Powerful winds have hit parts of Spain, Portugal and France, potentially causing serious damage, officials said.

As winds of up to 140km/h (87mph) lashed parts of Spain, the interior minister warned people to stay inside, avoid driving and postpone walks.

However the country's meteorological agency said the storm would be brief.

Portugal's Madeira island, which is reeling from downpours which killed dozens of people last week, was also hit by the fresh storm.

All of Portugal was placed on orange alert - the second highest - by civil protection authorities.

'No woodland walks'

Spain's Canary Islands, particularly La Palma, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, were hit by the storm, although there was not much damage.

Some lampposts were blown over and flights cancelled on Friday.

"This is not the weekend to go walking in the woods, watching the waves or repairing the tiles on your roof-tops," Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said.

Four French departments were placed on red alert, and 66 out of 95 were on orange alert for 24 hours from Saturday evening.

Spain's north-western region of Galicia, the Basque country, Castilla y Leon and Cantabria were also on high alert.

Forecasters expected winds of up to 160km/h (100mph) in those regions.

Spain had 20,000 officials on alert to try to prevent or repair any damage, while the airport authority warned of possible delays or cancellations.

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Nations around the Pacific Ocean are on full alert for a possible tsunami following the devastating earthquake that hit Chile on Saturday morning.

Tsunami warnings have been sounded in an area affecting about a quarter of the globe.

Waves will spread from the epicentre of the 8.8 quake in central Chile and may strike land bordering the Pacific in the next 24 hours.

People in the Galapagos and on Easter Island have already taken refuge.

Large waves are already reported to have struck Chile's Juan Fernandez island group, reaching halfway into one inhabited area. Three people there are missing, local media say. Two aid ships are reported to be on their way.

Nations affected by the Pacific "Rim of Fire" have all sounded alerts, trying to estimate the anticipated time of arrival of any tsunami.

Tsunami warning systems have been improved since December 2004 when an earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia, sparked a tsunami that killed nearly 250,000 people.

'Urgent action'

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has said there may be "widespread damage" from high waves.

"Authorities should take appropriate action in response to this threat," it said.

It urged Hawaii to take "urgent action".

French Polynesia was expected to be first in the firing line, with an estimated arrival time for any potential tsunami of 1550 GMT.

It has been difficult to estimate the possible wave heights of any tsunami - the waves may not arrive at all or could be as high as 10 metres above normal sea level.

American Samoa has urged residents to seek shelter, calling on coastal villagers to seek higher ground.

Hawaii plans to sound civil defence sirens at about 1600 GMT.

John Cummings, Oahu civil defence spokesman, said: "Get off the shoreline. We are closing all the beaches and telling people to drive out of the area."

The first tsunami would be projected to hit Hawaii at 2119 GMT on Big Island.

New Zealand has warned waves up to 3m could hit South Island and outlying islands. It set a time of 1805 GMT for a possible strike on Chatham Islands.

Australian officials warned of "possible dangerous waves, strong ocean currents and foreshore flooding" from Sydney to Brisbane.

Japan may be hit at 0300 GMT on Sunday, the country's meteorological agency said, calling for people to be fully alert.

California has also warned its coastal cities to prepare for possible tsunami waves, the first strike possibly around San Diego.

The Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu could also all be at risk.

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SeaWorld Orlando's killer whale show is to reopen on Saturday without staff in the water after a whale killed one of the trainers, the company chief says.

Jim Atchison said this would be the case until a review was finished.

He said it was believed an orca being trained by Dawn Brancheau dragged her to her death by drowning after her long ponytail swung out in front of it.

Her former coach, Thad Lacinak, said she would have agreed with him, had she lived, that it was a simple mistake.

Funeral services for Ms Brancheau are to be held on Sunday and Monday in Chicago, with a memorial service to take place later in Orlando, park officials said.

The whale, which is named Tilikum, is to be kept at the park despite its links to two other deaths.

"He will remain an active and contributing member of the team, despite what happened," said Mr Atchison.

The company, which also has locations in San Diego and San Antonio, said it was reviewing its procedures for the whales and trainers to interact.

Horrified tourists using the viewing glass could see the 12,000lb (5.9tn) whale attack Ms Brancheau.

Ms Brancheau's sister, Diane Gross, said her sister, 40, had loved the park's whales as though they were her children.

"It was her dream job since she was nine years old," she added, speaking of her sister's ambition to work at SeaWorld.

'Her mistake'

The president of SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, Jim Atchison, told a news conference that, while it was too early to conclude what had happened exactly, the park believed the whale had grabbed its trainer by her hair.

"It [the ponytail] was a novel item in the water, and he [the whale] grabbed hold of it, not necessarily in an aggressive way"

Earlier, Mr Lacinak, the former head trainer at SeaWorld who coached Ms Brancheau, said after viewing video of the attack that he believed she had made a simple mistake.

"She wasn't, obviously, watching what she was doing with her ponytail and the ponytail drifted into the water," he told ABC.

"Dawn, if she was standing here with me right now, would tell you that it was her mistake in allowing that to happen," he added.

Speaking separately to the Associated Press news agency, Mr Lacinak said: "It was a novel item in the water, and he [the whale] grabbed hold of it, not necessarily in an aggressive way."

An eyewitness, Sue Nichols, spoke earlier of seeing Ms Brancheau petting the whale and talking to it.

"Then all of a sudden he just reached up," she said.

"He got her in the water, and he took her underwater, and he had her under for quite a while. He came up out of the water, and he had her in his mouth."

An alarm was sounded and park employees scattered around the pool with a net as audience members were rushed away, she added.

Third death

Chuck Tompkins, chief of animal training at SeaWorld Orlando, has said Tilikum would not survive in the wild because the animal had been captive for so long.

He added that destroying the whale was not an option because it was an important part of the breeding programme at SeaWorld and a companion to seven other whales there.

However, this is the third death involving the orca.

In 1991, trainer Keltie Lee Byrne fell into a tank holding Tilikum and two other whales at Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, Canada.

An inquest found the whales had prevented her from climbing out of the tank and ruled her death an accident.

At SeaWorld Orlando, in 1999, the body of Daniel Dukes, 27, was found naked, draped across the whale's body.

He had reportedly got past security, remaining in the park after it had closed, and wearing only swimming trunks, he either jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water of the huge tank.

An inquest ruled that he had died of hypothermia but officials also said it appeared Tilikum had bitten the man and torn off his trunks, apparently believing he was a toy to play with.

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England (6) 16
Tries: Cole Cons: Wilkinson Pens: Wilkinson 2 Drop-goals: Wilkinson
Ireland (8) 20
Tries: Bowe 2, Earls Cons: Bowe Pens: Sexton

A fine brace of tries from Ireland wing Tommy Bowe ended England's Grand Slam hopes at Twickenham on Saturday.

Ireland took the lead through Bowe's early try and a penalty from Johnny Sexton, to two from Jonny Wilkinson, gave the Irish an 8-6 half-time lead.

A Keith Earls try gave Ireland a seven-point lead before Wilkinson converted Dan Cole's try to make it 13-13.

Wilkinson then put England ahead with a drop-goal but Bowe's late try and Ronan O'Gara's conversion saw Ireland home.

It was a thrilling end to a match which had struggled for much of the 80 minutes to catch light at a soggy Twickenham.

England dominated possession and Ireland were forced to defend for long periods of the match but it was the visitors who had the greater cutting edge and their ability to take their chances was ultimately the difference between the two sides.

Bowe was one of the stars of the Lions tour and his finishing ensured Ireland made it six wins in seven matches against England.

606: DEBATE

"What a poor game of rugby but I am pleased the more creative team won despite cheering on England"

Going into the game both sides had experienced a difficult couple of weeks since their previous outings, despite their differing results.

England had been roundly criticised for their turgid performance in beating Italy while Ireland had been forced to regroup after a 12-game unbeaten run came to an end as they were taken apart by France.

Ireland coach Declan Kidney had responded by dropping fly-half O'Gara in favour of 24-year-old Sexton in one of four changes, but England boss Martin Johnson had kept faith with the XV that started in Rome.

He had beseeched his side to up their game but the hosts made a poor start as Wilkinson fluffed his opening kick-off before having the ball plucked from his grasp by the soaring Bowe from a hanging kick only 15 seconds later.

It was an inauspicious start for the fly-half, the all-time leading points scorer in Test history, whose recent performances have been put under the microscope as England struggle to make an impression at the top of the world game.

However, the Toulon man is nothing if not a fighter and he soon got England on the front foot with a snappy half-break, only for his luck to turn as he found himself inadvertently involved as Ireland took the lead with a fine counter-attacking try after only four minutes.

Wilkinson claimed a loose ball but could do little as he was swamped by the rampaging Ireland pack.

Ireland turned the ball over and Jamie Heaslip and Stephen Ferris made ground before feeding Sexton to slide home the stiletto.

The Leinster man dummied to fix the covering defence before threading through a pin-point kick for Bowe to outpace Lewis Moody and score a fine try out wide, with Sexton missing the conversion.

The score was against the run of play and after re-establishing control of both territory and possession England finally got on the board when Wilkinson, who had earlier hit the post with a penalty, made no mistake with his second attempt.

A penalty apiece from Sexton and Wilkinson meant Ireland led 8-6 at the break and both fly-halves were then off target early in the second half, before Ireland scored their second try of the game.

Ireland scrum-half Tomas O'Leary refused to give the ball to Danny Care after being penalised and when Care tangled with his opposite number the England number nine was penalised for retaliation.

Ireland kicked the penalty to the corner and after an initial drive was held up a crisp pass sent Earls over in the corner for an unconverted try to make it 13-6.

On a day of few chances it looked as though it would be the crucial score but England hit back to level things on the hour when tight-head prop Cole burrowed over from close range.

Wilkinson's conversion made it 13-13 and Ireland suffered a major blow two minutes later as captain Brian O'Driscoll was stretchered off after his head accidentally collided with the knee of Irish second row Paul O'Connell.

With 10 minutes to go England finally made their possession tell as Wilkinson slotted a right-foot drop-goal to give the hosts the lead for the first time.

But Ireland are not the defending champions for nothing and when they won good ball at a line-out Bowe cut a superb line past Wilkinson before rounding Ben Foden for a marvellous try.

O'Gara's conversion took the visitors more than a kick clear and England's desperate final attack was in vain.

England: Armitage; Cueto, Tait, Flutey, Monye; Wilkinson, Care; Payne, Hartley, Cole, Shaw, Borthwick, Haskell, Moody, Easter.

Replacements: Mears, Wilson, Deacon, Worsley, Hodgson, Flood, Foden.

Ireland: Murphy; Bowe, O'Driscoll, D'Arcy, Earls; Sexton, O'Leary; Healy, Best, Hayes, O'Callaghan, O'Connell, Ferris, Wallace, Heaslip.

Replacements: Cronin, Buckley, Cullen, Jennings, Reddan, O'Gara, Trimble.

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