Trinidad and Tobago's energy minister says the country plans to finance a renewable energy industry that would help diversify its economy.

	Solar energy is one of the options being looked at

Minister Conrad Enill says the move is in response to falling oil prices that have slashed public income.

The minister said a government appointed committee was researching solar, wind, wave and biofuels projects.

That committee is expected to make recommendations by August.

Trinidad and Tobago is the Caribbean's top exporter of oil and natural gas, but the government says it's also now looking towards renewable energy because it could be a means to further the country's sustainability.

Pay dispute

In Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding and the unions on Thursday appeared headed for a showdown over wages.

Mr Golding has said that there's hardly any alternative to a wage freeze for the unions as the government simply doesn't have the money for it.

He blames the impact of the global economic downturn.

The prime minister - who is taking a pay cut this year - wants the unions to take the wage freeze, despite an initial agreement for a pay rise.

Mr Golding warns that if the unions press for the pay rise, the government may have to send home over 20 thousand workers.

Now the opposition People's National Party in Jamaica has called on the government to avert a clash with the trade unions over the issue.

PNP leader Portia Simpson-Miller told BBC Caribbean that Mr. Golding blundered by announcing the wage freeze last Sunday before dialogue with the unions had been completed.

Summit update

U.S. President Barack Obama will seek stronger cooperation with Latin America at next week's Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, according to one of his advisors.

Jeffrey Davidow said the April 17-19 gathering in Trinidad and Tobago is an opportunity to build on regional excitement about the new American president.

He said the key issues at the summit for President Obama will be the global financial crisis, energy policy and public security - but not Cuba, which is not invited because of its communist leadership.

Davidow said debate over Cuba would be "an unfortunate distraction", but he acknowledged the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba is likely to come up.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Bolivian leader Evo Morales have said they want to push Obama on Cuba policy.

Money well spent?

Some dissidents in Cuba feel the millions the U.S. government spends to promote political change on the island should go directly to people working to promote democracy - or not be spent at all.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, eight members of a small but vocal Cuban political opposition said if the US government cannot guarantee aid for the promotion of democracy in Cuba then it would be better spend the money on something else.

Critics - including the influential Cuban-American National Foundation - have long complained that the vast majority of Cuban democracy funds go to U.S.-based organizations and universities.

They claim that these institutions spend much of the money on overhead and logistical costs instead of efforts on the island.

The dissidents also said that they personally were not interested in receiving funding from Washington.

They explained that if they did, it could expose them to prosecution for taking foreign payments to undermine the government.

Instead, they said U.S. money should go to the Cuban people, including political opposition leaders who are also Cuban citizens.

Carnival cancelled

The impact of the global financial crisis on Jamaica has claimed another victim.

This year's Byron Lee Jamaica carnival has been cancelled.

The event was scheduled for April 17 to 19.

Julianne Lee-Samuels who heads the organising committee says it has been severely impacted by the current economic climate.

According to her, 80 percent of Jamaica carnival events do not generate revenue and the promoters normally depend heavily on the support of corporate Jamaica to offset the expenses.

Mrs Lee Samuels says the promoters felt that given the current economic situation they would not approach the private sector to provide the level of funding needed to mount Jamaica Carnival this year.

She admitted that an attempt was made to secure subsidies from some government agencies but this was unsuccessful.

The plans for the carnival have also been affected by the death last November of the events founder, bandleader Byron Lee, who started the soca-driven Jamaica carnival in 1989.