What’s Good Wednesdays™, October 22, 2025

Watch: The World Series. Major League Baseball’s biggest event of the year has always seemed like a misnomer, given that it usually only involves teams from the United States. Not this year, as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ astonishing pitching core faces the big bats of the Toronto Blue Jays. Los Angeles, who won last year, are the favorites, but can they overcome Canada’s finest to cement their place as the best Dodgers team since the days of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale? – Zac

Read:Kaliane Bradley’s “Ministry of Time” follows a civil servant tasked with integrating “expats” pulled from the past into the present-day United Kingdom under a secret government program testing whether time travel is feasible. Its time-travel premise examines imperial legacies, bureaucratic power, and state secrecy, revealing how policy shapes identity and allegiance. – Natalie

Listen: To “The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling.” This podcast from the Free Press is one of the best works of cultural investigation, and podcasts overall, that I have listened to in a long time. It looks at how the root of authoritarianism – in the sense of censorship of political opinion – began a long time ago and exists across the aisle in the US, using the experience of J.K. Rowling’s cancellation on Twitter (now X). Whatever preconceived notions you bring to the story, it will challenge it, and leave you better for it. – Riley

More from GZERO Media

The biggest story of our G-Zero world, Ian Bremmer explains, is that the United States – still the world’s most powerful nation – has chosen to walk away from the international system it built and led for three-quarters of a century. Not because it's weak. Not because it has to. But because it wants to.

Wreckage of public transport buses involved in a head-on collision is parked at a police station near the scene of the deadly crash on the Kampala-Gulu highway in Kiryandongo district, near Gulu, northern Uganda, October 22, 2025.
REUTERS/Stringer

A horrific multi-vehicle crash on the Kampala-Gulu Highway in Uganda late last night has left 46 people dead. The pile up began after two buses traveling in opposite directions reportedly clashed “head on” as they tried to overtake two other vehicles.

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a bilateral meeting with China's President Xi Jinping during the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

As China’s Communist Party gathers this week to draft the country’s 15th five-year plan, the path it’s charting is clear: Beijing wants to develop dominance over 21st century technologies, as its economy struggles with the burgeoning US trade war, a slow-boil real-estate crisis, and weak consumer demand.

When Walmart stocks its shelves with homegrown products like Fischer & Wieser’s peach jam, it’s not just selling food — it’s creating opportunity. Over two-thirds of what Walmart buys is made, grown, or assembled in America, fueling jobs and growth in communities nationwide. Walmart’s $350 billion commitment to US manufacturing is supporting 750,000 jobs and empowering small businesses to sell more, hire more, and strengthen their hometowns. From farms to shelves, Walmart’s investment keeps local businesses thriving. Learn how Walmart's commitment to US manufacturing is supporting 750K American jobs.

Last week, Microsoft released its 2025 Digital Defense Report, highlighting the evolving cybersecurity landscape and Microsoft's commitment to defending against emerging threats. The report provides an in-depth analysis of the current threat environment, including identity and access threats, human-operated attacks, ransomware, fraud, social engineering, and nation-state adversary threats. It also outlines advancements in AI for cyber-attack and defense, as well as the emerging cybersecurity threat of quantum technology. The report emphasizes the need for international collaboration, proactive regulatory alignment, and the development of new tools and practices to enhance cybersecurity resilience. Explore the report here.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chairs the inaugural session of the Shura Council in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on September 10, 2025.

Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS

There are a lot of good vibes between the United States and Saudi Arabia right now. Whether that stretches to the Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel is another matter.