Helen Mirren has received another accolade for her royal performance as Queen Elizabeth II — a best-actress nomination at Britain's Olivier theater awards.

Mirren is nominated for "The Audience," alongside Hattie Morahan for "A Doll's House," Billie Piper for "The Effect" and Kristin Scott Thomas for "Old Times."

We know a lot about how babies learn to talk, and youngsters learn to read. Now scientists are unraveling the earliest building blocks of math — and what children know about numbers as they begin first grade seems to play a big role in how well they do everyday calculations later on.

The findings have specialists considering steps that parents might take to spur math abilities, just like they do to try to raise a good reader.

Health products giant Johnson & Johnson on Monday issued yet another product recall, this one for OneTouch VerioIQ blood glucose meters sold in the U.S. and other countries.

They're being recalled because when a diabetic's blood sugar level is dangerously high, they do not provide a warning and instead turn off or they display an inaccurate reading.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met again Tuesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a day after they put on a show of unity as they tried to end recent bickering over anti-American comments made by the Afghan leader.

Kerry also met Tuesday at the American Embassy in Kabul with participants in a U.S.-backed women's entrepreneurship program. He heard a succession of concerns from businesswomen fearful of what the 2014 transition will mean for not only for women and girls but for Afghanistan's commerce in general.

T-Mobile USA, the struggling No. 4 cellphone company, is ditching plans centered on familiar two-year contracts in favor of selling phones on installment plans.

The company changed its website over the weekend to sell the new plans. It was set to lay out the rationale for the change on Tuesday at an event in New York.

It's not the kind of performance that will win her another Academy Award, but British actress Tilda Swinton certainly has people buzzing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

But keep quiet, please. She's trying to sleep.

"The Paradise Guest House" (Ballantine Books), by Ellen Sussman

The tranquil beauty of beachside Bali is the alluring backdrop for "The Paradise Guest House," and Jamie Hyde, a plucky and passionate adventure guide, is the delectable heroine at the novel's heart.

Residents of the Ukrainian capital suspect the city is trying to pull a fast one on them about its efforts to clean up from a paralyzing blizzard.

A photo that appeared on the Kiev administration's website Sunday after a snowfall of 20 inches (50 centimeters) shows three snowplows clearing a street.

A bomb squad thought a package marked "Army" was suspicious, but it was just part of an elaborate plan by a guy trying to ask a girl to a dance.

St. George police rushed to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple on Saturday after the package was placed near a gazebo.

Feel like having chocolate at Easter in Belgium? Well, send a letter and really lick that chocolate-flavored postal stamp.

The Belgian post office released 538,000 stamps on Monday that have pictures of chocolate on the front but the essence of cacao oil in the glue at the back for taste and in the ink for smell.