Members of the FIABCI, an international group of real estate professionals, raved about a trip in Taichung on Tuesday that included a walking tour of local architecture and the “Sleepless in Taichung” night-life excursion.

Visitors to Taipei are expected to spend a total of US$8.1 billion this year, ranking the city as the sixth-top destination in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of visitor expenditure, according to the annual Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index released yesterday.

The Taipei City Government yesterday said that it agrees with the premier's suggestion that the details concerning the former Air Force General Headquarters redevelopment project be reconsidered.

The Taipei District Court yesterday extended the detention of Kuomintang (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lai Su-ju (賴素如) and real estate developer Cheng Hung-dao (程宏道) over their roles in the Twin Towers bidding scandal.

In response to recent complaints form residents of Taipei's Yanji commercial district that restaurants and bars in the area have seriously affected the community's living quality, the Taipei mayor said yesterday that shop owners face fines should they produce air or noise pollution.

Taipei Deputy Mayor Chang Chin-oh (張金鶚) yesterday said that the city government would not interfere in the central government's land redevelopment projects in the city.

A fire broke out Monday at a residue desulfurization unit operated by state-controlled oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan's (CPC's) factory in Kaohsiung, but there were no casualties, the city's Environmental Protection Bureau said.

A Taipei councilor yesterday said that a club in mainland China's Wuhan City has misappropriated Taipei's emblem for its club's logo, an issue that the Taipei mayor said he would resolve within one month.

A Taitung-based fraud ring was busted yesterday, according to the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB).

Changhua County Magistrate Cho Po-yuan met with Masaaki Osawa, the governor of Gunma Prefecture, during a visit to the landlocked prefecture in Japan's Kanto Region recently.