AU - Africanews

1. Valentine's Day: Can Benin's Venice still compete with dating apps?

   In Benin, the lakeside village of Ganvié is seeing a quiet shift: its once discreet meeting spots are fading as young couples swap secret night encounters for smartphones and social media.

2. South Africa's political parties largely welcome troop deployment

   In his State of the Nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the army would help police fight gang violence and illegal mining in two different provinces.

3. Serbian 'iceman' defies sub-zero extremes for mental reset

   Vladimir Stevanovic braves Serbia’s icy lakes and snowy ridges in shorts, using extreme cold as daily meditation that slows his mind and resets his body.

4. Morocco to spend more than $300 million on flood recovery

   Morocco plans to spend some $330 million on regions hit hardest by weeks of flooding across the country's north that have battered its key agricultural zones, the government said Thursday

5. Time is of an essence in search for migrant boats off African coast

   The long route and harsh weather in the Atlantic can easily spell disaster for the people aboard.