- LONDON - Atomic scientists
say we're two minutes closer to doomsday than we were in 1998.
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- The hands of the doomsday clock were moved to seven minutes
to midnight, up from nine minutes to midnight when it was last reset four
years ago.
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- For 55 years the clock has been maintained by a publication
called the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The chair of the Bulletin's
board says it is never moved in response to a single threat. George Lopez
says the time change this year reflects the greater possibility of terrorism,
and concerns about the security of nuclear weapons material stockpiled
around the world.
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- It's the 17th time the clock has been reset since it
was established in 1947. On that day, like today, it was set at seven minutes
to midnight.
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- "Midnight" was originally defined as nuclear
war. Now it is taken to mean the use of nuclear weapons anywhere on earth.
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- Written by CBC News Online staff
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- http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/02/27/doomsday020227
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