Business Notes PUBLISHING

What's black and white and yellow and blue and read all over Europe? British press baron Robert Maxwell hopes the answer to that riddle will soon be the European. Two years after announcing his intention to launch a Continent-wide newspaper, Maxwell will be bringing out the first issue on May 11. It will sell for the equivalent of 82 cents U.S. a copy in European capitals.

Like the International Herald Tribune, that fixture of Continental newsstands, the European will be in English. Unlike its upscale competitor, Maxwell's paper will aim for the mass market, complete with eye-catching four- color photos.

Maxwell had originally planned a daily with 650,000 circulation. Instead, the European will be a weekly, and advertisers have been promised a circulation of 225,000. If the paper catches on, a daily European may be in the offing, as well as editions in other languages.