HONG KONG (AP) — Across Hong Kong, people lined up to buy the last print edition of the last remaining pro-democracy newspaper. By 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Apple Daily’s final edition of 1 million copies was sold out across most newsstands. The newspaper said it would cease operations after police froze $2.3 million in assets and arrested five top editors and executives last week, accusing them of foreign collusion to endanger national security _ another sign Beijing is tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous city. In recent years, the newspaper has become increasingly outspoken, criticizing Chinese and Hong Kong authorities for limiting the city’s freedoms not found in mainland China and accusing them of reneging on a promise to protect them for 50 years after the 1997 handover from Britain.
