Scientists yesterday 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. 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 holocaust from North Korea’s weapons program, US Russian entanglements, South China Sea tensions, and other factors, the group said.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists unveil the 2018 ‘Doomsday Clock’ in Washington, DC.