Scientists move Doomsday clock 30 seconds closer to midnight
WASHINGTON — The keepers of the Doomsday Clock have moved the symbolic countdown to potential global catastrophe 30 seconds closer to midnight based on President Donald Trump’s comments on nuclear weapons and climate change.
From left, theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Board of Sponsors; Mr Thomas Pickering, co-chair of the International Crisis Group; and Mr David Titley, a nationally known expert in the field of climate, the Arctic, and national security, unveiled the Doomsday Clock during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington on Jan 26, 2107. Photo: AP
WASHINGTON — The keepers of the Doomsday Clock have moved the symbolic countdown to potential global catastrophe 30 seconds closer to midnight based on President Donald Trump’s comments on nuclear weapons and climate change.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, in a statement accompanying the move on Thursday (Jan 26), cited “wavering public confidence in the democratic institutions required to deal with major world threats”. It says “deception campaigns” by Russia to disrupt the US election have made the world more dangerous by bringing “American democracy and Russian intentions into question”.
The Doomsday Clock now stands at two-and-a-half minutes to midnight, the closest it has been since the 1950s.
The clock is a visual representation of how close the Bulletin believes the world is to catastrophe brought on by nuclear weapons, climate change and new technologies. AP
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