Mongla Port Authority has signed a memorandum of understanding with a Singaporean company looking to invest Tk 21,000 crore ($3 billion) to develop the second largest seaport of the country.

Shipping minister Shahjahan Khan, who was present at the MoU signing on Wednesday, said: "This is one of the biggest foreign direct investments in Bangladesh."

The government has finalised the second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for the next one and a half years. The implementation of the second PRSP during the period between Jan 01, 2010 and June, 2011 will cost Tk 2814.81 billion.

Finance minister AMA Muhith disclosed this on Wednesday after a meeting on the second PRSP at the planning ministry in the capital.

The second storey of this nondescript building in Fuyang city in China's central province of Anhui houses HIV-positive orphans, but unlike many other similar establishments, there are no signboards outside.

Heavy stigma still surrounds the disease in China, and children -- probably the most vulnerable group among AIDS patients -- are almost invariably barred from schools and even abandoned by their parents and relatives.