90 seconds to midnight. The doomsday clock has never been so close to midnight before. But this year, due to the Ukraine war, nuclear tensions and the climate crisis, among other things, it is where it should be, according to a group of nuclear experts and scientists.
Midnight on the clock symbolizes doom.
– We move the clock forward to the closest it has ever been to midnight. It is now 90 seconds to midnight, the group announced at a press conference on Tuesday.
This year, the hands are being moved “largely, but not exclusively, due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the increased risk of nuclear escalation,” writes the expert group that each year announces whether the clock should be reset, writes AFP.
The clock was installed in 1947 and was then set to seven minutes before midnight. The longest it has stood from midnight is 17 minutes, since the end of the Cold War in 1991.