■ENTERTAINMENT
Clare gets second-best job
Clare Wang (王秀毓), the interpreter who narrowly missed out on the “best job in the world” as caretaker of a tropical island on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, has found new employment as a tourism ambassador, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported yesterday. A report said that Wang, who lost out to British charity fundraiser Ben Southall on May 5, has been named a tourism ambassador for Port Douglas in Queensland. Wang, who after losing decided to stay on in Australia for a year-long working holiday told CNA: “I can’t believe it. I didn’t think that I could get such a great job opportunity on a working holiday visa.” A representative from Tourism Queensland’s Taiwan promotion office said that officials had taken note of Wang’s great personality during the finale of the best job competition and decided to offer her a position promoting Port Douglas’ carnival.
■SOCIETY
Bullying caught on video
An official from Taipei County Government’s Education Bureau urged students to report cases of campus bullying by calling 0800-580-780 (我幫你去霸凌). Special Education Division chief Ou Jen-hao (歐人豪) issued the statement after hearing about a case in which a student at Mingzhi Junior High School was severly bullied by a peer at school. The bureau said the 14-year-old student was beaten up for almost half a year by his classmate. One of his tormentors even recorded the bullying with a cellphone and posted the videos on his blog last week. The victim was emotionally unstable and unwilling to go to school because of the beatings, so his parents turned to the teacher for help, the bureau said, adding that the teacher received tips from other students and found the video clips showing the students beating their victim with fists and brooms.
■EDUCATION
MOFA encourages students
Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) yesterday encouraged university students to join the country’s foreign service, saying that people play a key role in diplomatic work and that the desire to be a good diplomat was the most important factor in the job. “Diplomacy is the art of turning something impossible into something possible, and the key lies in people” with the right attributes, he said at a ceremony to award Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) scholarships to 34 university students. He listed the main requirements for foreign service as “professional knowledge, common sense, understanding of international affairs, good command of several foreign languages and outstanding communication skills.”
■SOCIETY
Inherited debt law relaxed
The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved an amendment to the Civil Code (民法) that would relieve those who inherited debt from deceased family members. The amendment will not be applied retroactively, except in three cases: when the indebted inheritor incurs debt because his family members were guarantors; when the descendant inherits debt by becoming the substitute creditor; or when the descendant had no way of knowing about the debt incurred. The three cases are the most common cases of unfair inherited debt, the ministry said. Current law states that an heir can apply for limited inheritance within three months of the start of the inheritance. Limited inheritance means that an heir is only responsible for the debt up to a value that can be satisfied by the property inherited.
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