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.
During the late Permian Period, or Pennsylvanian Epoch, the coal swamp plants were the most important. These tree-ferns and lycopods could not live in the dry climate of the Triassic Period. Instead, the conifers and ginkgos survived the Permian extinction and developed during the Triassic.