By THE STAR STAFF Vega Baja Mayor Marcos Cruz Molina, together with Recreation and Sports Office Director Jonathan Gelpí, inaugurated the 2026 Municipal Summer Youth Baseball League at the Tortuguero Triple Park. “We experienced the true spirit of sports, with around 100 young athletes set to enjoy a season filled with sports, camaraderie and healthy competition. This year, the league was dedicated to Aristarco Tirado Álamo, a distinguished son of Vega Baja, in recognition of

By THE STAR STAFF The Comerío Pescadores del Plata defeated the Yabucoa Azucareros, 5-2, on Saturday at Estadio Yldefonso Solá Morales in Caguas to take a 2-0 lead in the 2026 Puerto Rico Double-A Baseball League Championship Series. With the victory, Comerío moved to within two wins of capturing the second national championship in franchise history and gained a significant advantage in the title series. Left-hander Luis Leroy Cruz was the star of the game, pitching a complet

Puerto Rico’s Men’s National Volleyball Team celebrates after securing a spot in the Pan American Cup final. By THE STAR STAFF MORELOS, Mexico — Puerto Rico’s Men’s National Volleyball Team responded with character and determination against Canada, defeating the Canadians 3-1 (25-18, 25-23, 17-25, 25-20) in the semifinals of the XIX Men’s Pan American Cup at the Poliforum 2 of the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos. The victory carried special meaning for the Puert

People spend time at Plaza de Olavide in Madrid on July 2, 2026. In Europe, soaring temperatures, widespread wildfires, and dried-up rivers are forcing travelers to adapt and transforming tourism across the continent. (Emilio Parra Doiztua/The New York Times) By RYLEY OBER Standing on a paddle board in late July, Kryssi Whitehurst saw a plume of smoke slowly engulf the sky over a lake in southern France. Miles away, the Gironde wildfire would soon prompt one of the largest pe

Kevin Warsh, the Federal Reserve chairman, speaks during a news conference in Washington, June 17, 2026. New inflation data showing a modest easing of price pressures in July has given the Federal Reserve some breathing room as it considers raising interest rates at its policy meeting next month. (Anna Rose Layden/The New York Times) By COLBY SMITH New inflation data showing a modest easing of price pressures in July has given the Federal Reserve some breathing room as it con

Musab Abu Rukbah, right, and Roman Valach, one of Abu Rukbah’s lawyers, leave a courtroom after a hearing in Vienna on June 8, 2026. Abu Rukbah, a former police chief, left Austria after appealing his eight-year sentence for crimes committed during Syria’s civil war. (Marylise Vigneau/The New York Times) By CARLOTTA GALL and HUSSAM HAMMOUD When a court in Vienna last month convicted two former Syrian officials of abuses during their country’s civil war, the case was celebrate

By MUKTITA SUHARTONO, HASYA NINDITA and RIN HINDRYATI At least 47 people were killed in eastern Indonesia on Saturday after it was rocked by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake, one of the largest the region had experienced in decades, officials said. The earthquake hit just north of Flores Island, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, about 1,000 miles east of Jakarta, the capital. It caused several buildings to collapse on the island, and was one of the largest temblors to hit th

President Donald Trump during a visit to the David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence, a regional police training, state and federal law enforcement hub in Garden City, N.Y., Aug. 14, 2026. The U.S. and Iran are about to blow past a self-imposed deadline to broker terms on peace and Iran’s nuclear program as the war turns into an economic battle. (Al Drago/The New York Times) By AARON BOXERMAN, ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS and DAVID E. SANGER President Donald Trump’s ceasefir

German companies slashed investments in the United States to a three-year low in the first half of 2026, ​as Trump administration policies fed uncertainty between the transatlantic trading partners. First-half direct investments plunged ‌by nearly two-thirds year-on-year to €4.3 ‌billion ($5 billion), the lowest level since 2023, according to calculations by the German Economic Institute, or IW, seen by Reuters. Compared with the same period in 2024, ​that represents a drop o

By ELISABETH VINCENTELLI ‘Project Hail Mary’ Working on this column involves watching a lot of despair-inducing stories about intractable challenges, from environmental wreckage to technology run amok. But problems always have solutions in the two movies based on Andy Weir novels — “The Martian” (2015) and now “Project Hail Mary.” Like its predecessor, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s film may be set in outer space, but it relies on quaint values like tinkering, perseveranc