Iran may close the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. isn’t taking that threat mildly. The country’s third-largest bank was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department Monday as officials charged Bank Tejarat with assisting Iranian agencies in attempts to obtain uranium. The bank may have also had a role in providing financial support to Iranian nuclear programs, Treasury officials alleged. The move, which cuts one of the few trade ties remaining between Iran and Western nations, follows a ban President Obama put in place last month to cease all commerce between America and Iran’s central bank.

The moment we’ve waited for is finally here. Mitt Romney released a preview of his tax returns to The Washington Post late Monday, revealing an income of $21.7 million in 2010 and $20.9 million in 2011. The money is reportedly all from profits, dividends, and investment interest—and none from wages. In 2010, Romney paid a 13.9 percent tax rate, or $3 million. His 2011 estimate is $3.2 million, which is about 15.4 percent, as he’s told reporters. The 550 pages show that Romney has a Swiss bank account and foreign investments in Luxembourg, Ireland, and the Cayman Islands—all are legally taxed and with little income. The candidate's overall worth is estimated to fall between $190 million and $250 million. He still makes money from his relationship with Bain Capital.

It's the Mitt and Newt show, as the two candidates duke it out. Romney took issue with Gingrich’s claim that he worked as a historian for Freddie Mac. Romney pointed out that historians don’t generally make $300,000 a year for six years to advise corporations. Gingrich said that the $300,000 represented gross revenue and that he personally took home only about $35,000 per year. Romney added that Gingrich had an office on K Street and was hired by the company’s chief lobbyist. Romney said, “You can call it whatever you like, but I call it influence peddling.”

The Justice Department has charged a former CIA officer with leaking classified information about the capture and interrogation of alleged terrorists, including al Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah. John Kiriakou, 47, was a leading member of the team that captured Zubaydah, and became the center of media attention after opening up in an ABC interview about the brutal interrogation technique of waterboarding. Kiriakou, who was released on $250,000 bond after appearing in court, is the second CIA officer and sixth person to be accused of leaks since President Obama took office—exceeding the total number under all previous administrations combined. In a statement released Monday, CIA director David Petraeus said the agency “fully supported the investigation from the beginning,” warning CIA operatives to be more tight-lipped.

In a bid to get Greek debt down to manageable levels, finance ministers in Europe turned up the heat on bondholders, asking them to take losses for the good of the euro zone. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the gathering of finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro, said ministers are asking that the interest rate on new bonds be kept below 4 percent. A decrease in the level of Greece’s debt would help the country stave off default by allowing it to complete a bailout with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The ministers also said that they have moved forward with plans for the European Stability Mechanism, a firewall fund that has been championed by IMF head Christine Lagarde.

Ten days after the cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground, rescue workers found two more bodies in the wreckage. The remains of two women were recovered from the vessel’s Internet café. The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, has been arrested for his role in the tragedy. Meanwhile, Italian officials say there may have been several unregistered passengers aboard the ship, making it hard to say exactly how many people are still missing. The captain, in a leaked interrogation, is now claiming he piloted the ship near the shore under orders from the company as part of a publicity stunt—what he calls a “recurring practice.” Costa Cruises has denied all allegations.

Where are the other years? Newt Gingrich’s campaign arranged the release of the contract he held with Freddie Mac in 2006 amid attacks by Republican rival Mitt Romney that Gingrich engaged in lobbying. Gingrich was paid a monthly retainer of $25,000 for “consulting and related services,” according to the contract, totaling $300,000. Romney has mocked Gingrich in the days since the South Carolina primary for his involvement with the mortgage giant, work the former speaker has said was similar to that of a historian. The contract was released by former Gingrich consulting firm the Center for Health Transformation, and covers only a fraction of his career there—he reportedly held contracts with Freddie Mac from 1999 through 2008.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the police do not have the right to place a GPS monitoring device on a suspect’s car without a probable-cause warrant from a judge. The decision was unanimous in that matter. “We hold that the government’s installation of a GPS device on a target’s vehicle, and its use of that device to monitor the vehicle’s movements, constitutes a ‘search,’ ” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority. The case was concerning suspected drug dealer Antoine Jones, whose car the Washington, D.C., police tracked for a month using GPS. The justices threw out the life sentence against Jones.

30 Rock star Tracy Morgan had just received an honor at the Sundance Film Festival’s Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards Sunday night in Park City, Utah, when he collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital. Morgan reportedly left the event after his acceptance speech and fell unconscious outside the building. A hospital spokeswoman said that no drugs or alcohol were found in Morgan’s system, and his publicist said the combination of exhaustion and altitude caused the actor to faint.

Care for some chardonnay with that latte? As if fueling our morning addiction weren’t enough, Starbucks has announced its plans to sell beer and wine in Atlanta and Southern California by the end of 2012. The world’s biggest coffee chain already sells the beverages in several cafés in Seattle and one in Portland, Oregon, attracting more patrons in the evening. “It’s just a natural place for people to connect and unwind,” Starbucks’ senior VP of U.S. operations told Reuters. Currently, beer retails for $5 and wine goes for $7 to $9. Their long-term plan is to sell beer and wine across the country, though they don’t expect to do so in every single café, which could potentially pose a safety hazard. If they offer booze at their 24-hour locations, they might end up with patrons passing out in lounge chairs only to rev up with an espresso shot the next morning.

Mitt Romney said in Monday night’s debate that his campaign won’t follow the precedent set by his father, George Romney, who released 12 years' worth of tax returns before his own 1968 presidential bid. Instead, Romney will be releasing his 2010 return and an estimate for 2011. When pressed by Newt Gingrich in tonight’s debate, Romney said that he and his father, who was governor of Michigan and died in 1995, agreed on many things—but apparently tax-return etiquette is not one of them.

Mitt Romney wasted no time in attacking Newt Gingrich over the former speaker’s claims that he “left” the speakership after taking responsibility for heavy losses in the House. Romney said that after four years as speaker, Gingrich “resigned in disgrace” after more than 80 percent of Republicans voted to reprimand him, and then he remained in Washington as an “influence peddler.” Gingrich countered by saying that the vote in the ethics committee was in 1997, two years before he left the speakership and that he personally asked his fellow Republicans to vote yes in order to put the ethics charges behind him. Gingrich accused Romney of running deliberately negative and dishonest attacks, but Romney said he was “going to point out things I think people need to know.” Ron Paul joined in the attacks too, saying that Gingrich left the House because he did not have the votes.

As Libya’s interim government falters, one town has actually fallen back into the control of Gaddafi loyalists. Officers from the National Transitional Council tell AFP that 100 to 150 fighters loyal to the late dictator attacked Bani Walid today, killing five, injuring dozens more, and seizing the town. The gunmen began flying a green flag overhead, a symbol of the old regime. It’s the first such attack since late October, when Bani Walid last fell from the hands of regime allies.

Newt Gingrich called for a “very aggressive policy” of regime change in Cuba, and did not rule out covert action to bring it about. Ron Paul suggested it may be time to lift the embargo against Cuba. On Iran, Gingrich suggested that President Obama’s policies represent weakness toward that country. Paul compared the U.S. blockade of Iran to an act of war, which the U.S. would not stand for if someone attempted it in American waters. Meanwhile, Rick Santorum—who had been waiting for that question—called President Obama “a colossal failure” in dealing with Iran, saying that the Iranian regime was the equivalent of having al Qaeda in charge of the country.

Things aren't going well for Libya's interim government. Protesters ransacked its offices in Benghazi, prompting the resignation of the governing council's second-in-command and the suspension of several members. Youth groups have been criticizing the Transitional National Council for months, mostly for their lack of transparency. The council is supposed to oversee the election of an assembly that will draft a new Constitution. Angry that a draft of the election law was prepared without public oversight and claiming that it would encourage Libyans to vote along tribal lines, a crowd of young men threw a grenade into the council's offices and smashed windows. On Sunday, the council's deputy chief resigned.

Opening a new era in Egyptian politics Monday, the parliament elected in the nation’s first vote after Hosni Mubarak's ouster met for the first time. The legislative body's powerful lower chamber was to choose a speaker and two deputies, who would probably come from the Muslim Brotherhood, which won just under half of the seats. Meanwhile, the upper body's mandate is to elect a 100-member panel to draft a new constitution.

In the latest attempt to step up pressure on Iran, the European Union adopted an oil embargo against Iran and froze the assets of the country's central bank. Diplomats say all new oil contracts will be embargoed while existing contracts will be allowed to run until July. British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the embargo, designed to stop Iran's nuclear program, part of "an unprecedented set of sanctions.”  On Sunday, a U.S. aircraft carrier sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had threatened to close.

It's going to be 2008 all over again. The New England Patriots will face off against the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. And just like the 2008 game, when Eli Manning and the Giants stunned the undefeated Patriots, Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes kicked the overtime field goal that got them there, taking the Giants to a 20-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Baltimore Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff had no such luck, going wide with a last minute field goal attempt. The Patriots won 23-20. 

If President Obama's third State of the Union address sets the tone for his campaign, expect to hear a lot more about jobs, class struggle, and equality. “We can go in two directions,” Obama says in a preview of the speech. “One is toward less opportunity and less fairness. Or we can fight for where I think we need to go: building an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few.” Democratic sources tell CNN that Obama will lay out a “blueprint” for the economy that focuses on “insourcing”—bringing jobs back from overseas—and reviving American manufacturing. Politico notes that the preview was released by Obama's campaign, not the White House, and points out that Obama will immediately travel to five battleground states.

A U.S. drone strike over the weekend killed a senior Shabab commander in Somalia, according to the Islamic militant group. The group identified him as Bilal al-Barjawi, 27. He was of Lebanese descent but grew up in London—though he had his citizenship revoked in 2006. His wife had given birth in London a few hours before the strike, and the couple's relatives suspect that a phone call between the couple gave away his location. Meanwhile in Pakistan the pause in U.S. drone strikes is definitely over; drones fired missiles in the North Waziristan region on Monday, killing at least four militants.

As the Republican presidential contenders look ahead to Florida, Ron Paul is looking further. The Texas congressman will attend both of this week's debates in the Sunshine State but will be gone by primary day. The Paul team has decided to keep moving, focusing on campaigning in Colorado and Nevada ahead of the primaries in those states in early February.

Will Mitt Romney dig into his Bain Capital resources to compete with this one? One of Newt Gingrich’s wealthy supporters is donating $5 million to a super PAC to help him maintain his current frontrunner status ahead of next week’s Republican primary in Florida. The generous bankroller is Dr. Miriam Adelson, the wife of Gingrich’s longtime friend and conservative ally, billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who gave $5 million to the Winning Our Future super PAC earlier this month. While Gingrich’s previous super PACs have focused on painting his competitor Romney in a negative light, a source with knowledge of the donation said the next ad will be more “pro-Newt.”

Time to get an iPhone? Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM), which makes BlackBerry, has replaced its co-chief executive officers, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who have run the company for two decades. The company’s chief operating officer, Thorsten Heins, will takeover as CEO, while director Barbara Stymiest will become chairman. Lazaridis will take on a new role as vice chairman and Balsillie will stay on as a board member. RIM’s stock fell 75 percent last year. Lazaridis said of the decision, “This marks the beginning of a new era for RIM. It was a bit of a bumpy ride. We’ve done it as best we could. Thorsten is the ideal choice. He has the right skills at the right time.”

It looks as if Newt Gingrich has a lot of momentum coming into Florida. A new Insider Advantage poll gives him an 8-point lead over Mitt Romney. Romney, meanwhile, is stepping up his attacks on Gingrich, telling an audience in Florida that “we’re not choosing a talk-show host, we’re choosing a leader,” and that Gingrich was a “failed leader" who “had to resign in disgrace.” Romney also lashed out at some protesters who started chanting, “We are the people,” saying, “No, actually, these are the people. These are the people; you’re the interrupters. We believe in the Constitution. We believe in the right to speech. And you believe in interrupting. Take a hike.”

Two Iranian lawmakers are vowing that the country will shut off the Strait of Hormuz if the international community limits the sale of Iranian oil—which is exactly what the European Union did Monday. The EU has agreed on an oil embargo against Tehran as part of sanctions over the country’s nuclear program, which means that new contracts on Iranian crude will be banned and existing ones will run out in July. Lawmaker Mohammad Ismail Kowsari, the deputy head of Iran's national security committee, said the strait "would definitely be closed if the sale of Iranian oil is violated in any way." "In case of threat, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is one of Iran's rights," Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, another senior lawmaker, said. The U.S. has repeatedly said it would not tolerate the blocking of the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil flows—Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has called the move a “red line.”

That was fast. On Sunday the Arab League called on Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to peacefully resign and hold elections for a national-unity government. Syria immediately rejected the plan. Syrian state television reports that the transition resolution was a “conspiracy” that violates the nation’s sovereignty. In the resolution, Assad would give power to the vice president, in an agreement similar to Yemen’s. It also called for Syria to begin a dialogue with the opposition in the next two weeks. The Arab League mission has been extended in the nation, though the League is against foreign intervention in Syria.

Ron Paul lashed out at the American "police state" after his son Rand was stopped at the Nashville airport for refusing a full-body pat-down. "The police state in this country is growing out of control," the presidential contender wrote on his campaign website Monday. "One of the ultimate embodiments of this is that the TSA gropes and grabs our children, our seniors, and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities. The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe."  Sen. Rand Paul's press secretary tweeted that her boss had been detained, which his father also confirmed on his Facebook page. Apparently the Kentucky senator refused the pat-down after his body scan was abnormal. Despite these reports, the TSA has denied that Paul was detained.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords met on Monday with constituents and fellow survivors of a Jan. 8, 2011, shooting spree that left six dead and 13, including the congresswoman, injured. Among those gathered in Giffords's office were Pat Maisch, the woman who wrestled the gun magazine from the shooter; Daniel Hernandez, the aide who helped stop Giffords’s bleeding; and Suzi Hileman, a constituent who was shot three times. Giffords announced on Sunday that she’s retiring from office to focus on her recovery.

New Yorker Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza has obtained hundreds of pages of internal memos written to President Obama by his advisers over the years, dating back to the beginning of his presidential campaign in 2007, for a new piece that adds up to a detailed portrait of the president’s postpartisan ideology and how it has evolved—quite successfully in the end, but only after serious mistakes, Lizza argues. For example, one of the documents central to the article is a 57-page memo written in 2008 by Larry Summers, then the incoming director of the National Economic Council, that warns the president: “If your campaign promises were enacted … the deficit would rise by another $100 billion annually. The consequence would be the largest run-up in the debt since World War II.” Lizza also notes, though, that the deficit would also come from much legislation left over by President Bush—including funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars—that Obama would have to sign. The memo also suggested that the administration’s current excuse for a weak stimulus—that it should have been larger, but politics made that impossible—was not the whole truth, in that Summers believed the markets would reject a bigger package.
 

The Southeast is on alert for severe storms after several tornadoes were spotted in Arkansas last night. The twisters knocked down trees and power lines, leaving thousands without electricity. No injuries were reported, though one woman had to be rescued after she was trapped in her home. The National Weather Service is forecasting high winds today throughout the region, and tornado warnings are in effect for parts of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

It’s official. Heidi Klum and Seal are splitting up after almost seven years of marriage. In a statement given to People, the couple says that “after much soul-searching we have decided to separate” because “we have grown apart.” The couple has four children, from 7 years old to 2. Klum, the host of Project Runway, began dating Seal in 2003 after she split with Italian racing team manager Flavio Briatore.