FRI 30 OCTEvening1:43 AM

Back to the brief

WORLDBBC News

Hyrox athlete who soiled herself in race tells BBC she put others at risk but says backlash was traumatic

Photo: BBC

An Australian athlete has admitted putting others at risk by continuing to race after soiling herself during an endurance sports event.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC ahead of her return to the sport, Joanna Wietrzyk suggested her determination to win the Hyrox race in Beijing in September had clouded her judgement: "It was my decision to continue racing so I take full responsibility for that."

Challenged over why she carried on, she said: "I didn't really think about those around me… the decision that I made in hindsight was the wrong decision and I'm truly sorry for everyone that I did affect."

Read the original report

Opens BBC News in a new tab

WORLDBBC News

Syrians struggle with soaring prices as crisis challenges post-Assad recovery

Last month, protests erupted in squares and streets across Syria. People burned tyres, blocked roads and chanted slogans, angry at the government's decision to raise fuel prices again. It was the largest show of discontent yet since President Ahmed al-Sharaa came to power two years ago. Speaking on a Syrian TV channel, a man said he still supported the authorities but that his situation had deteriorated to the point where he could no longer afford to buy bread. "Honestly," another said, "we have begun to fear what kind of new decision each morning will bring".

WORLDThe Guardian

Sinkholes, scarred land and scapegoats: the scourge of illegal gold mining in Johannesburg

There is no end in sight for the drivers of illegal mining, while police action appears ineffective Cora Bailey has been encountering illegal miners ever since she first started treating injured animals in the townships around Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, in 1991. But as the price of gold has soared, so too has activity in the abandoned mine shafts that mark the area. In late September, dozens of zama zamas – the name given to illegal miners in South Africa, meaning roughly “to take a chance” in Zulu – arrived to dig for gold across the dirt road…