News roundup


--> Election 2012: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released tax records yesterday indicating he is paying $6.2 million in taxes on a total of $42.5 million in income over the years 2010 and 2011.

Bowing to increasing political pressure to provide more detail about his vast wealth, the former private equity executive released tax returns indicating he and his wife, Ann, paid an effective tax rate of 13.9% in 2010. They expect to pay a 15.4% rate when they file their returns for 2011.

Romney's 2010 returns show the candidate is among the top 1% of taxpayers. More at NBC News.

--> In related news: Romney took it to Gingrich at last night's Florida debate.

--> News: Crews set to remove oil from Italian wreck

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


--> News: A wave of car bombings hit the Iraq capital today, killing 14 people and wounding more than 70 as violence surges in the country amid an escalating political crisis a month after the U.S. military withdrawal.

At least 170 people have died in attacks since the beginning of the year, many of them Shiite pilgrims attending religious commemorations. The last American soldiers left the country Dec. 18.

Suspected Sunni insurgents have frequently targeted Shiite communities and Iraqi security forces to undermine public confidence in the Shiite-dominated government and its efforts to protect people. More at the AP.

--> Technology Issues: Tablet and e-reader ownership increased by nearly double over the holidays, and more than 1 out of every 4 Americans now has one of the devices, according to a new study.

"The number of Americans owning at least one of these digital reading devices jumped from 18% in December to 29% in January," said the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project in a new report on tablet and e-reader ownership.

"The share of adults in the United States who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January and the same surge in growth also applied to e-book readers," which had the exact same increase.

The increase is more than just a run-of-the-mill stat: "In the time we have been doing surveys about the adoption and use of digital technology, we have never seen growth quite like this," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. (Via Technoblog)

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