The “Doomsday Clock” representing how near humanity is to catastrophe on Tuesday moved closer than ever to midnight as concerns mount on nuclear weapons, climate change and disinformation.The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which set up the metaphorical clock at the start of the Cold War, moved its time to 85 seconds to midnight — four seconds closer than a year ago.The announcement comes a year into President Donald Trump’s second term, in which he has shattered norms — ordering unilateral attacks abroad, deploying force at home in defiance of local authorities and withdrawing from a slew of international organizations.Russia, China, the United States and other major countries have “become increasingly aggressive, adversarial and nationalistic,” said a statement announcing the clock shift, determined after consultations with a board that includes eight Nobel laureates.”Hard-won global understandings are collapsing, accelerating a winner-takes-all great power competition and undermining the international cooperation critical to reducing the risks of nuclear war, climate change, the misuse of biotechnology, the potential threat of artificial intelligence and other apocalyptic dangers.”The Doomsday Clock board warned of heightened risks of a nuclear arms race, with the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia set to expire next week.”For the first time in over half a century, there will be nothing preventing a runaway nuclear arms race,” Daniel Holz, a University of Chicago physicist who chairs the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, told a virtual news conference.Trump has threatened to resume nuclear testing and is pushing a costly “Golden Dome” missile defense system that would further militarize space.- Minnesota approach spells conflict -The board members also voiced alarm over Trump’s crackdown in Minnesota, where he has deployed a phalanx of masked, armed anti-immigration agents who have aggressively repressed protesters and shot dead two people.”History has shown that when governments become unaccountable to their own citizens, conflict and misery follow,” Holz said.The board also noted record emission levels of carbon dioxide, the key driver of the planet’s warming temperatures, as Trump sharply reverses US policy on fighting climate change and a number of other countries have backtracked in turn.Underpinning the threats, board members warned of a dangerous fracturing of global trust.”We are living through an information Armageddon — the crisis beneath all crises — driven by extractive and predatory technology that spreads lies faster than facts and profits from our division,” said Maria Ressa, the Filipina investigative journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner who faced intense pressure from iron-fisted former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, now awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court.Ressa pointed to Trump’s use of force in Minnesota and threats to seize Greenland as examples of losing “the battle for information integrity” with memes turning into reality.”The men who control the platforms that shape what billions believe have merged with the men who control governments and militaries,” she said. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, founded by Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer and other nuclear scientists at the University of Chicago, initially placed the clock at seven minutes to midnight in 1947.It was moved closer last year but by only one second, amid guarded hopes on newly reinaugurated Trump’s promises to pursue peace and cooperation.”The problem is that rhetoric has not matched actions at all,” said Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin.

The US Border Patrol commander famed for reveling in aggressive, televised immigration crackdowns, and some federal agents were expected to leave Minneapolis on Tuesday as the White House sought to stem fallout over the second fatal shooting of a protester in a month.The imminent exit of Gregory Bovino, known for his military-style outfits and phalanxes of masked agents, was reported by US media as President Donald Trump’s new envoy Tom Homan was due to meet Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.Homan, the top US border security official, brings a less confrontational communication style and his appointment as Trump’s new point man for Minneapolis underlines the Republican president’s scramble to contain the political crisis.In another possible sign of deescalation, Frey announced, without giving details, that “some federal agents” will be leaving the Minnesota city.Protesters, braving sub-zero weather, were due to gather outside the state legislature later Tuesday.The shooting death at point blank range of 37-year-old protester Alex Pretti on Saturday sparked outrage nationwide, even among some of Trump’s usually ultra-loyal Republican allies in Congress.Former Democratic president Joe Biden on Tuesday said the situation “betrays our most basic values as Americans.” Former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have also spoken out.Pretti, shot multiple times after being knocked to the ground, was the second US citizen killed by immigration officers in Minneapolis this month, turning the city into ground zero of national tensions over Trump’s mass deportation policies.Protester Renee Good, a mother of three, was shot by an agent at point blank range in her car on January 7.The killings capped months of escalating violence in which masked, unidentified, and heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Border Patrol agents have grabbed people suspected of violating immigration laws off the streets.The roving units are the spearhead for Trump’s vow to deport hundreds of thousands of people who are in the country illegally. But while the policy was initially popular, the chaotic and violent implementation is causing uproar.Despite multiple videos clearly showing that Pretti posed no threat, top officials initially claimed he had been intending to kill federal agents and described him as a “domestic terrorist.” Trump himself amplified the conspiracy theory on social media before retreating on Monday with a more conciliatory message.Concern over the violence and the attempt to blame Pretti for his death quickly spread to Washington.Republican Senator Rand Paul said Tuesday that agents involved in the Pretti shooting should be put “immediately” on administrative leave. Centrist Democratic Senator John Fetterman — who rarely criticizes Trump — said “grossly incompetent” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should be fired.The turmoil could even result in suspension of wide swaths of US government funding with Democrats threatening to block approval of routine spending bills up for votes in the Senate later this week.- Protestors feel vindicated -At a demonstration in Minneapolis on Monday, locals expressed relief that ICE was expected to scale down.”It’s a vindication to some degree. We have a lot of fear around what kind of violence and reprisals might come as they leave,” protester Kyle Wagner told AFP.”Our neighborhoods and communities have been brutalized by them, so any decrease in the numbers and the severity is just a huge relief to the community that’s been suffering for months now.”Jasmine Nelson, who was also at the demonstration, said she was inspired by locals coming together to protest the killings.”It’s really beautiful to see everyone get together like this and fight against these injustices,” she said.On another front, a federal judge in Minneapolis heard arguments on Monday about whether the deployment of federal officers violates the state of Minnesota’s sovereignty.In addition, the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, was ordered to appear in a Minnesota federal court on Friday over a case of a man challenging his detention by the agency.