Greece has been added to the US Visa Waiver Program, allowing its citizens to travel to the United States for 90 days at a time without a visa, the US Homeland Security Department said Tuesday. The announcement from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, which came as Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou visited Washington, adds Greece to a list of 35 countries whose citizens can visit the United States visa-free.

US aerospace giant Boeing said Tuesday it will decide whether to ramp up production on its 777 planes next month amid expectations of new orders for the twin-aisle airliner in the "near term. ""We're starting to see traffic come back," Jim Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing Commercial, said in a conference call with analysts.

Wall Street stocks posted modest gains Tuesday amid cautious trading on the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the market's rebound from its lows last year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 11. 86 points (0. 11 percent) to 10,564. 38 in final trades after a flat market a day earlier in the absence of market-moving news.

Oil prices slipped Tuesday under pressure from a stronger dollar and ahead of weekly data on petroleum inventories in the United States, the world's largest energy consumer. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, dropped 38 cents to close at 81. 49 dollars a barrel. In London, Brent North Sea crude for April delivery shed 56 cents to settle at 79.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said Tuesday that President Barack Obama gave a "very positive" response to his call for a crackdown on speculators he blames for damaging Greece's economy.

Greece is planning to raise around 10 billion euros (13. 6 billion dollars) this month by issuing bonds as it races to meet debt requirements, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Tuesday citing officials. "Greece would like about 10 billion euros from bond issuance in March," an anonymous official was quoted as saying.

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday approved a five-year tax amnesty to encourage the repatriation of funds from abroad and boost the economy, officials said. Income tax in Belarus, a former Soviet republic lodged between Poland, Russia and Ukraine, is currently at around 12 percent.

Police detained Slovenia's agriculture minister and two members of parliament Tuesday as part of a sweeping investigation into corruption, media reported. The office of the minister, Milan Pogacnik, confirmed that police had "talked" to the official, but gave no other details. Private POP TV channel reported however that Pogacnik was in detention and had been seen leaving the ministry accompanied by police.

Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday scuppered President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's plans to cut energy subsidies by approving only half the savings wanted by his government, news agencies reported. Lawmakers had on Monday passed a broad outline of the budget for the year to March 2011, but on Tuesday blocked a specific proposal that would have saved the government 40 billion dollars.

The United States will expose "troublesome" trade barriers erected by countries as part of stepped-up enforcement, President Barack Obama's top trade official said Tuesday. "Unfair" non-tariff barriers imposed on farm exports will also be identified in a new report this month, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington.