Mrs Clinton mentioned geothermal energy

The American Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, has pledged to help end Caribbean and Central American dependency on foreign oil.

She spoke at a meeting of energy ministers of the Americas in Washington.

Mrs Clinton said that the US will provide a grant to assist with technical and legal advice to any Caribbean nation wishing to shift to clean energy.

The US has seen rival Venezuela step in to provide oil to Caribbean nations on preferential terms under its Petrocaribe programme.

Mrs Clinton praised Caracas for helping Haiti in particular.

TT economy "doing well"

The Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank Governor, Ewart Williams, says the country's economy has survived the global downturn very well.

But Mr Williams is adopting a wait and see attitude to the performance so far this year, which he described as mixed.

In a recent interview with BBC Caribbean, the Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, said he wasn't surprised by economy's show of resilience.

Sentencing due over bomb scare

A Dutch national will be sentenced in Ireland next week after pleading guilty to causing a mid-air bomb scare on board a flight on the way to Aruba from Amsterdam.

Jorge Flores pleaded guilty to making a false alarm by stating that he had a bomb on board the Boeing 767 on 13 January.

Some 231 passengers were on board.

The bomb scare prompted the captain to divert to make an emergency landing at Ireland's Shannon airport.

House prices table

If you are looking for property and want a comparison of house prices in the Caribbean, here's one, compliments of Adam Barrett, chief executive of JHR Caribbean Real Estate in Antigua.

He said a two-bedroom property near the beach in Antigua would sell for an average of three US$350,000, compared with $480,000 in St Lucia, $500,000 in St Kitts and Nevis and $550,000 in Barbados.

The figures are published in the International Herald Tribune.