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The European Union has approved an oil embargo on Iran as part of further sanctions imposed on the country. Al-Jazeera reports EU officials supporting the sanctions at a meeting in Brussels Monday. US pressure on the EU also led to sanctions on Iran’s central bank.

The move puts pressure on Iran to continue negotiations amid fears of the country’s development of nuclear weapons.

Iran criticized the decision calling it “unfair” and “doomed to fail”. Iran exports 18% of its oil to the European Union, the second biggest importer.

With Iranian oil under long-term contracts in the EU, the embargo will only be enforced on July 1.

The Montreal Gazette has reported that according to a study conducted by the University of Ottawa and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, hockey helmets provide better protection than ski helmets.  Bicycle helmets were also proved to be more effective.

Parents who hand their children a ski helmet when they go tobogganing are now being advised to do otherwise. However, according to the Journal of Neurosurgery, roughly 5 per cent of kids who go tobogganing bother putting on a helmet in the first place.

Overall, this research has led doctors to believe that a new multi-impact helmet should be designed for winter sports. Also that ski equipment in general should be improved.

Parents and kids should still remain aware of the fact that any kind of helmet is better than none.

According to the director of the Montreal Children’s Hospital Trauma Centre, they see approximately 610 children every year for accidents caused by a lack of helmet.  Half of these injuries are concussions. 

The new popular kid in Quebec politics has joined forces with the one that could have been great.

Francois Legault’s Coalition Avenir Quebec now has four seats in the Quebec legislature as it becomes one with the Action democratique Quebec.  The center-right ADQ has been on the decline in recent years after an initially promising debut 1994.

The merger was agreed on in December. The ADQ had the final say and voted 70 percent in favour of the coalition.

The coalition party leads the ruling Liberals and opposition Parti Quebecois in the polls. They promise to put sovereignty on the back burner for the time being.

Gilles Duceppe has announced that he won’t return to politics nor will he join the ranks of the Parti Québécois.

According to the Canadian Press, the former Bloc Québécois leader said Sunday that he wants to rebuild his reputation and defend his integrity.

He had been reported by a Montreal newspaper La Presse as using public funds to pay the Bloc employees.

Duceppe maintains that he always acted with transparency and that he has always followed the rules.

Pauline Marois has been inviting Duceppe to join the ranks and get involved with the team, but he has declined.

Still the former leader gives the party his full confidence.

The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs said Sunday that it would seek legal to see if the Bloc had broken parliamentary rules and if they have to repay the fund.