News of the World

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Russia Has Built Its First Production Batch Of Poseidon Nuclear Torpedoes

A report in the Russian media claims that the first production examples of the country’s Poseidon nuclear-powered, nuclear-tipped, ultra-long-endurance torpedoes have been built. These will initially be provided to the Russian Navy’s shadowy Project 09852 Belgorod, the world’s longest submarine — but, at this stage, it’s unclear if the torpedoes actually have their nuclear warheads fitted.

According to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, “the first batch of Poseidon ammunition has been manufactured” for the Belgorod and will be delivered “soon.” Citing “a source close to the Russian military and defense industry,” the same report says that trials have already been completed of various components related to the Poseidon torpedo, including its nuclear powerplant. Previous examples of Poseidon were produced for developmental and test use, including the one seen in the video below, published by the Russian Ministry of Defense, but the latest announcement suggests that series production of the torpedoes, or at the very least a larger pre-production batch, has commenced.
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Indeed, the first version of the report on the subject from the Reuters agency stated that “Russia has produced the first nuclear warheads for the self-powered Poseidon super torpedoes,” and attributed that same claim to the TASS story. This is a clear misreading of the original report, although that’s not to say it’s not possible that the warheads have been completed too. In the meantime, the Reuters story has been updated to better reflect the TASS claims.

The War Zone spoke to Dmitry Stefanovich, a Research Fellow at the Center for International Security, IMEMO RAS, for his observations about the apparent initial batch of Poseidon weapons. His assumption is that this first batch comprises a larger series of test torpedoes. These would be necessary to explore how the Belgorod actually behaves with a full set of six of the enormous torpedoes onboard, as opposed to the single test rounds that have likely been carried so far.
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In July last year, we reported how the Belgorod — also known as K-329 — had entered service with the Russian Navy.

Although the Belgorod has been described by the Russians as a “research” vessel able to conduct “diverse scientific expeditions and rescue operations in the most remote areas of the world ocean,” the truth is that the submarine is the first of a new type of underwater weapons system designed as a ‘mother ship’ that can deploy a variety of deep-sea drones, a deep-diving nuclear-powered minisub, a submersible nuclear powerplant to power an undersea sensor network — and the now-infamous Poseidon torpedo.

The Belgorod started life as an Oscar II class nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine and, as part of its modifications, it now has the capacity to carry six Poseidon torpedoes, also known as the 2M39 Status-6.

McConnell Calls on DOJ to Treat Trump and Biden Documents ‘Exactly the Same Way’

“I think the important thing with regard to documents is that both these guys ought to be treated exactly the same way—exactly the same way,” McConnell said on NewsRadio 840 WHAS in Kentucky.

The Senate Republican leader said he thinks the attorney general “probably did the right thing” by appointing separate special counsels in investigating the two classified document cases.
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“When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?” Trump wrote on his social media platform after news broke of the first batch of Biden-linked document stash. “These documents were definitely not declassified.”

Trump, who said he declassified documents before leaving office, is being investigated by the DOJ. Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel in November to oversee Trump’s case.
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The House Judiciary Committee has already opened an investigation into Biden’s possession of classified materials.
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“House Republicans have no credibility,” White House spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement to media outlets on Monday. “Their demands should be met with skepticism and they should face questions themselves about why they are politicizing this issue and admitting they actually do not care about the underlying classified material.”
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Asked about the White House’s comment Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) defended Republicans’ investigation, saying the treatment of Trump and Biden regarding classified documents “just does not seem fair.”

Referring to the classified document linked to Biden, McCarthy said “prior to an election, they kept it secret. At no time did he get raided by the FBI.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Resigning

New Zealand (NZ) Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed she will be resigning after six years in the position as the nation heads into an election year.

Ardern, who was elected as the prime minister in 2017, will step down sometime between Jan. 19 and Feb. 7 after the NZ Labour party decides on her replacement.

Speaking about her decision, Ardern said that she had realised that after leading the country for nearly six years, she did not “have enough left in the tank” for another four-year term.
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Ardern noted that her decision was supported by her family, many of whom had not wanted her to resign. But did take time to note to her daughter in her speech that she would be there for her first day of school this year.
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She leaves behind a mixed legacy, with many praising her for her empathy as prime minister when responding to events like the March 2019 Christchurch massacre.
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Ardern’s legacy was marred by the her government’s COVID-19 pandemic response, which saw New Zealanders rally in their thousands multiple times during 2021-2022 over government-mandated lockdowns, strict vaccine mandates, and quarantine measures.
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Separately, her government’s environmental protection laws were met with mass protests from farmers across the country.

Hollywood Lost Over $500 Billion in Market Value in 2022

Hollywood studios lost over $500 billion in market value in 2022, with $120 billion of losses coming from Disney alone.
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Last month, the Dow Jones Media Titans index, which tracks the performance of the world’s top 30 media companies, showed a 40 percent loss in 2022, with its total market value tumbling from $1.35 trillion to $808 billion, the Financial Times reported.

Entertainment losses last year surpassed those in other sectors, such as banking, which saw a 14.5 percent drop, and telecommunications, which witnessed an 11.2 percent decline in revenue.

Major studios, streaming services, cable providers, broadcasters, and other media groups, lost a combined $542 billion in market value in 2022.
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Many investors have pulled out of the once booming streaming service market, as increasing competition and rising costs, combined with inflation taking a toll on consumer spending, have led to a slowdown in advertising and increasing subscriber cancellations.

Microsoft Is Cutting 10,000 Jobs in Latest of Big Tech Layoffs

The announcement comes after tens of thousands of job cuts across the technology sector. The layoffs are a response to decreased spending in cloud computing after the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft said: “First, as we saw customers accelerate their digital spend during the pandemic, we’re now seeing them optimize their digital spend to do more with less.”

The same holds true for organizations that are fearing or impacted by recession, according to the note. Palantir Technologies Inc., a software company, said this week that reducing cloud spending was a top-ten priority of its customers.

The 10,000 jobs cut amounts to around 5 percent of Microsoft’s total workforce. The company is cutting far fewer jobs than it had added during the COVID-19 pandemic; it expanded by about 36 percent in the two fiscal years following the start of the pandemic, growing from 163,000 workers at the end of June 2020 to 221,000 in June 2022.

The tech giant will also hire in some areas and focus on artificial intelligence (AI) for its future development plans.
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The company will spend $1.2 billion for employee severance costs and changing its hardware portfolio.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said, “This is a rip the band-aid off moment to preserve margins and cut costs in a softer macro, a strategy the Street will continue to applaud.”