Children’s lung capacity improved significantly after vehicles that cause the most pollution were prohibited from driving in certain parts of London, U.K., designated as low and ultra low emissions zones, a new study found.

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London and Oxford University examined over 3,000 school children aged six to nine in central London and Luton before and after the introduction of the ultra low low emissions zones (ulez) and found that the London children’s’ lung capacity was restored to healthy levels after it was initially stunted by exposure to pollution.

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Luton, the study’s comparator site, is a town outside of London and does not have any designated clean air zones.

“This evidence supports wider implementation of clean air zones as a public health intervention,” the study says, arguing that it marks an evidentiary breakthrough for an initiative which in the past had been criticized for burdening drivers.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan introduced the plan more than seven years ago, and wrote in an essay for The Guardian this week that when it was first suggested he faced backlash from his detractors, who he said accused him of declaring “war on drivers in blind pursuit of a policy that may not even work.”

New findings showed it to be effective.

Over four years the study found that the percentage of children with impaired lung function decreased in both London and Luton, from 14 per cent to nine per cent in London and from nine per cent to seven per cent in Luton.

“To our knowledge, we provide the first evidence that air quality improvements following introduction of a clean air zone are associated with improved lung growth trajectories in children,” the study’s authors wrote.

According to their findings, exposure to traffic related air-pollution is strongly linked to impaired lung development in children and adolescents and failure to reach maximal lung growth poses an increased risk for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiometabolic disease, and earlier mortality.

It also showed that children’s lung growth accelerated in ultra low emissions zones and that it was correlated with an improvement in air quality. The depletion of their lung capacity was linked specifically to the presence of nitrogen dioxide.

Based on the evidence researchers concluded that low emissions zones should be implemented more broadly, and on an international scale.

“Children continue to be exposed to poor air quality in cities globally,'” they wrote, “decision makers globally should consider accelerating the introduction of clean air zones to improve children’s lung health.”

There are no similar initiatives currently operational in Canada.

The federal government does set out vehicle emission standards, which require car makers to meet increasingly stringent low emissions requirements.

Toronto has considered implementing congestion charges and low emissions zones to reduce traffic along major travel routes. These policies typically require drivers to pay to use a polluting vehicle within certain areas.

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) has concluded that “there is a reasonable indication that the dumping of wheat gluten from Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom has caused injury to the domestic industry.”

An investigation on the matter began on June 19, with a preliminary determination set to be issued by Sept. 17.

Dumping is when “goods are sold to importers in Canada at prices that are lower than the selling price of comparable goods in the country of export or when goods are sold to Canada at unprofitable prices,” according to Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA).

Dumping can also consist of “increased volume of subject goods, price undercutting, price depression, and adverse impacts on market share, sales volume, and profitability.”

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada previously stated on May 21, 2025 that “Canadian exports of durum wheat are progressing rapidly and continue to surpass last year’s [2024] volume,” with an increase being attributed “to solid import demand from Italy,” among other nations such as Algeria, Morocco, the U.S., Spain and Chile.

For 2024-25, Statistics Canada estimated that total production of durum wheat in Canada to be 5.9 million tonnes, with total supply projected to be 6.3 million tonnes. Domestic consumption was forecasted to represent 13 per cent of the total supply.

Total trade in goods and services (including exports and imports) between the U.K. and Italy was £53.7 billion in the four quarters to the end of the first quarter of 2026, according to data from the U.K. government.

This also made Italy the U.K.’s 10th largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of first quarter of 2026, accounting for 2.8 per cent of total U.K. trade.

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The CITT also announced a preliminary injury inquiry into a complaint by Great Pacific Enterprises Limited Partnership (Genpak) based out of Mississauga, Ont., with the company alleging it has “suffered injury as a result of the dumping and subsidizing of paperboard cups and containers from China.”

The CITT will determine whether there is a reasonable indication that the alleged dumping and subsidizing have either caused or threatened injury on Oct. 16, with the investigation set to conclude by Nov. 16.

Viral footage of a social media personality being bitten on the leg by a shark is prompting discussion about a possible rise in the number of attacks among influencers pursuing epic underwater moments with the species.

Tayane Dalazen, a 37-year-old Brazilian lawyer and influencer, was on a shark-diving excursion in the country in April when a seven-foot-long nurse shark — which are generally known for being docile — circling close to the water’s surface sank its teeth into her thigh. The incident was caught on camera, and Dalazen posted it.

In the short video, Dalazen can be seen snorkelling with several others near a boat’s stern, as a shark swims directly toward her.

“When the shark bit me, the pain was very strong,” she told the BBC. “I stayed calm because I knew I couldn’t fight the animal.”

After clinging to her thigh for several seconds, the shark loosened its grip, leaving Dalazen with a series of lacerations.

The Brazilian influencer wrote in the video’s caption that the incident occurred when she was taking part in a Discovery Channel documentary which aired in July.

While shark bites on humans are very rare, a 2020 study at the University of Technology in Auckland noted an increase in trends such as the ‘wildlife selfie,’ which it says requires close proximity to unpredictable animal species and has been gaining popularity in a way that may “contribute to wildlife harassment” or provoke animal behaviour that could “pose a hazard for people.”

In July, fishing influencer Henry Gibbs was creating content in Fiji and almost lost his leg after being bitten by a reef shark.

Similarly, in February last year, a Canadian tourist in Turks and Caicos lost both her hands while trying to get a photograph of a bull shark.

In April of 2025, the remains of a snorkeler in Israel who was reportedly swimming with a “selfie stick” were found after being killed by sharks while trying to snap photos, the BBC reported.

The New Zealand study also found that influencers and photographers were most likely to ignore safety instructions during shark-diving expeditions, though shark attacks are still extremely uncommon.

The University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF) reports that the odds of being bitten by a shark are incredibly low. ISAF recommends ocean swimmers stay close to shore, avoid swimming at dawn or dusk and avoid excessive splashing.

The ISAF investigated 105 alleged shark-human interactions worldwide in 2025, with five total cases coming from the Bahamas.

ISAF confirmed 65 unprovoked shark bites on humans and 29 provoked bites, which occur when a human initiates interaction with a shark in some way.

The 2025 worldwide total of 65 confirmed unprovoked cases is in line with the most recent five-year (2020 to 2024) average of 61 incidents annually, according to the ISAF.