Sydney - Australia claimed Saturday that a 101-metre giant swamp gum found last week just 4 kilometres from a popular Tasmanian tourist attraction is the world's tallest hardwood tree, tallest eucalypt and its tallest flowering tree.
The 400-year-old whopper is only a few metres shorter than the world-record 115-metre redwood in California's Redwood National Park.
"It's hard to believe they've been here so long without us even knowing they are here," Forestry Tasmania resource information manager David Mannes told the Hobart Mercury newspaper. "Considering the other tall trees around the state, this one's in very good condition."
Mannes found the lofty swamp gum, dubbed Centurion because it tops 100 metres, near the Tahune Airwalk tourist attraction at Geeveston, 80 kilometres south of Hobart. (dpa)
The German car market is facing its worse downturn, the nation's auto industry association warned Wednesday as the deepening sense of economic gloom in the country leads to a shakeout in the industry and the prospects of big job cuts.
A comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon as a couple trying to avoid their families at Christmas debuted in first place over the weekend at North American box offices, according to preliminary studio estimates issued Sunday.