Breakfast Edition: 21 January 2016

SAA ABLE TO PAY ITS DEBTS: The Finance ministry on Wednesday said it had taken steps to ensure that loss-making South African Airways would have the cash to honour its debts when payment becomes due. These steps included repatriating funds from overseas and efforts to secure further short-term bridging facilities on the back of unused government guarantees to the tune of R2 billion, National Treasury said. "Of the R14.4 billion in guarantees extended to SAA, the airline has R2 billion it has not utilised, which can be tapped into for additional financing," it said. 

MANTASHE SAYS IT IS TIME TO TALK ABOUT RACISM: ANC secretary general, Gwede Mantashe believed South Africa had been avoiding a serious discussion about race and racism over the past 21 years. He was adressing a TNA business briefing in in Johannesburg earlier on Thursday. Mantashe said there was now finally a shift in the discussions about race.

NATIONAL STUDENT FUND TO BE RESTRUCTURED: The government's National Student Fund's would be restructured and the new model - set to be announced next year - would seek to address all concerns raised by students during the #FeesMustFall campaign. The Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande announced that other means are under consideration to improve the roll-out of financial help to needy students. Samkele Maseko reports. 

TIGER ATTACKS ZOOKEEPER: A tiger attacked a keeper at a zoo in Australia on Thursday, leaving him with a "significant puncture wound" to the head at the popular tourist attraction, officials said. The man, in his 40s, was treated by paramedics at the Sunshine Coast's Australia Zoo, founded by the family of late "Crocodile Hunter" star Steve Irwin, for wounds to his forehead and wrist and scratches to his body, a Queensland state ambulance spokesman said.

FIVE PLANETS ALIGN: Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter have aligned diagonally with the earth, and according to star gazers you can see this alignment on a clear morning. The phenomenon will be visible to the naked eye until the middle of February. 

LEONARDO DICAPRIO RECEVES AWARD AT WEF16: US actor Leonardo DiCaprio received a Crystal Award for his efforts in conservation. The Oscar nominee was in Davos, Switzerland yesterday to receive the award from German Hilde Schwab, the Chairperson and Co-Founder of Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. DiCaprio also revealed that a further $15 million has been made available by the Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation in an effort to preserve the world's natural resources for future generations. The awards were handed out at the opening of the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. 

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