N Korea fires banned missile in longest flight yet

North Korea has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, which flew for 86 minutes - the longest flight recorded yet - before falling into waters off its east, South Korea and Japan said.

The ICBM was fired at a sharply-raised angle and reached as high as 7,000km (4,350 miles). This means that it would have covered a further distance if it were launched horizontally.

Thursday's launch violated UN curbs and came at a time of deteriorating relations between the two Koreas and Pyongyang's increasingly aggressive rhetoric towards Seoul.