6.x issue: HTML formatting is NOT included in email

I cannot include HTML formatting in my newsletter emails and I cannot figure out why this cannot be done.

This is what I get when I try various techniques:

*Bold*
/Italics/
Underline
1) Numbers
* Bullits


... and no attachments are included (aware that this another MimeMail issue).

I am using SimpleNews together with MimeMail.

Any help is appreciated.