AP News in Brief at 11:58 p.m. EDT

Romney: Always paid at least 13 percent of my income in taxes; Obama campaign says ‘prove it’

GREER, S.C. — Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney declared Thursday he has paid at least 13 percent of his income in federal taxes every year for the past decade, offering that new detail while still decrying a “small-minded” fascination over returns he will not release. President Barack Obama’s campaign shot back in doubt: “Prove it.”

Loading...

Comments

• Weigh In
• Corrections?

Personal Post

More from PostPolitics

Romney tries to shift tax debate

Chris Cillizza

THE FIX | Mitt Romney says he paid 13 percent in taxes for the past 10 years. But is the case closed?

Ryan on Medicare: We’ll win debate

Felicia Sonmez and Amy Gardner

VP pick Paul Ryan mentioned Medicare for the first time on the stump on Wednesday.

4 things we (still) know about Biden

Chris Cillizza

THE FIX | Joe Biden’s Virginia trip has, in many ways, just affirmed — or reaffirmed — what we already know about him.

Campaigning separately, Romney and running mate Paul Ryan also scrambled to explain their views on overhauling Medicare, the health care program relied on by millions of seniors.

Romney, the former company CEO, set up a whiteboard to make his case with a marker, while lawmaker Ryan resorted to congressional process language to explain why his budget plan includes the same $700 billion Medicare cut that he and Romney are assailing Obama for endorsing.

Essentially, Ryan said, he had to do it because Obama did it first.

Politically, both topics tie into major elements of the presidential race less than three months before the election: how well the candidates relate to the daily concerns and to the life circumstances of typical voters. Democrats are using the tax issue to raise doubts about Romney’s trustworthiness — or, as Republicans contend, to distract from a weak economic recovery under Obama.

___

Chinese state media say senior North Korean holds talks with President Hu Jintao

BEIJING — Chinese state media say the powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has met with President Hu Jintao after Beijing agreed to help Pyongyang revamp two trade zones near the Chinese border.

The official China Radio International said the Friday morning meeting comes toward the end of six-day visit by Jang Song Thaek, the chief of the central administrative department of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

Jang is the uncle of Kim and his visit to China marks one of the highest-level diplomatic exchanges between the North and its most important ally since Kim took over following his father’s death last year.

Jang is a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission. He also is seen as a leading economic policy official.

___

Ecuador grants asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but embassy standoff continues

LONDON — He’s won asylum in Ecuador, but Julian Assange is no closer to getting there.

The decision by the South American nation to identify the WikiLeaks founder as a refugee is a symbolic boost for the embattled ex-hacker. But legal experts say that does little to help him avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.

Instead, with British officials asserting they won’t grant Assange safe passage out of the country, the case has done much to drag the two nations into an international faceoff.

“We’re at something of an impasse,” lawyer Rebecca Niblock said. “It’s not a question of law anymore. It’s a question of politics and diplomacy.”

The silver-haired Australian shot to international prominence in 2010 after he began publishing a huge trove of American diplomatic and military secrets — including a quarter million U.S. Embassy cables that shed a harsh light on the backroom dealings of U.S. diplomats. Amid the ferment, two Swedish women accused him of sexual assault; Assange has been fighting extradition to Sweden ever since.