Hong Kong, April 26: A group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers said Monday they believe they may have found Noah’s Ark — four thousand metres up a mountain in Turkey.

The team said they recovered wooden specimens from a structure on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey that carbon dating proved was 4,800 years old, around the same time the ark is said to have been afloat. "It’s not 100 per cent that it is Noah’s Ark but we think it is 99.9 per cent that this is it," said Yeung Wing-cheung, a Hong Kong documentary filmmaker and member of the 15-strong team from Noah’s Ark Ministries International.

The structure had several compartments, some with wooden beams, which were believed to house animals, he said.

The group of evangelical archaeologists ruled out an established human settlement on the grounds that one had never been found above 3,500 metres in the vicinity, Mr Yeung said.

Local Turkish officials will ask the government in Ankara to apply for Unesco World Heritage status so the site can be protected while a major archaeological dig is conducted, Mr Yeung added.

The Biblical story says God decided to flood the earth after seeing how corrupt it had become, and told Noah to build an ark and fill it with two of every animal species. After the flood waters receded, the Bible says, the ark came to rest on a mountain. Many believe that Mount Ararat, the highest point in the region, is where the ark and her inhabitants came aground.

— PTI

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SC quashes expulsion of Amarinder

Age Correspondent

New Delhi

April 26: In a significant ruling on the "misuse" of parliamentary privileges to fix political opponents, the Supreme Court on Monday set aside the expulsion of former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh by the state Assembly on a motion moved by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan said the expulsion was illegal and unconstitutional for "non-existent" privilege violations.