First off, you are using an ancient alpha test version of jQuery Mobile, and you are using it with a version of jQuery that it isn't designed to work with. Is there a good reason for this?
I would not expect alpha code to work correctly. The current version of JQM is 1.3. You're using a pre-1.0 version that was intended only for testing purposes. I wouldn't expect it to support devices released recently, nor would I expect it to work correctly.
I wouldn't expect jQuery Mobile to interfere in any way with display of italics or emphasis. But, then, again, this was an early test version, and it could be a bug in the CSS.
Does it work with a plain web page without jQuery Mobile?
Does it work when using a released version of jQuery Mobile?