A good week for ...

Egg-waffle seller Ng Yuk-fai

Tai Hang's most celebrated 72-year-old hawker walked free with no charges after being on bail and in legal limbo for six months pending a probe into charges of welfare fraud. He was told by police last week that a criminal investigation was over and no charges would be filed. Ng drew media attention and sparked a public outcry when he was repeatedly arrested by hawker control officers. In May he was arrested for suspected welfare fraud for not declaring his income from selling egg waffles.

Sharks

Fin soup is officially off the menu at the Peninsula and its sister hotels in the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels group. Some 73 million sharks are killed each year, with a third of shark species on the brink of extinction. '[The ban] is really a big step forward,' said Silvy Pun Yuen-yiu, of WWF Hong Kong. The city imports an average of 10,000 tonnes of shark's fin every year and accounts for half the global trade, the WWF says. The fins are hacked off living sharks, which are then dumped overboard to die slowly at sea.

Dr Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun

The former health department chief has been nominated unopposed for a new term as World Health Organisation director general. WHO executive chairman Rahhal El Makkaoui last week said China's proposal of Chan for the job was the only one received. The WHO executive board will meet in January to consider her candidature, and a final decision will be made by the WHO assembly in May.