Wars and climate crisis keep Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight

Scientists cited violence in Ukraine and ‘horrors of war’ in Israel and Gaza in its decision to keep the clock unchanged from last year at 90 seconds to midnight. Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters

The Doomsday Clock, a symbolic countdown to human extinction, has stayed at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it had been since it was established in 1947, a panel of international scientists has said.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists cited the continuing threat of a nuclear escalation in Ukraine, the “horrors of modern war” in Israel and Gaza and the lack of action on the climate crisis, which threatens “billions of lives”.