SEOUL - NORTH Korea test-fired five short-range missiles off its east coast Monday and banned ships from the area from Oct 10-20, a South Korean official said.

The official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, confirmed a Yonhap news agency report of the launches and of the 'no sail' zones covering parts of the east and west coasts.

THE Government is contemplating a move to ban property agents from representing both sellers and buyers of HDB flats -one that has cheered the public and left some agents unhappy.

In a key proposal released on Monday to raise standards in the industry, the Ministry of National Development (MND) recommended that this practice is disallowed so that agents are 'not in a conflict of interest'.

MEDIA group Singapore Press Holdings weathered the financial storm well, with its full-year net profit easing just 3.6 per cent to $421.9 million for the 12 months to Aug 31 despite the economic downturn.

This trumped market expectations of a profit of $395.7 million, according to a Bloomberg poll of three analysts.

STOCKHOLM - ELINOR Ostrom and Oliver Williamson of the United States won the 2009 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for their work on the organisation of cooperation in economic governance, the Nobel jury said.

Professor Ostrom is the first woman to win the Economics Prize, which has been awarded since 1969. 'The research of Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson demonstrates that economic analysis can shed light on most forms of social organisation,' the jury said.