservist launched a violent revenge campaign against the Los Angeles Police Department for firing him, warning in an angry manifesto on Facebook that he would bring "warfare" to LAPD officers and their families.

Dorner was dismissed for filing a false police report that accused his training officer of kicking a mentally disabled man.

His first victims were Monica Quan and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, both gunned down outside their Orange County condominium Feb. 3. Quan was the daughter of former LAPD Capt. Randal Quan, who Dorner said did not properly defend him before a disciplinary board.

After ambushing and killing Riverside police officer Michael Crain and seriously wounding his partner at a traffic light, Dorner fled to the San Bernardino National Forest, about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. His burned-out truck, with a broken axle was found within walking distance of the Big Bear Lake condo where he hid 100 feet across the street from the command post set up for the manhunt.

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Uncle: Pistorius Is 'Numb With Shock as Well as Grief'

Oscar Pistorius is "numb with shock as well as grief" his uncle told reporters Saturday as the Olympian amputee spent his second night behind bars in a South African jail for the allegedly killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

"All of us saw at firsthand how close [Steenkamp] had become to Oscar during that time and how happy they were," he said. "They had plans together and Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time," said Pistorius' uncle Arnold Pistorius.

The 26-year-old athlete, known as the "blade runner" because of the carbon-fiber blades he runs on, was charged Friday with premeditated murder.

Pistorius' family is "battling to come to terms with Oscar being charged with murder," Arnold Pistorius said, and still believe "there is no substance to the allegation."

Oscar Pistorius is suspected of shooting Steenkamp, 29, four times with a handgun early Thursday morning at his home in a gated community in Pretoria.

PHOTOS: Paralympic Champion Charged with Murder

Prosecutors dismissed the reports that Pistorious mistook her for an intruder.

If convicted, Pistorius could face at least 25 years in jail.

According to South African newspaper Beeld, Steenkamp was killed nearly two hours after police were called to Pistorius' home to respond to reports of an argument at the complex.

Police said they have responded to disputes at the sprinter's residence before, but did not say whether or not Steenkamp was involved.

Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images; Mike Holmes/The Herald/Gallo Images/Getty Images

Oscar Pistorius Charged in Shooting Death of Girlfriend Watch Video

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Oscar Pistorius Murder Charges: Is He Capable of Killing? Watch Video

A memorial service for Steenkamp will be held in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday evening, reported SABC. Her body will be flown back for the service before being cremated, her family said.

"Her future has been cut short...I dare say she's with the angels," said Mike Steenkamp, Reeva Steenkamp's uncle.

Producers of the South African reality show Steenkamp competed in said the series will still premiere Saturday night on SABC as planned, but will now include a special tribute to the slain law school graduate whose modeling career was starting to take off.

RELATED: Reeva Steenkamp, Oscar Pistorius Girlfriend, Saw Self as 'Brainy, Blonde, Bombshell'

"This is the only time that you see the real Reeva," executive producer and director of "Tropka Island of Treasure" Samantha Moon told "Good Morning America." "She was kind and sweet and?so hard working.

"They will see the girl that we loved."

Meanwhile, the sprinter's sponsors ? including Nike, BT, Theirry Mugler, Oakley and Ossur, the Icelandic company that manufactures the prosthetic blades Pistorius races on ? are acting cautiously as the athlete awaits his bail hearing on Tuesday.

M-Net movies, a subscription-funded South African television channel has already pulled their ad campaign featuring Pistorius, tweeting, "Out of respect & sympathy to the bereaved, M-Net will be pulling its entire Oscar campaign featuring Oscar Pistorius with immediate effect."

Nike, who's ad featuring the double-amputee reads "I am the bullet in the chamber," released a statement saying the company is "continuing the monitor the situation closely."

Still, the athlete's' friends and colleagues said the murder charges have yet to sink in.

"When I heard, I was in shock and I'm just still trying to process it," Jamaican gold medal sprinter Usain Bolt told the Associated Press Friday night after the NBA All-Star celebrity game in Houston, Tex.

"I would just like to say, I have dated Oscar on and off for 5 YEARS, NOT ONCE has he EVER lifted a finger to me, made me fear for my life," his ex-girlfriend Jenna Edkins tweeted on Friday.

ABC News' Colleen Curry contributed to this report.

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Pistorius, slain girlfriend had planned future: uncle

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius, known as the "Blade Runner", was planning a future with the girlfriend he is accused of shooting dead this week, his uncle said on Saturday.

Pistorius, 26, one of the world's most recognizable athletes, was charged on Friday with murdering swimsuit model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of the previous day.

He broke down during a 40-minute bail hearing at a Pretoria court but was not asked to enter a plea.

"They had plans together and Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time," Anthony Pistorius said in a statement released by his nephew's agent.

"We are in a state of total shock - firstly about the tragic death of Reeva who we had all got to know well and care for deeply over the last few months," he said. "All of us saw at first hand how close she had become to Oscar during that time and how happy they were."

The suggestion that Pistorius' family was close to Steenkamp runs counter to comments from Pistorius' father, Henke, who told the New York Times he had never met his son's partner.

"I don't discuss my son's relationships. I have, in fact, not met the lady," he was quoted as saying.

Prosecutors alleged the shooting was premeditated, a charge that could put Pistorius behind bars for life if convicted.

Police have said there are no other suspects and the pair were the only people in the house at the time. Initial reports suggested he may have mistaken her for an intruder.

Anthony Pistorius reiterated the family's belief that the track star - a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics when he ran at last year's Olympics - had not shot Steenkamp deliberately.

"After consulting with legal representatives we deeply regret the allegation of premeditated murder," Anthony said.

"We have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation and that the state's own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all."

NUMB

Pistorius is being held in a Pretoria police station before the resumption of his bail hearing on Tuesday. He is "numb" with shock and grief, the statement said.

Several South African media reports have said Steenkamp was shot through the bathroom door and was hit four times - in the head, hip, arm and hand.

Police said on Thursday witnesses had heard disturbances at the home before the shots, adding that there had been previous incidents of a "domestic nature" at the home.

The shooting has shocked South Africa, where Pistorius was revered as a hero whose achievements transcended the racial divides that linger in Nelson Mandela's "Rainbow Nation" 19 years after the end of apartheid.

The disbelief was felt across the globe among the millions who saw in Pistorius the ultimate tale of triumph over adversity - a man who rose to the highest pinnacles of athletics despite having no lower legs.

He was born without either fibula but reached the semi-final of the 400-metres in the London 2012 Olympics, running on high-technology carbon fiber prosthetic 'blades'. He also won two Paralympic gold medals and one silver medal.

Although the public image was of a charming and easy-going young man, a Twitter posting by Pistorius in November paints the picture of a would-be action man obsessed with security.

"Nothing like getting home to hear the washing machine on and thinking it's an intruder to go into full combat recon mode into the pantry! waa," read the Tweet on the morning of November 27

Police recovered a 9mm pistol from his home after the shooting. The Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper said Pistorius had a license for one firearm and applications pending for a further seven, including a semi-automatic rifle.

Police declined to comment on the Beeld report.

"We're releasing nothing," spokeswoman Katelgo Mogale said. "Details of the incident will come out in court."

South African state broadcaster SABC will on Saturday evening air the first episode of a tropical island reality show featuring Steenkamp that was filmed last year in the Caribbean.

SABC said her family had given their blessing to the show's airing, which will be preceded by a short tribute.

(Reporting by Ed Cropley; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Jason Webb)

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Football: Beckham to make PSG bow against Marseille

 

PARIS: David Beckham will make his Paris Saint Germain debut in next weekend's Ligue 1 headline clash against Marseille, coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Saturday.

The 37-year-old Beckham, who signed a five-month contract with the French leaders last month, will skip Sunday's trip to Sochaux as he needs more time to get his fitness levels up to scratch, the Italian explained.

"No, he'll be staying here to work, he needs more training, he'll be ready next week for the game at home to Marseille... not necessarily to start, but to play" Ancelotti said.

"It's up to me to decide if he starts the match or not."

The former Manchester United and LA Galaxy star has a lot to give his new club, Ancelotti added.

"He can bring his experience, his quality, his professionalism, these are things that we need."

- AFP/fa

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Passengers trade broken-down ship for broken-down bus

(CBS News) Thousands of passengers erupted into cheers Thursday night as the crippled triumph finally pulled up to the dock. As they stepped onto dry land, and into the arms of their loved ones some couldn't contain their excitement.

Carnival then chartered a caravan of buses to transport folks out of Mobile, Ala. To add insult to injury, at least one of those buses became stranded on the way to New Orleans, reports CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.

The nightmare started Sunday, when an engine fire knocked out power.

Passengers leave cruise ship telling tales of woe

Kendell Jenkins won the trip in a contest, but said it was more like cruising on a floating port-o-potty. "I'm just really thankful and blessed to be back," she said. "I mean there was sewage, water everywhere, mix that with some rotten food smells and welcome to carnival Triumph."

"No ships were coming, no boats, were coming, we saw no helicopters," said Jenkins. "It scared us because we thought the ship wasn't notifying or coming out to help us."

It took more than a day before the first tugboat arrived. As passengers got cell reception, they shared photos revealing squalid conditions - sewage seeping through the floors, plastic bags used for restrooms. Tent camps above deck, and mattresses sprawled out below. For some, the hardest part was losing contact with their family.

Stricken Carnival Cruise Line ship Triumph expected to dock in Mobile, Ala.

It took several grueling hours to drag the massive ship through a narrow channel Thursday. At the terminal, carnival C.E.O. Gerry Cahill addressed reporters.

"We pride ourselves in providing our guests with a great vacation experience and clearly we failed in this particular case," he said. He then boarded the ship and apologized to passengers, but some still want answers.

For Anna Werner's full report, watch the video in the player above

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Cruise Ship Now Faces Expected Wave of Lawsuits

Despite having their feet back on solid ground and are making their way home, passengers from the Carnival Triumph cruise ship are still fuming over their five days of squalor on the stricken ship and the cruise ship company is likely to be hit with a wave of lawsuits.

"I think people are going to file suits and rightly so," maritime trial attorney John Hickey told ABCNews.com. "I think, frankly, that the conduct of Carnival has been outrageous from the get-go."

Hickey, a Miami-based attorney, said his firm has already received "quite a few" inquiries from passengers who just got off the ship early this morning.

"What you have here is a) negligence on the part of Carnival and b) you have them, the passengers, being exposed to the risk of actual physical injury," Hickey said.

Click Here for Photos of the Stranded Ship at Sea

The attorney said that whether passengers can recover monetary compensation will depend on maritime law and the 15-pages of legal "gobbledygook," as Hickey described it, that passengers signed before boarding, but "nobody really agrees to."

One of the ticket conditions is that class action lawsuits are not allowed, but Hickey said there is a possibility that could be voided when all the conditions of the situation are taken into account.

One of the passengers already thinking about legal action is Tammy Hilley, a mother of two, who was on a girl's getaway with her two friends when a fire in the ship's engine room disabled the vessel's propulsion system and knocked out most of its power.

"I think that's a direction that our families will talk about, consider and see what's right for us," Hilley told "Good Morning America" when asked if she would be seeking legal action.

While she said that she does not want to be greedy or exploit the situation, she does not feel that Carnival's $500 compensation is enough for the trauma passengers suffered.

Carnival's Triumph Passengers: 'We Were Homeless' Watch Video

Girl Disembarks Cruise Ship, Kisses the Ground Watch Video

Carnival Cruise Ship Passengers Line Up for Food Watch Video

"You talk about the emotional trauma and just last night, feeling what we went through last night while we were on land with our families and our insides just trembling," she said. "I don't think it begins to even say what is needed here."

In addition to the money, passengers will receive a full refund for the cruise, transportation expenses and vouchers for another cruise.

"We made our own nest [on deck] because we were just too terrified to go inside because of the smells and the germs, so we just banded together and made our own little nest and just survived," Hilley's friend Ann Barlow said.

Her friend Carolyn Klam said she got a stomach virus from drinking bad water once the power went out and friend Tammy Hilley said her cell phone was stolen this morning as the boat came into port.

"I think going back to our room was kind of traumatic and seeing that from day one we had no home, we were homeless," Hilley said. "We would go downstairs below deck and your feet could feel the sludge that you were walking through. The smells and the liquids draining from the ceiling and the stories of people sleeping in the hallways and the sanitary bags in the hallway, that was traumatic to just watch it start piling up."

The more than 4,000 passengers and crew began to disembark from the damaged ship around 10:15 p.m. CT Thursday in Mobile, Ala., amid cheers and tears. The last passenger left the ship at 1 a.m. CT, according to Carnival's Twitter handle.

Passenger Brandi Dorsett was thankful to be home, especially for her mother who was with her on the ship. Dorsett said she wasn't pleased with the doctor on staff.

"My mother is a diabetic, and they would not even come to the room because she cannot walk the stairs to help her with insulin. She hasn't had insulin in three days," Dorsett said.

The Carnival Triumph departed Galveston, Texas, last Thursday and lost power Sunday.

Cruise Ship Newlyweds Won't Be Spending Honeymoon on a Boat

After power went out, passengers texted ABC News that sewage was seeping down the walls from burst plumbing pipes, carpets were wet with urine, and food was in short supply. Reports surfaced of elderly passengers running out of critical heart medicine and others on board squabbling over scarce food.

"It's degrading. Demoralizing, and then they want to insult us by giving us $500," Veronica Arriaga said after disembarking the ship.

As the ship docked, passengers lined the decks of the Triumph, waving and whistling to those on shore. "Happy V-Day" read a homemade sign made for the Valentine's Day arrival, while another sent a starker message: "The ship's afloat, so is the sewage."

WATCH: Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill Apologizes to Passengers

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Meteor explodes over central Russia, 500 people hurt

CHELYABINSK, Russia (Reuters) - A meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, sending fireballs crashing to earth which shattered windows and damaged buildings, injuring more than 500 people.

People heading to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt a shockwave, according to a Reuters correspondent in the industrial city 950 miles east of Moscow.

The fireball, travelling at a speed of 19 miles per second according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos, had blazed across the horizon, leaving a long white trail in its wake which could be seen as far as 125 miles away.

Car alarms went off, windows broke and mobile phone networks were interrupted. The Interior Ministry said the meteor explosion had caused a sonic boom.

"I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day," said Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg in the Urals Mountains.

"I felt like I was blinded by headlights," he said.

No fatalities were reported, but President Vladimir Putin, who was due to host Finance Ministry officials from the Group of 20 nations in Moscow, told Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov to help those affected.

"Unfortunately, the normal work of some industrial enterprises was disrupted, people have suffered as has social infrastructure - kindergartens, schools," Putin told his Emergencies Minister Sergei Puchkov in televised comments.

"First of all, it is necessary to think about how to help the people, and not only to think about it, but to do it immediately," Putin said.

A local ministry official said such incidents were extremely rare and Friday's events might have been linked to an asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool due to pass earth. However, the European Space Agency on its Twitter website said its experts had confirmed there was no connection.

"There have never been any cases of meteorites breaking up at such a low level over Russia before," said Yuri Burenko, head of the Chelyabinsk branch of the Emergencies Ministry.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said 514 people had sought medical help, mainly for light injuries caused by flying glass, and that 112 of them were kept in hospital.

Despite warnings not to approach any unidentified objects, some enterprising locals were hoping to cash in.

"Selling meteorite that fell on Chelyabinsk!," one prospective seller, Vladimir, said on a popular Russian auction website. He attached a picture of a black piece of stone that on Friday afternoon was priced at $49.46.

WINDOWS BREAK, FRAMES BUCKLE

The blast at around 9.20 a.m. (12:20 a.m. ET) shattered windows on Chelyabinsk's central Lenin Street and some of the frames of shop fronts buckled. The shockwave could be felt in apartment buildings in the city's center.

"I was standing at a bus stop, seeing off my girlfriend," said Andrei, a local resident who did not give his second name. "Then there was a flash and I saw a trail of smoke across the sky and felt a shockwave that smashed windows."

Chelyabinsk city authorities urged people to stay indoors unless they needed to pick up their children from schools and kindergartens. They said what sounded like a blast had been heard at an altitude of 32,800 feet.

A wall was damaged at the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant but a spokeswoman said there was no environmental threat.

Although a rare occurrence, a meteorite is thought to have devastated an area of more than 1,250 miles in Siberia in 1908, smashing windows as far as 125 miles from the point of impact.

The Emergencies Ministry described Friday's events as a "meteor shower in the form of fireballs" and said background radiation levels were normal. It urged residents not to panic.

Simon Goodwin, an astrophysics expert from Britain's University of Sheffield, said it was estimated between 1,000 and 10,000 tonnes of material rained down from space onto the earth every day, but most burned up in the atmosphere.

"While events this big are rare, an impact that could cause damage and death could happen every century or so," he said. "Unfortunately there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop impacts."

The meteor struck just as an asteroid known as 2012 DA14, about 46 meters in diameter was due to pass closer to earth than any other known object of its size since scientists began routinely monitoring them about 15 years ago.

The small asteroid was expected to pass at a distance of 17,100 miles from earth on Friday.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow, Writing by Alexei Anishchuk and Timothy Heritage, Editing by Michael Holden)

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