Platinum

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.

Snoop Dogg has been called many things over the course of his two-decade career -- Snoop Doggy Dogg, Bigg Snoop Dogg and Snoop D-O Double G are just a few of the monikers. When the multi-platinum rapper announced last summer that he'd been reborn as Snoop Lion and would trade in the menacing gangster rap that made him a superstar for rasta patois and issue a disc soaked in reggae rhythms , reaction was mixed, with a few critics writing it off as a gimmick. The rapper-turned-Rastafarian has announced his new album, Snoop Lion's debut, “Reincarnated,” will arrive on April 23. RELATED: Snoop Lion: 'La La La' and a rapper's transition into reggae Executive produced by Diplo and his Major Lazer production team (who even gave Beyoncé a sampling of their dancehall influences)

CardHub.com , which compares and rates credit-card offers, has identified its favorite travel credit cards for 2013. Topping the list are the Capital One Venture Card , Blue Cash Preferred from American Express and the PenFed Platinum Rewards Card issued by the Pentagon Federal Credit Union. Credit cards make sense for travelers for many reasons, including getting free or low currency exchange rates when abroad, free rental-car insurance coverage and reward bonuses earned for dollars spent.

The VH1 biopic of platinum-selling girl group TLC is taking shape. Rapper and VMA stage crasher Lil Mama, Keke Palmer and actress-singer Drew Sidora (“The Game”) are set to portray the groundbreaking R&B/hip-hop/pop trio known for its brazen anthems and fiery interpersonal drama. "I would sing 'No Scrubs' over and over again to the point my parents would have to tell me to stop, but I never did, I had my little hairbrush as my mic and nobody could tell me I wasn't the fourth member of TLC," Palmer said in a statement announcing her casting.

Miley Cyrus has changed her hair - dramatically. She's gone for a platinum blond power-pixie cut, and she's rocking it. And it turns out it's something she's wanted to do since she was touring as Hannah Montana. Following in the footsteps of the likes of Anne Hathaway, Emma Watson, Michelle Williams and more , the 19-year-old pulled off a dramatic makeover , the transition to which is shown above. Helping Cyrus get the look she wanted was stylist-to-the-stars Chris McMillan, who can be seen in a picture tweeted along the way. " ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥ feeling so happy in my skin," Cyrus said late Sunday night, accenting the tweet with a photo and a flurry of hearts.  Still, she battled some haters, fighting back by repeating that age-old phrase about opinions being like, well, something else that everyone has, and reinforcing that she's digging the new look.

Gold and other precious metals soared again Wednesday amid a buying stampede. Near-term gold futures in New York jumped $13.90, or 1.4%, to finish the session at $1,018.90 an ounce, a record closing high. Silver rocketed 43 cents, or 2.5%, to $17.41 an ounce; platinum gained $29.80, or 2.3%, to close at $1,350.10. "It's really a feeding frenzy," said Larry Young, senior trader at Infinity Futures in Chicago. Gold is up 7.1% so far this month, beating the 4.7% advance in the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index.

Platinum futures prices soared the limit allowed for daily trading on renewed fears that South Africa could disrupt the supply of the strategic metal in retaliation for apartheid sanctions. Gold and silver advanced strongly, partly in reaction to the platinum activity. South Africa is a leading supplier of precious metals.

Platinum futures jumped higher Thursday, leading a precious metals rally amid renewed jitters over events in the Persian Gulf and reports the Japanese had stepped up platinum buying for industrial and investment purposes.

Have the stock market's former "momentum" players moved to the commodities markets? Platinum soared Wednesday to its highest level in more than three months as speculators bought the metal, encouraged by prospects of rising demand amid tight supply. Near-term futures in New York jumped $7.30 to $548.80 an ounce after trading as high as $555. The price has risen 11% during the last two weeks.

Platinum, long considered the dull sister of the three major precious metals, lately has been a leading lady. But before investing, be aware of its higher risks and pitfalls. Although it is rarer and more expensive than gold or silver, platinum has until recently received little attention from investors, hurt by its somewhat dull light color, high price volatility and lower liquidity. But that is changing.

Kelly Clarkson has gone off on Clive Davis in a way he almost predicted in his memoir, "The Soundtrack of My Life. " "It's clear that Kelly Clarkson has a decidedly independent streak, to say the least, and often speaks in public before she realizes the implications of what she's saying," he wrote in a chapter of the book that deals largely with their professional relationship. It's a chapter full of Clarkson not liking what Davis suggests, with Davis winding up always in the right.

WASHINGTON -- The trillion-dollar coin isn't going to save the day. The U.S. Treasury says it won't mint the coin as a way of escaping the debt-ceiling crisis. The Federal Reserve also nixed the plan. Even though the platinum coin idea started as something of a joke, it caught on in the blogosphere and gained some notable supporters such as Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. The plan envisioned the administration minting a platinum coin, then depositing it at the Fed to draw the trillion bucks to pay government bills should Congress fail to raise the debt ceiling.

"Days Go By" is the first album since 2008 for the Offspring, and the title's twilight tone makes you wonder what message is being transmitted from the skate park in Huntington Beach. Nostalgia for guitar solos? A lament for long-gone platinum sales? Or maybe just the end of summer school? Dexter Holland, lead singer of the Orange Country pop punk stalwarts, considers the question from the driver's seat of a customized black van with leopard-print upholstery. As he drives toward the Huntington pier he explains that the theme is one of resilience and perseverance - a less-biblical message of "This too shall pass.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Police opened fire Thursday on striking workers at a South African platinum mine, leaving as many as 18 dead, according to authorities and news reports. South African police officials confirmed that lives were lost in the shootings, captured on graphic Reuters news service video and tweeted, but they didn't give casualty figures. There were conflicting news reports that 12 to 18 people had died. The gunfire came after police moved in to try to disperse workers after a week of violence at the mine involving workers from competing unions armed with machetes, sticks and spears.

Miley Cyrus has changed her hair - dramatically. She's gone for a platinum blond power-pixie cut, and she's rocking it. And it turns out it's something she's wanted to do since she was touring as Hannah Montana. Following in the footsteps of the likes of Anne Hathaway, Emma Watson, Michelle Williams and more , the 19-year-old pulled off a dramatic makeover , the transition to which is shown above. Helping Cyrus get the look she wanted was stylist-to-the-stars Chris McMillan, who can be seen in a picture tweeted along the way. " ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥ feeling so happy in my skin," Cyrus said late Sunday night, accenting the tweet with a photo and a flurry of hearts.  Still, she battled some haters, fighting back by repeating that age-old phrase about opinions being like, well, something else that everyone has, and reinforcing that she's digging the new look.

Marilyn Monroe certainly achieved fame in the course of her 36-year lifetime, but in the five decades since her death, she's become such a celebrity-branding superstar, it often feels as if America's proto-platinum pinup never really left the building at all. She is routinely referenced in store windows and on runways; her image graces such products as glossy magazine covers and wine bottles; and her persona regularly flickers to new life on TV and...

With award season well underway, all that glitters is not gold for stars such as Jim Carrey, Sandra Bullock and Salma Hayek. They are among the thousands of recent converts, celebrity and not, to platinum jewelry. They love its understated luxury. It's among the strongest and rarest of metals, and it doesn't tarnish. What's more, after more than half a century of gold fever, metal fans are charmed by its sense of newness over the yellow stuff.

A fashion for platinum wedding rings among China's new middle class contributed to a record demand for the precious metal last year, an industry report said Monday. High demand from China's jewelry sector more than compensated for a decline in platinum's use for auto catalysts and investment products, according to the industry study released by British refiner Johnson Matthey PLC. Western sales of platinum to China in 1996 were 200,000 ounces contrasted with 130,000 ounces in 1995.

Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant have had their fair share of verbal sparring bouts when they were teammates on the Lakers from 1996-2004. According to rapper Nas, who has released eight consecutive platinum and multi-platinum albums since 1994, one of basketball stars might be a bit more glib than the other.  When asked who is a better rapper, Nas said, "Shaq got that. " "Shaq got a classic hip-hop album," Nas said. "I don't think Kobe got a chance to put out an album.

Ann Rutherford, an actress whose small role as Scarlett's younger sister Carreen in the 1939 film "Gone With the Wind" was her most enduring, has died. She was 94. Rutherford, who also portrayed Mickey Rooney's teenage girlfriend in the Andy Hardy movies, died Monday evening at her home in Beverly Hills, said her close friend and fellow actress Anne Jeffreys. Rutherford had been in declining health with heart problems. As she became one of the last surviving cast members of "Gone With the Wind," Rutherford made a second career out of attending festivals featuring the beloved Civil War epic.