Benefitting from soaring demand for online ads, Google's parent company Alphabet reported nearly $19 billion in profits between July and September, up 68 percent from the same period last year. Microsoft's earnings also beat expectations, while French consumers are gearing up for some price hikes at the bakery.

A Chinese firm, Broad Group has constructed a 10-storey residential building in China’s Changsha city in 28 hours and 45 minutes. The real estate company used prefabricated construction systems to deliver the project. Pre-fabricated buildings are designs to enable quick construction.

It's whip fast, obeys commands and doesn't leave unpleasant surprises on the floor -- meet the AlphaDog, a robotic response to two of China's burgeoning loves: pets and technology. The high-tech hound uses sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to 'hear' and 'see' its environment -- and can even be taken for walks.

BuyCoins, a Lagos based company cater to Nigerians who are interested in trading cryptocurrency. The company offers a service that enables users to trade instantly. Users can buy or sell cryptocurrency directly from or to us via the app without the hassle of looking for traders to buy from or sell to.

It's Christmas Day and following a year which has been harrowing for so many, we've decided to look back at the good news of 2020. We begin in Uganda, where a plastics company that specialises in recycling switched from making building materials to face shields to help hospitals. We also go to Benin, where the closure of the border with Nigeria has led to a push for more locally produced food, some of it on rooftops. And our correspondent in DR Congo looks back at how an NGO is helping Ebola survivors turn their lives around.

Dozens of activists from South Africa's radical leftwing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party picket outside stores of a leading retail pharmacy on Monday over a controversial "racist" hair advertisement which described black hair as "dull" and white hair as "normal". The company, which boasts of more than 500 branches across South Africa has apologised and pulled down the adverts. The EFF wants the chain shut for five days.

A French company that specialises in hemp canvas is marketing what it claims are the first 100% compostable masks in Europe. Costing 65 cents each, they have already been ordered in their hundreds of thousands by companies and local authorities across Europe.

It might seem like a flight of fancy, but a Japanese firm says it is one step closer to making flying cars a reality after testing a drone-like prototype. The Japanese company Skydrive, which develops urban air mobility solutions, carried out a test flight of its SD-03 electric flying car with a passenger on board. The vehicle, which operates with eight rotors and two propellers arranged at each corner, rose vertically into the air about three meters above the ground and circled a test field for four minutes.

Here is why you should pick up a copy of The Guardian on Tuesday. Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on the newsstands on Tuesday

Global data analytics company; Nielsen, says the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a sharp drop in consumer sentiment in West Africa in the second quarter of the year. Ged Nooy, Managing Director at Nielsen Nigeria joins CNBC Africa for more.

Amol Sarva, Knotel Inc. chief executive officer, discusses the company's plan to take on WeWork and its expansion strategy with Bloomberg's Caroline Hyde and Romaine Bostick on "Bloomberg Markets: The Close."

Walt Disney Co. opened the most highly anticipated theme-park attraction in the company’s history -- and attendance fell. Profit at the company’s domestic resorts fell in the latest quarter, which was marked by the ballyhooed opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.