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Asian fuel price rises unlikely to spark unrest

Leaders across Asia are starting to give in on the prickly issue of fuel subsidies, hiking prices in the face of $130 a barrel oil, but careful calibration of the steps may allow them to get away with it. Indonesia jacked up fuel prices by an average of 28.7 percent from Saturday, Sri Lanka followed with its own increase on Sunday and Bangladesh said it planned an increase soon. India is also considering such a move. The odd man out is China, which has strong finances and has said it does not plan to raise prices soon.