NewsTrackers

By Suleiman Ugbokhe Samuel pops the question to a surprised Eniola It was embarrassing to the girl but fun to those in the know when policemen entered an eatery to ‘arrest’ her man in her presence. The policemen approached the table where the man was seated with his girlfriend and demanded to know if he was Samuel Tobi. He answered in the affirmative. They told him that a person had lodged a complaint against him at the police station and that they had come to arrest him. The girl, Eniola Odeyale, who all this time remained quiet but attentive sprang to her man's defence and demanded to know from the policemen what crime her man was being arrested for. The offence can only be revealed at the police station, the police stated. Eniola will have none of that. She said her man was going nowhere, until their lawyer was present to handle the situation, even as she was working her phone making frantic calls. The atmosphere became charged with neither side ready to yie

Image copyright REUTERS Image caption The plan would let people communicate with anyone on the currently separate apps Facebook plans to integrate its messaging services on Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. While all three will remain stand-alone apps, at a much deeper level they will be linked so messages can travel between the different services. Facebook told the BBC it was at the start of a "long process". The plan was first reported in the New York Times and is believed to be a personal project of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Once complete, the merger would mean that a Facebook user could communicate directly with someone who only has a WhatsApp account. This is currently impossible as the applications have no common core. The work to merge the three elements has already begun,  reported the NYT,  and is expected to be completed by the end of 2019 or early next year. Shared data Mr Zuckerberg is reportedly pushing the integ

Image copyright REUTERS Image caption Roger Stone is a political lobbyist and an ally of President Donald Trump Political strategist Roger Stone, a long-time ally of President Trump, has been arrested in Florida, charged with seven counts in the Mueller probe. Mr Stone will appear in court later in the city of Fort Lauderdale. The indictment includes one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness-tampering . The charges are linked to an alleged Russian-led hack into the emails of Democratic Party officials. The information contained in the emails was released by WikiLeaks during the 2016 US presidential election campaign. CNN reports that FBI agents arrested Mr Stone in a pre-dawn raid on Friday. One pounded on the door and said, "FBI... Open the door," the US outlet says. What links Stone to the email hack? Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta, who was targeted in the email hac

Media caption Who's really in charge in Venezuela? The BBC's Paul Adams explains Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó has said he would consider an amnesty for President Nicolás Maduro if he cedes power. In an interview, Mr Guaidó    - who declared himself interim president on Wednesday - said he was reaching out to all sectors including the military to end the crisis. It comes amid US efforts to block Mr Maduro's revenue streams. Mr Maduro has cut ties with the US and has so far been backed by the military. However the international community is divided on whether to recognise his government. On Wednesday Mr Guaidó - who is leader of Venezuela's elected National Congress - said he was the legitimate president. The US, more than a dozen Latin American countries, as well as Canada and the UK, have backed his claim. But Russia has condemned foreign support for Mr Guaidó, saying it violated international law and was a "direct

Image copyright GETTY IMAGES Image caption The singer has several previous convictions for violence Chris Brown, a United States singer, has been arrested in Paris based on allegation of rape, French police say. According to a news report by BBC, "A 24-year-old woman alleges that the star assaulted her in a hotel suite in the city earlier this month. "She reportedly told police that the pair met at a nightclub in central Paris, close to the Champs-Elysées, before they returned to the hotel." Chris Brown, 29, according to the report, is yet to comment on the allegation; and the French police are investigating the woman's complaint. Two other men, identified by French media as Brown's bodyguard and a friend, have also been arrested. This isn't the singer's first encounter with the law - he has a number of previous, high-profile convictions for violence. He received five years probation and a community service order for assault