Doomsday Clock Is Set at 2 Minutes to Midnight, Closest Since 1950s<br />" the bulletin’s science and security board, which oversees the clock, said in a statement.<br />that In 2017, world leaders failed to respond effectively to the looming threats of nuclear war and climate change, making the world security situation more dangerous than it was a year ago — and as dangerous as it has been since World War II,<br />"International diplomacy has been reduced to name-calling, giving it a surreal sense of unreality<br />that makes the world security situation ever more threatening." The scientists added: "To call the world nuclear situation dire is to understate the danger — and its immediacy." The clock was last set at 2 minutes to midnight in 1953, after the Americans and then the Soviets tested thermonuclear weapons for the first time, within six months of each other.<br />It cited the risks from North Korea’s nuclear program; discord between Russia<br />and the United States; tensions in the South China Sea; the build up of the nuclear arsenals of Pakistan and India; and uncertainty over the Iran nuclear deal.<br />Since 2010 — years before Mr. Trump’s presidency — the needle has moved ever closer to<br />midnight: 5 minutes in 2012, 3 minutes in 2015, and two and a half minutes last year.
