By JACK WEATHERLY  Gov. Phil Bryant says he hopes that the Trans-Pacific Partnership will be approved because he believes it will enhance Mississippi exporting. “I hope it’s approved, and I hope that we’re a strong part of it,” Bryant said in an interview after the annual Governor’s Awards for Excellence in Exporting program at the Jackson Convention Complex on Dec. ...

China’s economic troubles have dropped on the doorstep of a sun-weathered house at 18 Edgar St. in Port Hedland on Australia’s northwest coast. Four years ago, the 50-year-old home, fabricated from cheap asbestos cement, sold for the equivalent of $1.3 million. It’s now for sale again — recently priced at $310,000. What happened to $1 million in home equity? It ...

By JACK WEATHERLY  While there is nothing new under the sun, things do change. Such as the solar market, which has since the Solyndra debacle that gave the Obama administration a black eye. The California startup defaulted on a $535 million federal loan in 2011. It subsequently filed a $1.5 billion antitrust suit against China’s three largest solar panel makers. ...

According to a report from a global reinsurance firm, the late April storm system that caused widespread damage and fatalities in Mississippi and 19 other states could be the world’s first billion-dollar storm of 2014. Impact Forecasting, the catastrophe model development center at Chicago-based Aon Benfield, has released the latest edition of its monthly Global Catastrophe Recap report, which reviews ...

The past two seasons have been zero fun for those who have even a casual rooting interest in the Ole Miss football program. The third game of the 2012 season, when the Rebels play Texas in Oxford, will be set aside to remember the best of times on the field and the worst of times off it. The 1962 Rebels ...

RIDGELAND — Cellular South is making it easy for customers to help earthquake-ravaged victims in Chile by sending a text message from their mobile device to support the Red Cross International Relief Fund efforts. To donate $10 to the Red Cross relief efforts, customers can type the word “CHILE” and send it to “90999” via text message from their mobile ...

Two of Mississippi’s major cellular carriers are responding to relief efforts in Chile after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck the South American country on Friday, killing more than 700. President Michelle Bachelet called the disaster “an emergency without parallel in Chile’s history.” Verizon Wireless announced Monday that the carrier has waived all calling fees for its customers trying reach friends ...