Hong Kong's Apple Daily announces closure on Saturday

Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai's Next Digital said on Wednesday that due to the prevailing circumstances in the city its Apple Daily newspaper will come to an end no later than Saturday.

The statement came after 500 Hong Kong police took part in a raid that saw officers sift through reporters' computers and notebooks at Next Digital's pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, the first case in which authorities have cited media articles as potentially violating the national security law.

Earlier, Hong Kong police arrested on Wednesday a columnist for the pro-democracy tabloid on suspicion of conspiring to collude with a foreign country or foreign forces, in another hit to the besieged newspaper.

The latest arrest came after police froze assets of companies linked to the newspaper and arrested five executives last week, moves that are likely to force the newspaper to shut down this week.

Police have said dozens of Apple Daily pieces may have violated the security law, the first instance of authorities taking aim at media articles under the legislation.

Rights groups, media organisations and Western governments have criticised the government's actions and expressed concern over freedom of the press and other rights in the Chinese-ruled city.

Police, who typically do not disclose the names of those arrested, said they had arrested a 55-year-old man on the national security charges. A senior executive at Next Digital, which publishes Apple Daily, said a lead writer for editorials and a reporter were arrested, without identifying them. It was unclear why the reporter was arrested.