SILVER SPRING, Md. — Discovery Communications is buying Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal worth $14.6 billion.

The transaction is valued at $90 per share, about a 4 percent premium to Scripps’ Friday closing price of $86.91.

The buyout is targeted to close by early next year.

[naviga:h3]Open internet apps removed in China[/naviga:h3]

WASHINGTON — China appears to have succeeded in eliminating software programs that enable its people to view an uncensored internet.

Companies that let people avoid the government filters said Saturday that their programs have been removed from Apple’s app store in China.

ExpressVPN, one of the companies, posted on its corporate site a message from Apple saying that its program was illegal in China. The British Virgin Islands-based software company says that all major virtual-private network apps were removed from the Apple app store in China. ExpressVPN claimed Apple was “aiding China’s censorship effort.”

[naviga:h3]China: Don’t tie N. Korea and trade[/naviga:h3]

BEIJING — A senior Chinese trade official said today the issue of China-U.S. trade should be kept separate from the issue of North Korean security threats, pushing back on statements from President Donald Trump.

Vice Commerce Minister Qian Keming’s remarks came after Trump over the weekend complained that China had benefited massively from trade with the U.S. while providing no help resolving problems with North Korea.

“North Korea’s nuclear issue and the issue of trade ... are two different issues.,” Qian said.