New Zealand's Jesse Ryder in critical condition after late-night attack

The troubled New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder is in intensive care in a Christchurch hospital with a fractured skull and serious internal injuries after being attacked outside a bar on Wednesday.

Ryder, a hard-hitting 28-year-old batsman who has played 18 Tests, 39 one-day internationals and 20 Twenty20 internationals, had been due to fly to India to join Delhi Daredevils, his latest Premier League franchise. Instead his family were heading for his bedside after an incident that followed a one-day game for Wellington against Canterbury in Christchurch.

Ryder had been at the bar with Wellington team-mates. A statement on the New Zealand police website read: 'Police are investigating an incident at a bar in Merivale in the early hours of this morning. Police can confirm the incident did involve Jesse Ryder and that he is currently in Christchurch hospital.'

Eyewitnesses said Ryder was attacked by four men outside a bar in the Christchurch suburb. CCTV pictures reportedly suggest the incident was unprovoked and that Ryder was punched and kicked repeatedly while lying on the ground.

Four men, believed to be in their late 20s, allegedly started hitting Ryder in the bar's outdoor courtyard and the fight was pushed out on to the road. 'Four dudes were just laying into him and absolutely smashing him on the ground,' said a witness who had been in the bar. 'His shirt was ripped off and they were kicking him and punching him while he was down.'

Ryder managed to stand up during the attack but was quickly knocked back to the ground, the witness added, and they 'damn knew who he was'. The attackers were reportedly swearing at Ryder as they beat him and ran off when police sirens were heard.

New Zealand Cricket said its chief executive David White, Peter Clinton from Cricket Wellington, Heath Mills from the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association and Ryder's manager Aaron Klee were flying to Christchurch. 'We are all shocked by what has occurred and extremely concerned for Jesse. New Zealand Cricket's thoughts are with him and his family,' White said. The four are likely to hold a press briefing once they have ascertained the facts.

St John Ambulance confirmed to TVNZ that two ambulances responded to an alleged assault at 12.34am in the morning. 'We transported to Christchurch hospital ED under lights and sirens one patient, a male, aged in his 20s, with very serious head injuries,' St John Ambulance said.

It is more than a year since Ryder's last international appearance and he dabbled with boxing in June 2012, when he knocked out the radio presenter Mark Watson with a left hook in the first round of a fight shown live on NZ pay-per-view TV.

Brendon McCullum seemed to raise the possibility of a recall when he took over as New Zealand captain late last year, when Ryder was in prolific form for Wellington, but the batsman made himself unavailable for the one-day and t20 matches against England last month.

In February 2008, in the aftermath of a one-day series win against England, Ryder cut a hand trying to break into a toilet in a Christchurch bar, an injury that required surgery and which kept him out of the game for several months.

He has also been reprimanded for turning up to training under the influence after a heavy drinking session and was censured again by NZC last year after he was involved in a verbal altercation with bar patrons in Napier. He had missed a game against South Africa while injured but breached team protocol about abstaining from alcohol.

Ryder then admitted he had a drink problem and announced he was taking an indefinite break from internationals, although he went on to play for Pune Warriors in the IPL but was accompanied to India by a psychologist and his manager.

A post on New Zealand Cricket's official Twitter read: 'The whole NZC team's thoughts are with DijaRyder this morning.' The New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor tweeted: 'Thinking of you mate DijaRyder.'

Klee wrote on his Twitter page: 'thanks for the calls and msgs of support for Jesse. Just heading to Chch to see him'.

The former England captain Michael Vaughan added his support via Twitter: 'Devastating news regarding Jesse Ryder... Just hope he can pull through... Thoughts are with him and his family...'

New Zealand's Jesse Ryder in critical condition after late-night attack

The troubled New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder is in intensive care in a Christchurch hospital with a fractured skull and serious internal injuries after being attacked outside a bar on Wednesday.

Ryder, a hard-hitting 28-year-old batsman who has played 18 Tests, 39 one-day internationals and 20 Twenty20 internationals, had been due to fly to India to join Delhi Daredevils, his latest Premier League franchise. Instead his family were heading for his bedside after an incident that followed a one-day game for Wellington against Canterbury in Christchurch.

Ryder had been at the bar with Wellington team-mates. A statement on the New Zealand police website read: 'Police are investigating an incident at a bar in Merivale in the early hours of this morning. Police can confirm the incident did involve Jesse Ryder and that he is currently in Christchurch hospital.'

Eyewitnesses said Ryder was attacked by four men outside a bar in the Christchurch suburb. CCTV pictures reportedly suggest the incident was unprovoked and that Ryder was punched and kicked repeatedly while lying on the ground.

Four men, believed to be in their late 20s, allegedly started hitting Ryder in the bar's outdoor courtyard and the fight was pushed out on to the road. 'Four dudes were just laying into him and absolutely smashing him on the ground,' said a witness who had been in the bar. 'His shirt was ripped off and they were kicking him and punching him while he was down.'

Ryder managed to stand up during the attack but was quickly knocked back to the ground, the witness added, and they 'damn knew who he was'. The attackers were reportedly swearing at Ryder as they beat him and ran off when police sirens were heard.

New Zealand Cricket said its chief executive David White, Peter Clinton from Cricket Wellington, Heath Mills from the New Zealand Cricket Players' Association and Ryder's manager Aaron Klee were flying to Christchurch. 'We are all shocked by what has occurred and extremely concerned for Jesse. New Zealand Cricket's thoughts are with him and his family,' White said. The four are likely to hold a press briefing once they have ascertained the facts.

St John Ambulance confirmed to TVNZ that two ambulances responded to an alleged assault at 12.34am in the morning. 'We transported to Christchurch hospital ED under lights and sirens one patient, a male, aged in his 20s, with very serious head injuries,' St John Ambulance said.

It is more than a year since Ryder's last international appearance and he dabbled with boxing in June 2012, when he knocked out the radio presenter Mark Watson with a left hook in the first round of a fight shown live on NZ pay-per-view TV.

Brendon McCullum seemed to raise the possibility of a recall when he took over as New Zealand captain late last year, when Ryder was in prolific form for Wellington, but the batsman made himself unavailable for the one-day and t20 matches against England last month.

In February 2008, in the aftermath of a one-day series win against England, Ryder cut a hand trying to break into a toilet in a Christchurch bar, an injury that required surgery and which kept him out of the game for several months.

He has also been reprimanded for turning up to training under the influence after a heavy drinking session and was censured again by NZC last year after he was involved in a verbal altercation with bar patrons in Napier. He had missed a game against South Africa while injured but breached team protocol about abstaining from alcohol.

Ryder then admitted he had a drink problem and announced he was taking an indefinite break from internationals, although he went on to play for Pune Warriors in the IPL but was accompanied to India by a psychologist and his manager.

A post on New Zealand Cricket's official Twitter read: 'The whole NZC team's thoughts are with DijaRyder this morning.' The New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor tweeted: 'Thinking of you mate DijaRyder.'

Klee wrote on his Twitter page: 'thanks for the calls and msgs of support for Jesse. Just heading to Chch to see him'.

The former England captain Michael Vaughan added his support via Twitter: 'Devastating news regarding Jesse Ryder... Just hope he can pull through... Thoughts are with him and his family...'

Russia to put 68 spacecraft into orbit by 2015

Moscow : Russia plans to put 68 spacecraft into orbit by 2015 and to almost double the number of its communications satellites to 44 by 2020, an official said.

'Under Russia's federal space programme, we will launch 68 spacecraft between 2013 and 2015,' said Anatoly Malchenko, deputy head of the Central Research Institute of Machine Building.

Malchenko said all these spacecraft are now being manufactured or developed.

He added that the number of spacecraft could reach 113 by 2020 if a key space programme document is approved.

'However, this (number of spacecraft) could be achieved only in cooperation with the international community,' Malchenko noted.

By 2020, Russia plans to increase the number of its communications satellites from 26 to 44. This will raise Russia's share of the international communications market from 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent.

He said Russia will also increase the number of D33 remote sensing satellites from four to 26 by 2020.

Russia to put 68 spacecraft into orbit by 2015

Moscow : Russia plans to put 68 spacecraft into orbit by 2015 and to almost double the number of its communications satellites to 44 by 2020, an official said.

'Under Russia's federal space programme, we will launch 68 spacecraft between 2013 and 2015,' said Anatoly Malchenko, deputy head of the Central Research Institute of Machine Building.

Malchenko said all these spacecraft are now being manufactured or developed.

He added that the number of spacecraft could reach 113 by 2020 if a key space programme document is approved.

'However, this (number of spacecraft) could be achieved only in cooperation with the international community,' Malchenko noted.

By 2020, Russia plans to increase the number of its communications satellites from 26 to 44. This will raise Russia's share of the international communications market from 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent.

He said Russia will also increase the number of D33 remote sensing satellites from four to 26 by 2020.

Lizard species rediscovered after 135 years

Mumbai: For over a century and quarter, the tiny Geckoella Jeyporensis, a small lizard measuring up to 10 cm, was given up as extinct. Now it has been spotted in the Eastern Ghats, causing scientists to cheer.

A dedicated and concerted effort by a group of environmentalists has caused the rediscovery of the Geckoella Jeyporensis in the Eastern Ghats, in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. The lizard has not been seen in 135 years, a scientist involved in the efforts revealed.

'This gecko, a lizard of the Gekkonidae family, is morphologically unique. It was known only from a single male specimen collected in 1877 by a British officer, Col R.H. Beddome, from the Jeypore Hills, in modern Orissa,' Varad Giri, a scientist with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), told IANS.

The 're-discovery' of this species was the result of a joint venture between the Centre for Ecological Sciences of the Indian Institute of Science (CES-IISc), Bangalore, BNHS Mumbai and Villanova University, US. The journal Hamadryad has endorsed the rediscovery.

The efforts were propelled by the research of CES-IISc doctoral student Ishan Agarwal, who in 2008-2009 wanted to find this lost species to understand its evolutionary history.

There was scanty published material around this particular lizard, and an attempt was made to retrace the journey Col Beddome undertook in the Eastern Ghats over a century ago.

'The only clues were in the original description, which said that this species was collected under a rock in a forest at 4,200 ft on 'Patinghe Hill, Jeypore' - meaning high elevation forest areas (@1,000m) in the Eastern Ghats,' Agarwal told IANS.

Teams of researchers, scientists and naturalists had failed in the past 135 years to trace the unique lizard, Agarwal said. As he grew convinced that the gecko could be found again, another doctoral student, Aniruddha Datta-Roy, and field assistant Tarun Khichi, also joined him on the uncertain mission.

'It takes persistence and just a little bit of luck. So, it was that one day of hard work by four of us which paid off in a spectacular fashion - the unexpected rediscovery of Geckoella Jeyporensis!', Agarwal said.

This was a significant addition to the 190 species of lizards currently known to exist in India, Giri explained.

After one effort yielded nothing, the team tried its luck again in 2011. This time, it hit bull's eye in Andhra Pradesh.

After the exciting discoveries, Giri and Aaron Bauer of Villanova University, US, studied the taxonomy of the species and it was subsequently confirmed as a 'rediscovery'.

'This species is unique among Indian geckos as it has enlarged, hexagonal, plate-like scales across the back. It is one of the most beautiful among Indian geckos, with an orange-brown dorsum, a series of large chocolate brown dorsal blotches,' Giri said.

Giri and Agarwal said that besides being morphologically unique and endemic to a region not traditionally known to harbour many endemics, this species appears restricted to a very specialised habitat in the Eastern Ghats, semi-evergreen forests above 1,000 m elevation.

'This discovery leads us to conclude that the country's Eastern Ghats are more biodiverse than previously believed. There is a strong need for the authorities concerned to protect the region, its flora and fauna,' Giri urged.

'In many ways, the rediscovery of Geckoella Jeyporensis is symptomatic of herpetological research in India. There are a number of species that have not been recorded since their original descriptions or are known in a few localities,' said the study by Hamadryad.

Quite likely, other lost species too might not really be extinct, just in need of rediscovery, the report held, adding that there were obvious gaps in basic data on Indian bio-diversity.

Lizard species rediscovered after 135 years

Mumbai: For over a century and quarter, the tiny Geckoella Jeyporensis, a small lizard measuring up to 10 cm, was given up as extinct. Now it has been spotted in the Eastern Ghats, causing scientists to cheer.

A dedicated and concerted effort by a group of environmentalists has caused the rediscovery of the Geckoella Jeyporensis in the Eastern Ghats, in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. The lizard has not been seen in 135 years, a scientist involved in the efforts revealed.

'This gecko, a lizard of the Gekkonidae family, is morphologically unique. It was known only from a single male specimen collected in 1877 by a British officer, Col R.H. Beddome, from the Jeypore Hills, in modern Orissa,' Varad Giri, a scientist with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), told IANS.

The 're-discovery' of this species was the result of a joint venture between the Centre for Ecological Sciences of the Indian Institute of Science (CES-IISc), Bangalore, BNHS Mumbai and Villanova University, US. The journal Hamadryad has endorsed the rediscovery.

The efforts were propelled by the research of CES-IISc doctoral student Ishan Agarwal, who in 2008-2009 wanted to find this lost species to understand its evolutionary history.

There was scanty published material around this particular lizard, and an attempt was made to retrace the journey Col Beddome undertook in the Eastern Ghats over a century ago.

'The only clues were in the original description, which said that this species was collected under a rock in a forest at 4,200 ft on 'Patinghe Hill, Jeypore' - meaning high elevation forest areas (@1,000m) in the Eastern Ghats,' Agarwal told IANS.

Teams of researchers, scientists and naturalists had failed in the past 135 years to trace the unique lizard, Agarwal said. As he grew convinced that the gecko could be found again, another doctoral student, Aniruddha Datta-Roy, and field assistant Tarun Khichi, also joined him on the uncertain mission.

'It takes persistence and just a little bit of luck. So, it was that one day of hard work by four of us which paid off in a spectacular fashion - the unexpected rediscovery of Geckoella Jeyporensis!', Agarwal said.

This was a significant addition to the 190 species of lizards currently known to exist in India, Giri explained.

After one effort yielded nothing, the team tried its luck again in 2011. This time, it hit bull's eye in Andhra Pradesh.

After the exciting discoveries, Giri and Aaron Bauer of Villanova University, US, studied the taxonomy of the species and it was subsequently confirmed as a 'rediscovery'.

'This species is unique among Indian geckos as it has enlarged, hexagonal, plate-like scales across the back. It is one of the most beautiful among Indian geckos, with an orange-brown dorsum, a series of large chocolate brown dorsal blotches,' Giri said.

Giri and Agarwal said that besides being morphologically unique and endemic to a region not traditionally known to harbour many endemics, this species appears restricted to a very specialised habitat in the Eastern Ghats, semi-evergreen forests above 1,000 m elevation.

'This discovery leads us to conclude that the country's Eastern Ghats are more biodiverse than previously believed. There is a strong need for the authorities concerned to protect the region, its flora and fauna,' Giri urged.

'In many ways, the rediscovery of Geckoella Jeyporensis is symptomatic of herpetological research in India. There are a number of species that have not been recorded since their original descriptions or are known in a few localities,' said the study by Hamadryad.

Quite likely, other lost species too might not really be extinct, just in need of rediscovery, the report held, adding that there were obvious gaps in basic data on Indian bio-diversity.

Two km of rail track stolen in Moscow

Unidentified criminals have stolen over two km of railroad track in the Moscow region, transport prosecutors said.

The theft has caused damage worth over 1.6 million rubles ($52,000), they said.

The tracks were taken from between the stations of Sazonovo and Pilevo east of Moscow.

The railroad there was formerly used to transport cargos of peat, but has been abandoned for the past several years.

A criminal case has been opened on theft charges. The perpetrators face up to 10 years in prison if found and convicted.

Two km of rail track stolen in Moscow

Unidentified criminals have stolen over two km of railroad track in the Moscow region, transport prosecutors said.

The theft has caused damage worth over 1.6 million rubles ($52,000), they said.

The tracks were taken from between the stations of Sazonovo and Pilevo east of Moscow.

The railroad there was formerly used to transport cargos of peat, but has been abandoned for the past several years.

A criminal case has been opened on theft charges. The perpetrators face up to 10 years in prison if found and convicted.

Yahoo's new employee is 17 years old and a millionaire

One of Yahoo's newest employees is a 17-year-old high school student in Britain. As of Monday, he is one of its richest, too.

That student, Nick D'Aloisio, a programming whiz who wasn't even born when Yahoo was founded in 1994, sold his news-reading app, Summly, to the company on Monday for a sum said to be in the tens of millions of dollars. Yahoo said it would incorporate his algorithmic invention, which takes long-form stories and shortens them for readers using smartphones, in its own mobile apps, with Mr. D'Aloisio's help.

'I've still got a year and a half left at my high school,' he said in a telephone interview on Monday. But he will make arrangements to test out of his classes and work from the Yahoo office in London, partly to abide by the company's new and much-debated policy that prohibits working from home.

D'Aloisio, who declined to comment on the price paid by Yahoo (the technology news site AllThingsD pegged the purchase price at about $30 million), was Summly's largest shareholder.

Summly's other investors, improbably enough, included Wendi Murdoch, Ashton Kutcher and Yoko Ono. The most important one was Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong billionaire, whose investment fund supported D'Aloisio's idea early on, before it was even called Summly.

'They took a gamble on me when I was a 15-year-old,' Mr. D'Aloisio said, by providing seed financing that let him hire employees and lease office space.

The fund read about Mr. D'Aloisio's early-stage app on TechCrunch, the Silicon Valley blog of record, found his e-mail address and startled him with a message expressing interest.

The others signed up later. 'Because it was my first time around, people just wanted to help,' he said.

For teenagers who fancy themselves entrepreneurs — and their parents, too — the news of the sale conjured up some feelings of inadequacy, but also awe. For Brian Wong, the 21-year-old founder of Kiip, a mobile rewards company, the reaction was downright laughable: 'I feel old!'

A few years ago, Wong was described in the news media as the youngest person ever to receive venture capital funding. But a couple of younger founders came along — 'and then Nick broke all of our records,' Wong said on Monday.

Among the attributes that helped D'Aloisio, he said, was a preternatural ability to articulate exactly what he wanted Summly to be. 'There were no umms, no uhhs, no hesitations, no insecurities,' Wong said.

D'Aloisio, for his part, sounded somewhat uninterested in answering questions about his age on Monday. He acknowledged that it was an advantage in some pitch meetings, and certainly in the news media, 'but so was the strength of the idea.' He was more eager to talk about his new employer, Yahoo, which is trying to reinvent itself as a mobile-first technology company (having dropped the digital media tagline it used before Marissa Mayer became chief executive last year).

'People are kind of underestimating how powerful it's going to become and how much opportunity is there,' he said.

For a company that badly wants to be labeled innovative, those words are worth a lot.

D'Aloisio's father, who works at Morgan Stanley, and his mother, a lawyer, had no special knowledge of technology. But they nurtured their son's fascination with it and he started coding at age 12. Eventually he decided to develop an app with what he calls an 'automatic summarisation algorithm,' one that 'can take pre-existing long-form content and summarise it.' In other words, it tries to solve a problem that is often summed up with the abbreviation tl;dr: 'too long; didn't read.'

Summly officially came online last November. By December, D'Aloisio was talking to Yahoo and other suitors.

Yahoo said in a statement that while the Summly app would be shut down, 'we will acquire the technology and you'll see it come to life throughout Yahoo's mobile experiences soon.'

Other news-reading apps have attracted corporate attention as of late, reflecting the scramble by media companies to adapt to skyrocketing traffic from mobile devices. The social network LinkedIn was said to be pursuing an app called Pulse earlier this month. Still, the eight-figure payday for a teenage entrepreneur on Monday struck some as outlandish and set off speculation that Yahoo was willing to pay almost any price for 'cool.'

D'Aloisio, though, will have plenty of time to prove his and his algorithm's worth. As for the sizable paycheck from Yahoo, he said he did not have any specific plans for the sudden windfall. 'It's going to be put into a trust fund and my parents will help manage it,' he said.

He did say, however, that 'angel investing could be really fun.' When not working at Yahoo, he will keep up with his hobbies — cricket in particular — and set his sights on attending college at Oxford. His intended major is philosophy.

Yahoo's new employee is 17 years old and a millionaire

One of Yahoo's newest employees is a 17-year-old high school student in Britain. As of Monday, he is one of its richest, too.

That student, Nick D'Aloisio, a programming whiz who wasn't even born when Yahoo was founded in 1994, sold his news-reading app, Summly, to the company on Monday for a sum said to be in the tens of millions of dollars. Yahoo said it would incorporate his algorithmic invention, which takes long-form stories and shortens them for readers using smartphones, in its own mobile apps, with Mr. D'Aloisio's help.

'I've still got a year and a half left at my high school,' he said in a telephone interview on Monday. But he will make arrangements to test out of his classes and work from the Yahoo office in London, partly to abide by the company's new and much-debated policy that prohibits working from home.

D'Aloisio, who declined to comment on the price paid by Yahoo (the technology news site AllThingsD pegged the purchase price at about $30 million), was Summly's largest shareholder.

Summly's other investors, improbably enough, included Wendi Murdoch, Ashton Kutcher and Yoko Ono. The most important one was Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong billionaire, whose investment fund supported D'Aloisio's idea early on, before it was even called Summly.

'They took a gamble on me when I was a 15-year-old,' Mr. D'Aloisio said, by providing seed financing that let him hire employees and lease office space.

The fund read about Mr. D'Aloisio's early-stage app on TechCrunch, the Silicon Valley blog of record, found his e-mail address and startled him with a message expressing interest.

The others signed up later. 'Because it was my first time around, people just wanted to help,' he said.

For teenagers who fancy themselves entrepreneurs — and their parents, too — the news of the sale conjured up some feelings of inadequacy, but also awe. For Brian Wong, the 21-year-old founder of Kiip, a mobile rewards company, the reaction was downright laughable: 'I feel old!'

A few years ago, Wong was described in the news media as the youngest person ever to receive venture capital funding. But a couple of younger founders came along — 'and then Nick broke all of our records,' Wong said on Monday.

Among the attributes that helped D'Aloisio, he said, was a preternatural ability to articulate exactly what he wanted Summly to be. 'There were no umms, no uhhs, no hesitations, no insecurities,' Wong said.

D'Aloisio, for his part, sounded somewhat uninterested in answering questions about his age on Monday. He acknowledged that it was an advantage in some pitch meetings, and certainly in the news media, 'but so was the strength of the idea.' He was more eager to talk about his new employer, Yahoo, which is trying to reinvent itself as a mobile-first technology company (having dropped the digital media tagline it used before Marissa Mayer became chief executive last year).

'People are kind of underestimating how powerful it's going to become and how much opportunity is there,' he said.

For a company that badly wants to be labeled innovative, those words are worth a lot.

D'Aloisio's father, who works at Morgan Stanley, and his mother, a lawyer, had no special knowledge of technology. But they nurtured their son's fascination with it and he started coding at age 12. Eventually he decided to develop an app with what he calls an 'automatic summarisation algorithm,' one that 'can take pre-existing long-form content and summarise it.' In other words, it tries to solve a problem that is often summed up with the abbreviation tl;dr: 'too long; didn't read.'

Summly officially came online last November. By December, D'Aloisio was talking to Yahoo and other suitors.

Yahoo said in a statement that while the Summly app would be shut down, 'we will acquire the technology and you'll see it come to life throughout Yahoo's mobile experiences soon.'

Other news-reading apps have attracted corporate attention as of late, reflecting the scramble by media companies to adapt to skyrocketing traffic from mobile devices. The social network LinkedIn was said to be pursuing an app called Pulse earlier this month. Still, the eight-figure payday for a teenage entrepreneur on Monday struck some as outlandish and set off speculation that Yahoo was willing to pay almost any price for 'cool.'

D'Aloisio, though, will have plenty of time to prove his and his algorithm's worth. As for the sizable paycheck from Yahoo, he said he did not have any specific plans for the sudden windfall. 'It's going to be put into a trust fund and my parents will help manage it,' he said.

He did say, however, that 'angel investing could be really fun.' When not working at Yahoo, he will keep up with his hobbies — cricket in particular — and set his sights on attending college at Oxford. His intended major is philosophy.