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Amid anxiety over rising costs from the federal healthcare law, California received better-than-expected insurance rates for a new state-run marketplace, but many consumers still won't be spared from sharply higher premiums. Three years after President Obama's landmark law was passed, the state unveiled the first details Thursday on what many Californians can expect to pay for coverage from 13 health plans offering policies in the state's exchange, in which as many as 5 million people will shop for coverage next year.

SAN ANTONIO - Four NBA Finals games, three blowouts, two re-energized Miami stars and one acerbic San Antonio coach. Other than that, these Finals are as hard to pin down as any, the loser continually coming back to win the next game by a double-digit margin and throwing open the latest case of "Team A Is in a Gigantic Heap of Trouble," followed up the next game by "Team B Is in a Gigantic Heap of Trouble. " It's the series nobody can figure out, and it's splendid that way. No one has a clue who will win the tiebreaking Game 5 Sunday in San Antonio before the series shifts back to Miami for good.

Skechers has agreed to pay $40 million to consumers who purchased its  rocker-bottom shoes under the mistaken belief that the shoes would help give them Kim Kardashian's booty or Joe Montana's stamina. So how do you get your piece of the payout if you purchased the shoes months, if not years ago, and don't have a receipt? No problem. This refund relies largely on the honor system. Anyone who purchased the company's line of Shape-Up shoes -- or its Resistance Runners, Tone-ups or Toners -- is entitled to a partial refund whether they have proof of purchase or not, officials said Thursday.

SEOUL - The North Korean government Sunday suggested a high-level meeting with the United States "to ease the tension on the Korean peninsula," less than a week after its scheduled working-level talks with Seoul were called off. In what North Korea's National Defense Commission called an "important statement" on the state-run Korean Central Television, Pyongyang said that if the U.S. is "sincerely interested in keeping the peace and security in...

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday cautioned consumers against using quinine for leg cramps, warning that the drug could cause severe side effects, including death. Quinine, sold in this country under the brand name Qualaquin, is approved for treatment of uncomplicated malaria, but has a long history of use as a remedy for leg cramps, especially at night. In many countries, it is sold over the counter. Studies have shown that it can reduce the incidence of cramps by one-third to one-half but that as many as one in every 25 users can suffer serious side effects.

You just got your new iPhone 5 and the thought of losing it is far from your mind. But statistics show that a lot of people lose their iPhones or or get it stolen as more thieves eye the popular device. You can take steps right now that can help you quickly recover your smartphone if you were ever to misplace it or someone makes off with it. First, set up a passcode for your iPhone. It can be inconvenient but it can also help your chances of recovering your phone. And make sure "location services" is turned on. You can find that in "Settings," and then at the top of "Privacy.

Your choices in San Francisco hotels are overwhelming. The prices can be too. So during our staff visit to the City by the Bay, we looked for reasonably priced hotels that had charm, location or both. We came back with 14 ideas on places to bed down. It's not a complete list, but it is eclectic, like the city itself. Mystic Hotel. This property, which opened in April, stands on a tunnel-adjacent block of Stockton Street that you'll never see on a picture postcard, yet it has style, as do the Burritt Tavern bar and restaurant downstairs.

Michele and Russell Poland's credit was shot, but they managed to buy their suburban dream home anyway. After a business bankruptcy and a home foreclosure, they turned to a rare option in this era of tightfisted banking - a subprime loan. The Polands paid nearly $10,000 in upfront fees for the privilege of securing a mortgage at 10.9% interest. And they had to raid their retirement account for a 35% down payment. Most borrowers would balk at such stiff terms. But with prices rising, the Polands wanted to snag a four-bedroom home in Temecula near top-rated schools for their 5-year-old son. By later this year, they figure, they'll be able to refinance into a standard loan.

London is swinging again thanks to bride and princess-to-be Kate Middleton. Millions are hanging on her every move — where she shops, where she primps, what she eats and drinks. Although the couple live (part of the time) in a rented farmhouse in North Wales, Middleton and Prince William will likely move to London's Kensington Palace at some point in the future. And Middleton certainly spends a lot of time in London — especially now that the wedding is a month away — mostly in the swish neighborhoods of South Kensington, Chelsea, Knightsbridge and Mayfair, all of which are in close proximity to Hyde Park and the Buckingham and Kensington palaces.

A man with no risk factors for prostate cancer can go his whole life without ever taking a PSA test, according to the American Urological Assn. In a new clinical guideline unveiled Friday, the urologists said that only men between the ages of 55 and 69 should even consider getting a PSA screening test if they have no signs or symptoms of prostate cancer. Men should only get tested after discussing all the pros and cons with their doctors, and if they decide to get tested, they should not get tested again for at least two years, the guideline advises.

WASHINGTON - Amid speculation that the Federal Reserve soon might start scaling back its stimulus efforts, the International Monetary Fund cautioned that a pullback before next year could hurt economies worldwide. Highlighting its concern Friday, the IMF lowered its forecast for U.S. economic growth next year to 2.7% from an earlier projection of 3%. The IMF also criticized U.S. fiscal policy, calling for the repeal of the automatic federal spending cuts, known as the sequester, and urging lawmakers to act promptly to raise the nation's debt limit.

TEHRAN - A week ago, many observers viewed Iran's presidential election as a horse-race among conservative hard-liners hostile to reform. Then came an unexpected surge in support for Hassan Rowhani, a soft-spoken, bespectacled and bearded cleric who is now improbably positioned to become the next president of the Islamic Republic. Many of those who attended his animated campaign rallies were enthusiastic young people. At one of his last rallies, a DJ fired up the crowd by playing "Yare Dabestani," or "My Fellow Student," which coincidentally - or not - was a revolutionary song popular among the opposition "green movement" that was crushed after Iran's 2009 vote.

ARDMORE, Pa. - Jim Furyk was really looking forward to playing the U.S. Open at Merion. Maybe too much. Again. The West Chester, Pa., native now must look back on another disappointing showing in the Philadelphia region. "I had four events in the Philly area, and I never really played well in any of those," said Furyk, 43, who didn't exactly celebrate the 10-year anniversary of his U.S. Open victory at Olympia Fields. Furyk finished up a 77 on Friday morning and followed it in the afternoon with a 79, and he will miss the cut by a projected eight strokes.

WASHINGTON - The White House declared Thursday that Syria had crossed a "red line" by using chemical weapons in that country's civil war, and in response, U.S. officials said, President Obama had authorized sending arms to some rebel groups. The arms will be provided to the rebel Supreme Military Council, an official said. The council is the military arm of an umbrella group that represents more moderate factions of the forces arrayed against the government of President Bashar Assad.

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Jerry Brown has backed off his proposal to tie some money for California's public universities to such requirements as improving graduation rates, enrolling more low-income students and freezing tuition for four years. University of California and California State University officials fought Brown's carrot-and-stick approach to higher education, which the governor had embedded in his budget plan. Brown wanted to steadily increase funding for universities over the next four years as long as they met specific conditions - ensuring more students finish their degrees on time, enrolling more transfers from community colleges and other measures - and to withhold the money if tuition was raised.

Raleigh, N.C. - The Rev. Deborah Cayer arrived at the state Legislature building here Monday night wearing a protest button and toting an umbrella. She had tucked her driver's license into her skirt waistband. That was all she carried. She had come prepared to spend the night in jail. Along with 83 other opponents of the Republican-led legislature, Cayer and several fellow clergy members were arrested at a rainy "Moral Monday" protest. Their civil disobedience - they ignored police orders to disperse - was the latest in a growing series of protests over the conservative agenda of North Carolina's Republican-run state government.

Security researchers Nick DePetrillo and Don Bailey have discovered a seven-digit numerical code that can unlock all kinds of secrets about you. It's your phone number. Using relatively simple techniques, this duo can use your cellphone number to figure out your name, where you live and work, where you travel and when you sleep. They could even listen to your voice messages and personal phone calls — if they wanted to. "It's really interesting to watch a phone number turn into a person's life," DePetrillo said.

I'm an 84-year-old man on Social Security with original Medicare and Mutual of Omaha gap insurance. My insurance premium was raised from $262 to $363 a month, a 39% jump. After all my monthly expenses, I have just $240 left. What can I do in the event of another increase in my premiums? If you've had your current Medicare supplement plan for years, it's not surprising that you've seen your costs steadily rise, says Steve Zaleznick, senior Medicare advisor at PlanPrescriber, a Maynard, Mass.-based online provider of Medicare education and plan comparison tools.

At the height of his career, Michael Jackson had it all. International fame. Grammy-winning records. Unimaginable wealth. But in the final months of his life, as the King of Pop planned his ill-fated comeback in London, one of his biggest motivators was just to make enough money to buy his own home where he could raise his children, according to testimony Wednesday. Jackson broke down in tears as he confided that he was tired of "living like vagabonds" - shuttling his family between a Las Vegas rental and a Bel-Air hotel - said Randy Phillips, concert promoter AEG Live's chief executive who has spent days testifying in a wrongful-death suit filed by the singer's family.

Calling America's spying capabilities "horrifying," a 29-year-old former CIA employee revealed himself Sunday as the primary source of unauthorized disclosures of highly classified U.S. telephone and Internet surveillance systems that were among the intelligence community's most closely held secrets. Both the Washington Post and the British newspaper the Guardian said Edward J. Snowden gave them his consent to reveal his identity as an analyst for the National Security Agency, which is America's largest spy organization and conducts cyber-spying.