Scientists have moved ahead by half a minute the symbolic Doomsday Clock, saying the world was at its closest to annihilation since the height of the Cold War due to world leaders’ poor response to threats of nuclear war.
According to Reuters, it was the second occasion the timepiece, created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists as an indicator of the world’s susceptibility to cataclysm, was moved forward since the 2016 election of US President Donald Trump.
At two minutes to midnight, the clock is at its closest to catastrophe since 1953, due to dangers of a nuclear war from North Korea’s weapons program, US-Russian entanglements, South China Sea tensions, and other factors, the Chicago-based group said in a statement on Thursday.
When the clock was created in 1947, it was set at 7 minutes to midnight.
