North Korea has gone ahead with its missile launch in spite of calls from world leaders not to.
This is breaking news on CNN. It's not clear what has happened to the missile, whether it has successfully launched a satellite or not (as the North Koreans claimed it was for) or whether it has simply landed in the water as part of a missile test.
Either way, there isn't much difference between a satellite launch and a ballistic missile test.
I'll update this as more information becomes available, including world reactions.
Update: Washington Post now has an article up on the launch.
The launch, from a base on the country's northeast coast, came shortly after 10:30 p.m. EDT. North Korea said the "peaceful" launch would put a communications satellite into orbit, but the United States, Japan and South Korea described it as a provocative test of a ballistic missile that could fly as far as the western United States.
You may remember that North Korea threatened retaliation against any country that shot down its missile. The US said however that they would only shoot the missile down if it was threatening US territory.