NATION

NATION
Company is restoringBlackberry service
NEW YORK -- BlackBerry service was being restored Wednesday morning after an overnight outage that left millions of users without mobile access to their e-mail on the popular device.
Research in Motion Ltd., the Canadian company that provides the devices and e-mail service, said the service interruption began Tuesday night, affecting users in North America.
"Root cause is currently under review, but service for most customers was restored overnight and RIM is closely monitoring systems in order to maintain normal service levels," the statement from RIM said.
BlackBerry outages have been rare, although minor glitches occasionally cause delays in RIM's ability to deliver e-mail in real-time -- perhaps the most important feature of the service for many users. The last two major disruptions appear to have occurred nearly two years ago, both in June 2005.
IRS: Intuit software userswill not be penalized
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Taxpayers who couldn't electronically file 11th-hour returns using Intuit Inc.'s TurboTax, ProSeries and other software won't be penalized for delays caused by the company's overtaxed servers, the IRS said Wednesday.
"We will do everything we can to assist taxpayers affected by the situation," said IRS spokesman Bruce Friedland.
A record number of returns from individual taxpayers and accountants Tuesday choked the Mountain View-based company's computers, leading to delays in customers receiving confirmation that their returns had been submitted successfully, Intuit spokeswoman Julie Miller said.
Associated Press