Doomsday Clock Moves Closer To Armageddon

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is expected to move the hands forward on its Doomsday clock at the University of Chicago, a symbolic act reflecting nuclear risk in the world.

Atomic experts say they feel the world is nearer to a nuclear disaster than it has ever been.

The symbolic timepiece counts down the minutes to a possible nuclear Armageddon and at 14:30 GMT simultaneous events in London and Washington on Wednesday will see the clock moved forwards from its current time of seven minutes to midnight.

The scientists have not said how much it will be moved.

The clock was created by the board of directors of the Chicago-based magazine in 1947 and set to seven minutes to midnight. The hands were last moved forward two minutes in 2002 with the heightened security after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The board of directors of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, has not specified which way the hands will move, but in a news release about Wednesday's event they cited "worsening nuclear and climate threats" to the world for changing the clock.

When it was created by the magazine's staff in 1947, it was initially set at seven minutes to midnight and has moved 17 times since then.

It was as close as two minutes to midnight in 1953 following US and Soviet hydrogen bomb tests, and as far away as 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 after the superpowers reached agreement on nuclear arms reductions.