Verizon customers across the country experienced data outages this week, but according to Verizon reps, the network has been fully restored. 

Android activations have topped 700K daily, Google announced this week. 

Democrats are ramping up the pressure on House Republicans over their refusal to pass a payroll tax deal – and some Senate Republicans are not rushing to their colleagues' aid. 

AP - Careening toward a politically toxic tax hike, President Barack Obama implored House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday to get behind a two-month stopgap until a longer deal could be struck early next year, calling it the only real way out of a mess that is threatening the paychecks of 160 million workers and isolating House Republicans.

AP - As government troops advanced on a village in northwestern Syria, activists say the terrified residents fled into a valley for fear of being arrested or worse. What happened next, one of the activists said, was "an organized massacre."

AP - The stars may be aligning for Mitt Romney — and at just the right time.