India said Monday it may use its own currency, the rupee, to pay for oil imports from Iran in the face of a U.S.-led sanctions campaign aimed at forcing Tehran to abandon its nuclear programme.

India has said it will continue to import oil from Iran, joining China in refusing to bow to intensifying U.S. pressure not to do business with Iran.

Japanese film and camera maker Fujifilm has offered scandal-hit Olympus a capital and business tie-up, it said Monday as it announced a slump in third-quarter profits.

Fujifilm said it has formally proposed a link-up to Olympus' advisors, seeing synergies in the pair's medical operations, although it did not reveal details.

Already dismissed as a "waste of time" and "harmful" by two foreign ministers, the "fiscal compact" that EU leaders hope to conclude at a summit Monday has run into criticism before even being agreed.

The German-led accord, designed as a tighter set of budgetary rules to beef up the ailing and much-infringed Stability and Growth Pact, was set to be agreed by 26 EU leaders later Monday, with Britain remaining on the sidelines.

December: The three main credit ratings agencies, Fitch, Standard & Poor's and Moody's, downgrade Greece's debt. Prime Minister George Papandreou outlines massive public spending cuts.

-- 2010 --

Jordan said on Monday it will raise electricity prices this week by between nine and 17 percent to offset losses caused by cut-offs in Egyptian gas supplies.

"An increase between nine to 17 percent will be imposed from Wednesday on consumers who use more 600 kilowatt/hour per month," said the Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The National Iranian Oil Company has no firm projection of the impact on world crude prices of a looming EU embargo on Iranian exports, its managing director said in comments published on Saturday.

Ahmad Qalebani told the government newspaper Iran that the size of any hike in prices would depend on the European Union's success in finding alternative output to make up for Iranian deliveries lost to the market.

Cyprus' Finance Ministry says it's confident that the island's banks will be able to recapitalize on their own and won't need government support.

The ministry says Cyprus' economy has "strong foundations" and adds that it will soon unveil a growth-oriented package of measures that it's preparing in partnership with the private sector.

Europe is getting tougher on government debt. After more than two years struggling to rescue financially shaky governments, leaders of the 17 countries that use the euro are ready to agree on a treaty that will force member countries to put deficit limits into their national laws.

At first glance, it seems logical — after all, the crisis erupted after too many governments spent and borrowed too much for too long.

A raft of Western economic sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear program are increasingly stifling the lives of ordinary Iranians, hit by rising inflation and growing isolation.

EU and U.S. banking sanctions put in place 18 months ago, and reinforced on Monday, have fuelled Iran's runaway inflation and triggered a collapse in the value of the rial, with implications for the country's residents and diaspora.

Crude prices were steady Friday amid a sliding U.S. dollar and expectations that Europe will be able to find oil elsewhere if Iran makes good on its threat to immediately halt exports to the region.

Benchmark crude for March delivery was up 6 cents at $99.76 a barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 30 cents to finish at $99.70 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.