French lensmaker Essilor International SA agreed to buy Luxottica Group SpA, the maker of Ray-Ban sunglasses, for about 22.8 billion euros ($24 billion) in stock, combining the largest manufacturer and retailer in eyewear and creating an e-commerce contacts and eyewear powerhouse.
The Permian Period was the final period of the Paleozoic Era. Lasting from 299 million to 251 million years ago, it followed the Carboniferous Period and preceded the Triassic Period. By the early Permian, the two great continents of the Paleozoic, Gondwana and Euramerica, had collided to form the supercontinent Pangaea.
The Permian period, which ended in the largest mass extinction the Earth has ever known, began about 299 million years ago. The emerging supercontinent of Pangaea presented severe extremes of climate and environment due to its vast size. The south was cold and arid, with much of the region frozen under ice caps.