R&B diva Beyonce has a reputation for being one of the shrewdest businesswomen in music.

At a time of falling music sales, her most recent album, I Am... Sasha Fierce, has sold six million copies worldwide.

Her concert tours, her endorsement of brands including L'Oreal cosmetics and her forthcoming Heat perfume - to be launched next month in the US - all add to her income.

According to Forbes magazine, her earnings have topped $80m (£50m) a year for the past two years.

But when she ventures into the Caribbean, her appearances seem to court controversy.

On New Year's Eve, she was paid a reported $2m fee for performing at a private party on the exclusive island of St Barts, but a wave of bad publicity ensued when it emerged that her patron was Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi's son Mutasim-Billah.

Now she is set to return to the region with a concert next month in Trinidad and Tobago - but the news has already angered the local music industry and given new impetus to a bitter battle between the country's two mobile phone providers.

See full article at BBC News