Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been granted supervised release after being arrested and charged for illegally carrying a gun in his vehicle during an altercation in a parking lot in the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic says it has deported or repatriated nearly 11,000 Haitians in the past week.

The Dominican Republic says it will start massive deportations of Haitians living illegally in the country and expel up to 10,000 of them a week.

The president of the Dominican Republic has warned that his administration would take “drastic measures” to protect the country if a U.N.-backed mission in neighboring Haiti targeting gang violence fails.

Activists in the Dominican Republic are protesting against a bill for a new criminal code that would retain a total abortion ban.

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been formally charged by prosecutors in the Dominican Republic with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl.

Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader is headed to a second term following general elections.

As soaring violence and political turmoil grip neighboring Haiti, the Dominican Republic will hold elections Sunday that have been defined by calls for more crackdowns on migrants and finishing a border wall dividing the countries.

Tampa Bay All-Star shortstop Wander Franco was placed on administrative leave through June 1 under an agreement between Major League Baseball and the players’ association while the investigation continues in an alleged relationship with a minor.

The U.S. military has flown in forces to beef up security at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti and evacuate nonessential personnel.

Dutch music producer DJ Tiësto has withdrawn from performing at Sunday's Super Bowl due to an undisclosed family matter.

A judge has conditionally released U.S. rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine after he was arrested in the Dominican Republic last week on domestic violence charges.

U.S. health officials say 93 Americans have died after cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic since 2009.

Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested U.S. rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine on charges of domestic violence.

Wander Franco is facing a lesser charge after a judge in the Dominican Republic analyzed evidence that alleges the Tampa Bay Rays shortstop had a relationship with a 14-year-old girl and paid her mother thousands of dollars for her consent.

A judge in the Dominican Republic has ordered the conditional release of Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco.

Dominican prosecutors have accused Wander Franco of commercial sexual exploitation and money laundering following allegations that the Tampa Bay Rays shortstop had a relationship with a minor whose mother also faces the same charges.

In Latin America, only Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and the Dominican Republic maintain total abortion bans.

The Dominican Republic is one of four Latin American countries criminalizing abortion without exceptions.

Fan reception was warm when a pair of Dominican Winter League teams met to start a three-game series at Citi Field.

The Dominican Republic is accusing Haiti of multiple border violations in the latest dispute involving their shared frontier on the island of Hispaniola.

President Joe Biden is trying to increase trade with Latin America.

Authorities say the Detroit Tigers complex in the Dominican Republic has been targeted in the latest robbery of a Major League Baseball facility in the country.

Authorities are seeking at least five people in an armed robbery of the St. Louis Cardinals complex in the Dominican Republic on Friday.

The Dominican Republic has partially reopened its border with Haiti to limited commercial activity nearly a month after shuttering the frontier amid an ongoing spat over construction of a canal targeting water from a shared river.

The Dominican Republic government says it will temporarily allow the trade of essential Dominican products, including food and medications, on the border with Haiti.

Haiti’s government is doubling down on the construction of a canal on Haitian soil that prompted the neighboring Dominican Republic last week to shutter land, air and sea borders that both countries share.

The president of the Dominican Republic is defending his decision to close air, sea and land traffic with neighboring Haiti in a dispute over construction of a canal targeting a river that runs through both countries.

The Dominican Republic’s president has announced he will close all borders with neighboring Haiti starting Friday in a dispute over a canal on the Haitian side that would divert water from a border river.

Three people have been arrested in the Dominican Republic as part of an ongoing investigation into a powerful explosion at a plastics company that killed at least 34 people earlier this month.

The Dominican Republic, Australia and Italy have advanced to the knockout stage of the World Cup.

The Dominican Republic is getting back on its feet after Tropical Storm Franklin struck the island nation, causing heavy flooding that killed at least two people and knocked out power and water to hundreds of thousands.

Tropical Storm Franklin is unleashing heavy floods and landslides in the Dominican Republic after making landfall in the country’s southern region.

The Dominican Republic has shut down much of the country as Tropical Storm Franklin takes aim at the island of Hispaniola that it shares with Haiti and threatens to unleash landslides and heavy floods.

A prosecutor in the Dominican Republic says the investigation into Tampa Bay Rays All-Star shortstop Wander Franco’s alleged relationship with a minor is being handled by a division specializing in minors and gender violence in the province of Peravia.

Tropical Storm Bret has formed in the Atlantic Ocean and could threaten the Caribbean.

Ecuador’s Constitutional Court has ruled the opposition-dominated National Assembly can take up the question of whether to impeach President Guillermo Lasso over allegations of crimes against state security and corruption.

New York Mets fans began the year dreaming about a World Series closed out by Edwin Díaz.

New York Mets fans began the year dreaming about a World Series closed out by Edwin Díaz.

Major League Baseball’s new pitch clock, limits on shifts and larger bases will not be used during the World Baseball Classic.

The U.S. government says it will detain all imports of sugar and related products made in the Dominican Republic by the country's largest sugar producer amid allegations that it uses forced labor.

The Dominican Republic said it “profusely rejects” the denunciation of its crackdowns on Haitian migrants by a growing number of countries and human rights agencies.

U.S. authorities say a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent and a suspected smuggler died during a shootout Thursday morning off the Puerto Rico coast.

Federal authorities say customs officers at New York’s Kennedy International Airport seized $450,000 worth of cocaine from a traveler who was smuggling the drugs in the wheels of her wheelchair.

Hurricane Fiona is blasting the Turks and Caicos Islands as a Category 3 storm after devastating Puerto Rico, where most people remain without electricity or running water.

Hurricane Fiona is dumping more rain on Puerto Rico.

Authorities say at least five Haitian migrants have drowned and 68 others have been rescued after a suspected human smuggling boat dropped the group off in waters near an uninhabited island west of Puerto Rico.

The National Basketball Association and Mamsa Sports Performance announced a multiyear partnership to launch the first NBA Basketball School in the Dominican Republic.

Tributes are pouring in for actor Ray Liotta, who died at age 67 in the Dominican Republic.

Ray Liotta, the actor best known for playing mobster Henry Hill in “Goodfellas” and baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson in “Field of Dreams,” has died.

Haitians are fleeing in greater numbers to the neighboring Dominican Republic, where they step onto rickety wooden boats as they attempt to reach Puerto Rico — a trip in which 11 Haitian women drowned this week, with dozens of other migrants believed missing.

Private investigators hired by David Ortiz say a Dominican drug trafficker who was jealous of Ortiz and felt disrespected by him had Ortiz shot at a Dominican nightclub in 2019.

Haitian migrants are reaching Florida’s shores in repeated suspected human smuggling operations, outpacing last year’s migration waves.

The National Hurricane Center said Fred has regained tropical storm status in the Gulf of Mexico as parts of the Caribbean began seeing impacts from tropical depression Grace.

Remnants of Fred have entered the lower Gulf of Mexico amid forecasts it would regain tropical storm strength late in the weekend as it moves toward the northern U.S. Gulf Coast.

Forecasters say tropical depression Fred is slowly strengthening and could regain tropical storm status on Saturday.

Tropical depression Fred is heading for a drenching of Cuba and the Bahamas on a forecast track that would carry it toward South Florida as a tropical storm by Saturday.

Tropical Storm Fred has weakened to a tropical depression while sweeping over the Dominican Republic and dumping heavy rains that forecasters warn could cause dangerous flooding and mudslides there and in neighboring Haiti.

Heavy rains are pelting the northern Caribbean as Tropical Storm Fred has formed just south of Puerto Rico following a quiet month of no named storms in the region.

Baseball's traditional powers — Japan, the United States and the Dominican Republic — took the medals as the sport made a dramatic return to the Olympic program.

Juan Francisco's two-run, opposite-field double snapped a tie game in the eighth inning, and Johan Miesas followed with a two-run homer to lead the Dominican Republic past South Korea on Saturday to claim the bronze medal of the baseball tournament at the Tokyo Olympics.

Imagine Olympic swimming without the world’s top 100.

USA Baseball defeated the Dominican Republic 3-1 on Wednesday in Tokyo.

South Korea and Turkey put on a show Wednesday at Ariake Arena, where the South Koreans earned a spot in the semifinals of the women's volleyball tournament at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Dominican Republic eliminated Israel from the Olympic baseball tournament on Tuesday with a two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth.

South Korea stunned the Dominican Republic with a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth in the Olympic baseball playoff opener for both teams.

The Dominican Republic picked up silver while the United States, favorite to win after its 2019 world title, took bronze.

Team USA's 21-year-old Harrison Maurus had a very impressive debut but finished off the podium.

The Dominican Republic's women's volleyball team on Saturday earned its first pool-play victory at the Tokyo Olympics, dropping winless Kenya at Ariake Arena.

The Dominican Republic used five pitchers to shut out Mexico in Olympic baseball pool play on Friday.

Kai Takuya drove in the tying run with a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt, Hayato Sakamoto followed with a game-ending, bases-loaded single and the Japanese rallied from three runs down in the ninth inning to beat the Dominican Republic 4-3 in the Olympic baseball opener.

Japan defeated the Dominican Republic 3-2 in the opening game of the Tokyo Olympics baseball tournament.

Mexico loses two pitchers from Olympic roster following COVID-positive tests.

Find out where to watch every inning of the Tokyo Olympics baseball tournament.

Haiti’s interim government has asked the U.S. to deploy troops to protect key infrastructure as it tries to stabilize the country and prepare the way for elections in the aftermath of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Tropical Storm Elsa is battering the southern coasts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, downing trees and blowing off roofs as it speeds through the Caribbean, killing at least three people.

Puerto Rico's Yadier Molina reacts after tagging out Venezuela's Ali Castillo during the first inning of a Caribbean Series baseball game at Teodoro Mariscal Stadium in Mazatlan, Mexico, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Cardinals signed catcher Yadier Molina to a one-year, $9 million contract Tuesday, keeping the nine-time Gold Glove winner with the only organization for which he's played for an 18th season. The 38-year-old Molina hit .262 with four home runs in 42 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, his last under a $60 million, three-year deal. He is third on the franchise list in games played behind Hall of Famers Stan Musial (3,026) and Lou Brock (2,289). Molina is a career .281 hitter with 160 home runs, and he's played in at least 110 games every season but his first and this past season, which was shortened by the pandemic.

A girl wades towards her flooded home the day after the passing of Tropical Storm Laura in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. Laura battered the Dominican Republic and Haiti on it's way to the U.S. Gulf Coast, where forecaster fear it could become a major hurricane. Now forecasters are turning their attention the Gulf Coast, where up to 11 feet (3.4 meters) of sea water storm surge could inundate the coastline from High Island in Texas to Morgan City, Louisiana, the hurricane center said. Hurricane Rita then struck southwest Louisiana that Sept. 24 as a Category 3 storm. We might have dodged a bullet with Marco, and obviously some people along the Gulf Coast are not going to be as blessed as us.___Martin reported from Marietta, Georgia.

A girl wades towards her flooded home the day after the passing of Tropical Storm Laura in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. Laura battered the Dominican Republic and Haiti on it's way to the U.S. Gulf Coast, where forecaster fear it could become a major hurricane. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Street vendors wade a flooded street during the passing of Tropical Storm Laura in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020. Laura battered the Dominican Republic and Haiti and is heading for a possible hit on the Louisiana coast at or close to hurricane force as a hurricane, along with Tropical Storm Marco. Forecasters said it would likely remain just off the Louisiana coast through Tuesday. Despite Marco's weakening, a storm surge warning remained in place from Morgan City, Louisiana, to Ocean Springs, Mississippi. A storm surge of up to 4 feet (1.2 meters) was forecast for parts of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi.

Luis Abinader, presidential candidate of the opposition Modern Revolutionary Party, greets the crowd while he is surrounded by journalists at a voting center during the presidential elections, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Sunday, July 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Tatiana Fernandez)SANTO DOMINGO With COVID-19 cases still surging, the Dominican Republic on Sunday held presidential elections that had already been delayed by the pandemic, and polls indicated that a businessman with no previous experience in government was the favorite. Former President Leonel Feernndez, who served three previous terms, was also on the ballot, along with three minor parties. It went ahead Sunday even though the Health Ministry on Saturday reported the highest daily count of new confirmed COVID-19 cases, 1,241. The campaign was notably low key, with none of the mass meetings and street caravans common in previous years.

Minnesota Twins slugger Miguel San told a Dominican Republic newspaper he's being blackmailed, having been accused of kidnapping and assault. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)SANTO DOMINGO Authorities in the Dominican Republic are opening an investigation into allegations Minnesota Twins slugger Miguel San participated in the kidnapping and assault of a man, prosecutors said Thursday. The Twins, however, said they were told San was cleared of the accusations. Faced with a failure to reconcile, the Dominican justice system will open an investigation into the case, according to the prosecutor's office. They are what the ones who know, I dont know about this, San told The Associated Press when asked about what awaits him in the case.

These attendance-driven leagues might not play again at all in 2020, putting some teams in danger of surviving at all and potentially changing the landscape of minor league sports in the future. The White Sox are even providing those stipends to 25 minor league players recently released. MLB suspended spring training and postponed the start of the minor league season in March due to the novel coronavirus, leaving low-paid minor league players in lurch. The league launched a policy March 19 that provided most non-40-man roster players signed to minor league deals with stipends through April 8, and it later extended the policy through May 31. MLB and the players' association are negotiating terms to start the major league season later in the summer, but it seems likely there will not be a minor league season.

In this Wednesday, May 20, 2020, photo, Wendy De Los Santos, originally from Dominican Republic, stands for a photograph in a window of her home, in Malden, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)BOSTON Wendy De Los Santos passed the test to become a U.S. citizen just days before government offices shut down nationwide because of the coronavirus pandemic. It would be nice to finish the process, even if it has to be done virtually, said De Los Santos, a 38-year-old Boston-area medical assistant originally from the Dominican Republic. There are a lot of options for getting this done, St. Pierre said of citizenship ceremonies. In the meantime, some advocates are trying to secure emergency oath ceremonies for the neediest families.

A former Michigan teacher was found dead in the Dominican Republic after an apparent armed robbery in her apartment. Anton went to the Dominican Republic in 2014 to teach at a Montessori school. Before then, Anton taught upper elementary students at The Childrens House just outside Traverse City. She cared so deeply about the children and I knew that here, when she was teacher here and I knew that just through the stories she told. She was such a vital part of that community and they cared about her and loved her so much, said Michele Shane, the Head of School at The Childrens House.

A woman who used to teach in Traverse City was found murdered in the Dominican Republic, according to UpNorthLive. Patricia Anton, 63, was found dead in her apartment on the north side of the island Tuesday, according to the report. She was found bound, gagged and strangled to death. UpNorthLive reports that investigators said her death appeared to be part of a burglary as her phone, laptop and TV were missing. She had been teaching in the Dominican Republic for at least a decade.

A sign near the entrance to the Grand Bahia Principe La Romana in the Dominican Republic. (CNN) - FBI toxicology tests have determined that the deaths of three U.S. tourists in the Dominican Republic were due to natural causes, a U.S. State Department official said Friday. The FBI assisted with the toxicology tests of three of at least nine Americans who died there in recent months. She suffered a heart attack, pulmonary edema and respiratory failure, a preliminary autopsy cited by the Attorney General's Office of the Dominican Republic showed. The Dominican Republic is one of the Caribbean's top tourism destinations, with more than 6 million stopover tourists last year, including 2.2 million Americans, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

A man deported to the Dominican Republic in 2016 reentered the country and is now charged with murder. Luis Severino Colon, 49, was charged and arraigned Tuesday on state charges of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter of Cindi Olivo, 32, Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said in a press release. Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York federally charged Severino Colon with illegal reentry, which is a felony. Severino Colon is a citizen of the Dominican Republic and has never been a United States citizen, federal court documents show. He was deported to the Dominican Republic on October 18, 2016, after pleading guilty to several crimes over an eight-year period, the federal complaint said.

More than three months after being shot outside a nightclub in Dominican Republic, former Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz got emotional in his first interview since the attack. Better known by his nickname "Big Papii," Ortiz was shot at close range in the back at a bar in his native Dominican Republic on June 9. Grainy footage from that night showed a man approach Ortiz and fire. "I was feeling something that I had never felt before, and that was just the feeling of trying to survive." RELATED STORIESDavid Ortiz in 'Good Condition' and Out of Intensive Care, Wife SaysObama Sends Well Wishes to David Ortiz After He's Shot in Back in Dominican RepublicSamsung Pays David Ortiz To Take Selfie With President Obama

Several U.S. airlines are offering travel waivers to customers with scheduled flights to the eastern Caribbean as the storm travels through the Caribbean Sea. The National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch for Puerto Rico on Tuesday morning. SouthwestCustomers flying Southwest to Turks and Caicos, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico between today and Aug. 30 may rebook a flight. AmericanAmerican Airlines will waive the fee to change flights scheduled until Aug. 29 if they're canceled. Trips to Barbados, Haiti, Martinique, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Saint Lucia are subject to cancellation.

A security camera in the Dominican Republic captured the moment David Ortiz was shot. Ortiz hired Davis a few weeks after he returned to Boston from the Dominican Republic, Joe Baerlein's statement said. "The Edward Davis Company is monitoring and analyzing information from various sources in the Dominican Republic around the motives for the shooting of David Ortiz on June 9th," it said. "The Edward Davis Company is also providing personal security services for David Ortiz and his family." Following surgery in the Dominican Republic, Ortiz was flown to Boston, where he underwent additional procedures.

DETROIT Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Octavio Dotel was arrested in the Dominican Republic as part of an operation by authorities to battle a drug trafficking and money laundering network, according to Diario Libre. Dotel was reportedly arrested along with fellow former major leaguer Luis Castillo in connection with the "largest operation against organized crime" in the Dominican Republic, the attorney general said. Octavio Dotel #20 of the Detroit Tigers throws a pitch against the San Francisco Giants in the seventh inning during Game Four of the Major League Baseball World Series at Comerica Park on October 28, 2012 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)He played his final team seasons with the Tigers in 2012 and 2013 before retiring. In 2012, when the Tigers last played in the World Series, Dotel made 57 relief appearances, posting a 3.57 ERA, 2.30 FIP and 1.07 WHIP with 62 strikeouts in 58 innings.

Former Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz has been released from a Boston hospital, more than a month after a gunman shot him in the back in the Dominican Republic, a Red Sox spokeswoman said. Ortiz was shot in the lower backl June 9 while he was sitting on a crowded bar patio in Santo Domingo. After Ortiz underwent surgery in the Dominican Republic, he was flown to Boston, where he was admitted at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Ortiz had at least two other surgeries since he was transferred to the Boston hospital. Authorities in the Dominican Republic say Ortiz was not the intended target of the shooting.

(CNN) - The Dominican Republic's Ministry of Tourism is rolling out new safety measures in an effort to calm the fears of Americans traveling to the Caribbean island, according to the ministry's chief of staff Pablo Espinal. The measures include inspecting hotels more often, requiring hotels to post emergency contact information in every guest room, adding more monitoring measures to medical facilities located inside hotels and opening an emergency tourist center. At least 10 American citizens have died after an apparent sudden health issue in the Dominican Republic since June 2018. Dominican Republic authorities maintain that their own investigations revealed that the Americans died from natural causes. The emergency tourist center is expected to open in Punta Cana in partnership with the Dominican Republic Attorney General's office.

DETROIT - A Detroit man who traveled to the Dominican Republic in May believes he contracted something that left him critically ill. Eight Americans have died mysteriously while vacationing in the Dominican Republic this year. Alejandro AJ Jones travels to the DR often and didn't cancel his trip despite hearing about the Americans getting sick. He said he was dealing with constant sickness several days into his nine day trip to Puerta Plata. When he got to Harper Hospital in Detroit last month, doctors told him he was only getting 10 percent f the oxygen he needed.

DETROIT - Here's what is coming up on Local 4 News at 11:Almost HomeIt's been four months of stress for the Almost Home no-kill shelter. Sick in Puerta PlataSo far this year eight Americans have died while vacationing in the Dominican Republic. Rosa Parks busThe bus on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat is a symbol of her defiance that changed the course of history in America. Copyright 2019 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit - All rights reserved.

Dominican court documents allege Rodriguez Mota paid $7,800 to the would-be assassins. Rodriguez Mota was the plot's financier, police said, and Dominican marines apprehended him in Saman on the northeastern coast, attempting to flee to Puerto Rico. Gomez Vasquez has denied orchestrating an attack on his cousin, the police spokesman said. Gomez Vasquez ordered the killing, police say, because he suspects Fernandez turned him in to Dominican investigators in 2011. Police have previously said Gomez Vasquez sent Rodriguez Mota to Dial to wait for Fernandez.

(CNN) - Rock musician Rick Springfield canceled his show in the Dominican Republic, citing concerns over the well-being of his fans. The announcement comes after rising safety concerns in the Dominican Republic, as at least 10 American citizens have died while in the country in the last year. And though statistics show that Americans are more likely to be killed in the US than in the Dominican, many people are still alarmed. Sending our love and best wishes to all of our friends in the Dominican Republic," Springfield said in a statement on his website. The concert, supposed to be a "fan-getaway" for five days in November, has been rescheduled for 2020 at the Hard Rock Hotel Cancun.

(CNN) - The alleged mastermind in the shooting of former baseball star David Ortiz was arrested in the Dominican Republic on Friday, police there said. The suspect was identified as Victor Hugo Gomez, according to an alert published on the official Twitter account of the Dominican National Police. Prosecutors have said Gomez allegedly paid for a hit on a man sitting with Ortiz the night of the shooting and that Ortiz was not the target. Authorities say they believe Gomez ordered the killing because he suspected Fernandez turned him in to Dominican investigators back in 2011. A total of 11 suspects are in custody in what was originally believed to be a plot against one of the Dominican Republic's best known personalities.

Another American death in the Dominican Republic.....and his family is trying to find out the cause.