Although it is too early to predict what the final franchise tax revenue total will be for this fiscal year, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts announced that as of June 24, the revised tax has produced about $4.2 million in revenue. Approximately 133,000 payments have been received, including 46,000 extension payments.
According to the comptroller’s [...]

Sustained by robust growth in the global luxury retail business, luxury goods manufacturer Montblanc, recognized worldwide for its classic timepieces, jewelry, leather goods and writing instruments opened an exclusive boutique in Kuwait’s Avenues Mall Phase II recently.  The boutique is the largest Montblanc boutique in the Middle East region.
Speaking to reporters at the venue after [...]

Members from both the treasury and opposition benches demanded an increase in the budget allocations for the health and education sectors, as the National Assembly held its second day of debate on the federal budget for the Fiscal Year 2008-09 on Sunday. They said that subsidies on oil and electricity should continue to control price [...]

Hours before the legislature’s 2008 session ended, the state Senate unanimously passed a comprehensive mortgage-relief bill that would help thousands of subprime mortgage holders threatened with foreclosure.
The Senate moved swiftly in bipartisan fashion to help cash-strapped homeowners through programs that would give them more-affordable interest rates, allowing them to remain in their homes. Gov. M. [...]

Starbucks Corp says it is the latest victim of the US mortgage meltdown.
Blaming consumers in hard-hit housing markets of California and Florida, the coffee shop chain slashed its quarterly and 2008 profit forecast below Wall Street targets and said it faced the “weakest economic environment” in its history.
The company’s shares tumbled 12 percent on the [...]

Amidst wrestling with the public perception of the Xbox 360’s apparent hardware quality, Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division reported a profit for its third quarter.Thanks to “robust demand” for Xbox 360 consoles, the Entertainment and Devices arm of the software giant saw revenue for the quarter grow 68 percent over the comparable period last year. [...]

By Carey Gillam
KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 31 (Reuters) - Monsanto Co (MON.N: Quote, Profile, Research)
on Monday said it has agreed to acquire Netherlands-based De
Ruiter Seeds Group B.V., which operates De Ruiter Seeds, for
$860 million (546 million euros), to expand the agricultural
biotech company’s presence in the vegetable seeds business.
St. Louis-based Monsanto said it [...]