News Headlines - 12 January 2012

▽US Marines urinating on men 'barbaric' says Taliban - Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9009472/US-Marines-urinating-on-men-barbaric-says-Taliban.html
Afghanistan's hardline Taliban on Thursday denounced as "barbaric" an online video apparently showing US Marines urinating on the bloodied corpses of slain insurgents, but said it would not affect peace talks.

▽Japan Says It Will Reduce Iran Oil Imports - Wall Street Journal
http://www.wallstreetjournal.de/article/SB10001424052970204257504577155614235298468.html?mod=fox_australian
Japan's finance minister told visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that his country will take steps to reduce its dependency on oil imports from Iran, taking a much more conciliatory approach to the matter than China did a few days ago.

▽British Gas cuts electricity prices by 5pc - Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/9009450/British-Gas-cuts-electricity-prices-by-5pc.html
British Gas cut prices for household electricity by 5pc with immediate effect today but said it was unable to follow other suppliers in reducing gas prices, which it raised by 18pc last summer.

▽Big crowds not matched by big news at CES 2012 - Computing
http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/analysis/2137081/crowds-matched-news-ces-2012
Yet, despite the record crowds and sophisticated advertising, none were able to steal the show at this year's event.

▽More planets than stars? - BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16528668
Going on the available evidence from our own solar system - and there's no obvious reason to assume it is unusual - you might plump for a ratio of 1:8. That would give you a ballpark figure of some 800 billion planets in the Milky Way, and something like 100 billion times that for the entire Universe.