50 canditates announced for world's "best job"

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- A list of
50 candidates has been announced for "the best job in the world" -- being
well paid while enjoying the life on a tropical island in Australia, according to
media reports Wednesday.

From the United States, Britain, Russia, India,
China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia,and Kenya, they were
selected from a total of 34,684 applicants from some 200 countries and regions.

"Yesterday, a team of Tourism Queensland marketing
and international staff along with a professional recruitment company made the
very tough decisions necessary to cut the shortlist to the Top 50," said state
Tourism Minister Desley Boyle.

The tourism promotion campaign -- finding a caretaker
of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef was run by the Queensland state
government. The winner would get 150,000 Australian dollars (about 100,000 U.S.
dollars) for six months and includes free airfares from the successful
candidate's home country to the island.

"There's everything from action and adventure,
comedy, animation and a choreographed musical number that just stays with you,"
Boyle said.

The Top 50 will be narrowed down to a final 11, 10 of
whom will be chosen by Tourism Queensland with an 11th "wild card" applicant
chosen by popular vote.

They will be flown to Hamilton Island in early May to
take part in the final selection process with the successful candidate announced
on May 6.

(Agencies)

Aussie castaway dog survives 4 months on desert island

BEIJING, April. 7 (Xin***) -- A pet dog presumed
dead after falling from her owners boat in rough seas offAustralia in
November has reportedly survived more than four months on a desert island.

Sophie Tucker, unseen by her owners, managed to swim
five nautical miles through stormy seas to St Bees Island, near the Great
Barrier Reef, where she survived by hunting feral goats.

The cattle dog captured last week has been
returnedto the Griffith family (her owners). They were convinced that the
dog had drowned after she slipped intochoppy waters in November.

Sophie Tucker was thrown into the sea as Jan Griffith
and her family sailed throughwaters off northeast Queensland. Unable to
rescue her, the family was devastated after the incident.

"We were amazed to find it was indeed Sophie inside
the cage when we met the rangers' boat bringing thedog to the mainland.
Sophie immediately recognized us," Ms Griffith said.

She said, "we called the dog and she started
whimpering and banging the cage бн they (rangers) let her out and she just about
flattened us. Sophie wriggled around like a mad thing."

(Agencies)