Reuters first to report HK’s Apple Daily to shut within days, says Jimmy Lai adviser

Reuters was first to report that Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be forced to shut “in a matter of days” after authorities froze the company’s assets under a national security law. Next Digital, publisher of the top-selling 26-year-old newspaper, would stop publication on June 26 if a board meeting on Friday decided to halt operations, according to an internal memo and an adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai. The closure of Apple Daily would undermine the former British colony’s reputation as an open and free society and send a warning to other companies that could be accused of colluding with a foreign country, media advocacy groups said.