Trump's feud with North Korea, climate change move Doomsday Clock closer to midnight

The risk of nuclear war and the threat of climate change have caused the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to move the Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer to catastrophe to two minutes to midnight.

This is the closest the clock has been to midnight since the height of the Cold War in 1953.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists cited "the possibility of nuclear war by accident or miscalculation" as the greatest danger to the world. President Donald Trump's ongoing feud with Kim Jong-un has created an "untenable nuclear threat."

"The failure to secure a temporary freeze in 2017 was unsurprising to observers of the downward spiral of nuclear rhetoric between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un."

The bulletin also cited conflict between the U.S. and Russia as a possible nuclear risk.

The U.S. government's changes in policy in regards to climate change and a "loss of public trust in political institutions, in the media, in science, and in facts themselves" were contributors to the clock moving.

"The Trump administration, which includes avowed climate denialists in top positions at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department, and other key agencies, has announced its plan to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. In its rush to dismantle rational climate and energy policy, the administration has ignored scientific fact and well-founded economic analyses."