U.S. SEC paid $3.75 million to BHP Billiton whistleblower: report www.reuters.com

Brother Law' to Cost Telecoms $154Bln – Report www.themoscowtimes.com

Fed's Janet Yellen says case for rate rise has strengthened www.bbc.com

Domino's delivers pizza by drone in New Zealand www.cnn.com

In New Zealand, pizzas will soon be dropping from the heavens.
Domino's demonstrated its ability to deliver food via a drone Thursday in New Zealand and plans to test actual deliveries to customers next month.
"It doesn't add up to deliver a two kilogram package in a two-ton vehicle," said Scott Bush, a general manager for Domino's Pizza Enterprises, which is independent of the U.S. chain and operates in seven countries. "In Auckland, we have such massive traffic congestion it just makes sense to take to the airways."
A Domino's customer who requests a drone delivery will receive a notification when their delivery is approaching. After going outside and hitting a button on their smartphone, the drone will lower the food via a tether. Once the package is released, the drone pulls the tether back up and flies back to the Domino's store.

Prada seeks younger customers in bid for growth www.bbc.com

Italian luxury fashion group Prada has predicted a return to growth as it seeks to connect with younger customers through online sales and flexible pricing.
First half profits fell 25% to €330m (£282m) due partly to falling demand in China and Italy.
But Prada said it saw 2016 as "a turning point."
It has been reviewing prices, product variety and online marketing to appeal to more customers.
Revenue fell 15% to €1.55bn compared to this time last year and in April Prada announced its lowest profits in five years.
'Millennials'
It was previously criticised for opening too many new stores and failing to invest enough online.
Prada said it was on track with plans to double its e-commerce sales over the next two years by increasing the number of products it offered online, particularly shoes.
It will also expand its social media activities so it can raise its profile among "the 'always connected' millennials," referring to the 20s -30s age group.
The company added it was working on a "potential launch of 'shoppable' content with selected key items on Instagram".

These smartphone makers are beating Apple in China www.cnn.com

Apple is having a rough ride in China, where its main revenue-generating product -- the iPhone -- is facing increasingly fierce competition from homegrown tech companies.
Apple's (AAPL, Tech30) overall sales fell 33% in China in the second quarter, compared to the same period last year. One reason for the decline is the rise of domestic smartphone makers like Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.
Together, the four brands account for more than 56% of the Chinese market, according to research firm IDC. Their popularity has pushed Apple (AAPL, Tech30) down to fifth place in IDC's ranking of the top smartphone vendors in China, with an 8% share of the market. Meanwhile, upstart Gionee, which offers phones for less than $100, could also soon be a real competitor, according to Strategy Analytics.
In many ways, Apple's own success is to blame for its current challenges in China. The iPhone design has spawned countless imitations, making it harder for the device to stand out. But it has also struggled to keep up with local rivals' marketing strategies that have helped drive consumer demand.
On Apple's latest earnings call, CEO Tim Cook attributed the its quarterly drop in revenue to China's economic slowdown and the company's stellar year there in 2015 -- a hard one to top.
Here's the lowdown on the homegrown companies that are giving Apple a tough time:
Oppo
After releasing its first smartphone in 2011, Oppo has surged to become the second biggest vendor in China and No. 4 worldwide.
Its sleek phones -- like the 5.5-inch F1s "Selfie Expert" and flagship R9 -- look a lot like the iPhone 6S Plus. They emphasize quick charging (five minutes for two hours of talk); enhanced selfie camera features (including a blemish remover); and a lower price point than most devices with similar specs.
oppo R9
The Oppo R9
Oppo's success comes down to a few key strengths: its presence in smaller and mid-sized cities, use of celebrities to promote its phones and highly specific marketing campaigns.
To keep growing, the company will need to start wrangling more affluent customers away from Apple and Samsung in bigger cities. "That is the next battlefield," said Nicole Peng, China director at tech research firm Canalys.
But that won't be easy. Apple has the strongest pull of any brand -- 40% of existing customers choose to stay with it even when they upgrade their phones, according to Canalys.

Vivo
Oppo and Vivo are direct competitors, but both companies were developed by Chinese consumer giant BBK Electronics, Peng said. That's why there are so many similarities in the way they market their products.
Vivo also uses celebrity product ambassadors and has a strong retail presence in smaller cities. Its stores are set up to make the customer feel relaxed and at home while they play with new devices.
"This is still a more convenient option for consumers living in [smaller] cities, as they can easily head to one of the physical shops for after-sale services," IDC says in its report.
Vivo store
A Vivo store in Hangzhou, China. February 2016.
As the race for market share amps up, Oppo and Vivo may band together to compete, according to Peng. But they're both doing fine on their own right now.
Vivo, whose newer products include the V3 and V3 Max, is currently the third ranked smartphone vendor in China. It trails Oppo in market share by a few percentage points.

Huawei
By far the best known brand in China, Huawei is No. 1 in market share. It's third globally, behind Samsung and Apple.
The company just came out with a new line of Honor smartphones in China and the U.S. The Honor 8 is targeted to people who want a premium large-screen device for a mid-tier price.
huawei honor phone
Huawei hopes to woo U.S. consumers with the new Honor 8.
Within China, Huawei has also advertised its devices based on very specific features. In the Huawei P9, for example, the big to-do has been over its dual-camera.
Like its competitors, Huawei has recently hired famous people to promote its products. But IDC analyst Xiaohan Tay has doubts about this strategy.
"Hiring celebrity endorsers may help increase numbers in the short-term, but this alone may not be sufficient to drive numbers in the long run," she writes.

Xiaomi
Just like Apple -- a company to which it's often compared -- Xiaomi has seen its sales decline over the past year. According to IDC, Xiaomi now has less than 10% of the Chinese market, down from around 16% a year earlier.
The company built a lot of buzz in China by selling to customers directly online. Using flash sales as a promotion, products often sold out, which added to the perception of its popularity. But competitors quickly caught on to this business model and replicated it, says IDC's Tay.

"The hype for Xiaomi seemed to have died down recently," she says. "Their low-end Redmi products are the ones that make up the most of their shipments."
To try to combat the decline, Xiaomi has taken a page from its competitors' playbooks and started to hire celebrity endorsers and build physical retail stores.
A Xiaomi spokeswoman contested IDC's numbers about its performance, saying that reports from other firms like Strategy Analytics are "much closer" to the true picture. Still, the Strategy Analytics report also puts Xiaomi in fourth place after a steep drop in market share.

Bolivia minister killed by protesting miners www.bbc.com

The Bolivian government says its deputy interior minister has been kidnapped and killed by striking miners.
Rodolfo Illanes and his bodyguard were seized earlier on Thursday at a roadblock in Panduro, south of La Paz, official said.
Interior Minister Carlos Romero said "all indications" were that Mr Illanes had been murdered in a "cowardly and brutal" attack.
Two miners also died from gunshot wounds during clashes with police.
Mr Illanes was beaten to death at about 18:00 local time (00:00 GMT), La Razon newspaper quoted Defence Minister Reymi Ferreira as saying.
The authorities could not for the moment retrieve his body, the minister said. More than 100 arrests had been made, he said.
President Evo Morales had been "profoundly affected" by Mr Illanes's death, Mr Ferreira added.
While he was being held, Mr Illanes told Bolivian radio that a condition for his release was that the government negotiate with miners over new legislation.
The miners have been blocking a highway in Panduro since Tuesday.
The National Federation of Mining Co-operatives of Bolivia, once strong allies of President Morales, began what they said would be an indefinite protest after negotiations failed.
Protesters have been demanding more mining concessions, the right to work for private companies, and greater union representation.

Mercedes-Benz looks to KAMAZ to build car plant in Russia www.rt.com

Russian truck manufacturer KAMAZ is to partner Daimler AG in the construction of a plant to assemble Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles in Russia.

Europe hopes to prepare Ukraine for winter through three-party talks www.rt.com

Russia’s Nord Stream-2 pipeline is a 'bad deal' for Europe - Biden www.rt.com