Private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc and Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd have made a binding offer for chemist chain Boots. If it can close a deal, the consortium has a good chance of making a decent return on the British high-street stalwart. But the remedy for Boots won’t be cheap or easy. The formal proposal, fully ...

  The global trade in the cheapest foods is grinding to a halt. In April, Indonesia temporarily banned exports of palm oil, cutting off India from one of its biggest sources of imported nutrition. India, in its turn last month, set a ceiling on exports of sugar, helping to keep more calories in the domestic market. Sugar is now hovering ...

  The most significant event in China was the gaokao — the annual two-day national exam to qualify for college. Anxious parents wait while their children go through the nine-hour ordeal. Those with younger kids sift through the test questions — published once the exams are over — preparing their offspring for the inevitable. As for couples considering starting a ...