Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin islands, St Martin, St Barts, Anguilla and St Kitts have all been put on hurricane warnings.

Omar is the fifteenth storm of the 2008 hurricane season.

On Tuesday, Omar caused heavy rains around Venezuela's north-western coast.

Overnight on Tuesday, it started heading across the Caribbean Sea and towards the north eastern tip of the Caribbean island chain.

The National Hurricane Centre has issued hurricane warnings for the Dutch Caribbean, the Virgin Islands, and St Kitts within the next 24 hours.

Omar is expected to cause rainfall of between 4 to 12 inches, enough to cause beach erosion and coastal damage in its targeted areas.

Forecasters are also warning that Omar could move up to a category 2 hurricane by the time it reaches the islands.

Epa analysis

The analysis has started ahead of Wednesday morning's signing of the Caribbean Community's (Caricom) new trade and investment deal with the European Union.

Caricom and EU representatives sign the Economic partnership agreement (Epa) Wednesday morning in Bridgetown, Barbados.

Britain's Trade and Development Minister Gareth Thomas said in Jamaica that Caricom would see increased trade with one another as well as improved trade with the European Union (EU) as a result.

Caribbean analyst and columnist Ricky Singh told BBC Caribbean that most Caricom leaders are saying that the Epa is not a perfect agreement.

"Nobody will say that any agreement is perfect because you have to negotiate so many issues but they say it is the best deal we could have had," Singh said.

Guyana boat seized

Guyana has said that Suriname's military has seized a Guyanese-registered boat.

Guyana's foreign ministry says that the boat was held on the river border between the two countries.

It also said that Guyana would take all necessary steps to safeguard its national interest.

The United Nations ruled in 2007 in favour of Guyana on a border claim which included the Corentyne River where the boat was held on Tuesday.

England coach: "proud" to play

England coach Peter Moores has rejected batsman Alastair Cook's claim that financial gain is the main motive behind the Stanford Super Series.

Each England player will earn $1m from the Twenty20 game if they beat a West Indies select side.

And Cook revealed he believed money will be the sole motivation in Antigua.

But Moores said: "It's an international game to be played by England. Alastair knows that and we'll be very proud to go out there and play for England."

The game takes place on 1 November after a compromise was reached between Sir Allen Stanford and Digicel following a commercial dispute.

It has been billed as the richest team prize for a single sporting match, but Moores is confident national pride will be the main motivation for the tourists.