Hong Kong’s Apple Daily could shut at weekend unless accounts are unblocked

Adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai says newspaper cannot pay staff after officials froze banking facilities

Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper and website could shut down this weekend if authorities do not agree to the board's request to unfreeze its assets, after the arrest of its senior editors and executives last week.

According to various local reports on Monday afternoon, an internal memo said Next Digital, Apple Daily's parent company, would seek restored access to its accounts so it can pay staff, but that if this did not happen by Friday it would make a decision to stop publication of the pro-democracy title.