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Scientists on Thursday 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.

Details

• 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.
• Hyperbolic rhetoric and provocative actions on both sides have increased the possibility of nuclear war by accident or miscalculati
• Unchecked dangers linked to climate change were another factor scientists cited for moving the clock forward.
• An overarching concern was what scientists described as the demise of diplomacy under the Trump administration.
• To rewind the clock, scientists recommended Trump refrain from provocative rhetoric regarding North Korea, the two countries open multiple communication channels and the world community seek a cessation of North Korea’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile test
• When the clock was created in 1947, it was set at 7 minutes to midnight.
• Last year the clock’s hands were pushed forward 30 seconds to their second closest point to midnight — two minutes and 30 seconds — after Trump’s statements regarding the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the prospect of actually using them
• In 2016, the clock remained unmoved, its hands staying at three minutes to midnight.

About the Doomsday Clock

• The Doomsday Clock is a symbol which represents the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe. Maintained since 1947 by the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board, the Clock represents an analogy for the threat of global nuclear war. Since 2007, it has also reflected climate changeand new developments in the life sciences and technology that could inflict irrevocable harm to humanit
• The Clock represents the hypothetical global catastrophe as "midnight" and The Bulletin's opinion on how close the world is to a global catastrophe as a number of "minutes" to midnight. Its original setting in 1947 was seven minutes to midnight. It has been set backward and forward 22 times since then, the smallest-ever number of minutes to midnight being two (in 1953 and 2018) and the largest seventeen (in 199
• As of January 2018, the Clock is set at two minutes to midnight, due to global threat of nuclear war, the United States not being involved in world leadership roles, and climate change.

Source

Livemint