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 Triassic Period is the first period of the Mesozoic Era. The great extinction at the end of the Permian period had brought the end to 90% of the living species on Earth. The Triassic was a time of growing new species to repopulate the planet. This time was the beginning of a new era, the Mesozoic Era.