Rep. Charles Rangel blamed his failure to pay taxes on his rental income from a Caribbean villa to “cultural and language barriers,” reports the New York Times. “Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they’d start speaking Spanish,” Rangel said of his attempts to sort out his paperwork. The congressman admitted responsibility for his errors and submitted materials for an ethics investigation.

Rangel, a lawyer, is chairman of the House Committee on Ways & Means, which writes tax law, and about half the households in his district speak primarily Spanish. He has also come under fire for maintaining four rent-stabilized Manhattan apartments, one of which serves as his campaign office.

Santo Domingo.– President Leonel Fernandez Reyna celebrated his 56th birthday yesterday. He was born in Santo Domingo on 26 December 1953, son of the late Jose Antonio Fernandez and Yolanda Reyna Romero.

Fernandez was first elected president of the Dominican Republic in 1996, winning in the second round, in an alliance with the PRSC party, beating the late PRD leader Jose Francisco Peña Gomez. At the time he was one of the youngest leaders in the Americas.

His party, the PLD went on to lose the 2000 elections, and Fernandez took on the party leadership following the death of his guide and mentor, Professor Juan Bosch. Leonel Fernandez returned to power after a conclusive election victory in 2004. He was re-elected with 53% of the votes in the 2008 elections.