U.K., AUSTRALIA OFFER WHEAT TO BANGLADESH
  Britain and Australia have offered a
  total of 129,250 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh as grants to
  contain rising cereal prices and help support rural employment
  projects, officials said.
      They said 79,250 tonnes of wheat promised by Britain would
  be shipped next week and used for the government's "Food for
  Work" program in the villages.
      Under the program, workers building roads, digging
  irrigation canals and engaged in other rural development
  activities get their daily wages in wheat instead of money.
      The 50,000 tonnes of Australian wheat would arrive in
  Bangladesh next month and be sold under open-market operations
  designed to stop price increases, the officials said.
      Prices of rice and wheat have risen at least 15 pct in the
  past month, market sources said. But the government expects
  prices to fall after the wheat harvest next month.