Daily Headlines: April 26, 2012

* Venezuela: Suspected drug trafficker Walid Makled claimed in court that he maintained close ties to Eladio Aponte, a former Venezuelan Supreme Court judge who alleged that government officials have links to drug traffickers.

* South America: Standard & Poor's downgraded its credit rating outlook for Argentina in the wake of the government takeover of YPF, while Moody’s revised Uruguay's rating outlook from stable to positive.
 
* Brazil: President Dilma Rousseff is expected to use her line-item veto powers against a controversial environmental bill that critics believe will lead to increased deforestation.

* Panama: Security minister Jose Raul Mulino denied corruption allegations linking President Ricardo Martinelli to an Italian associate of disgraced ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Video Source – YouTube via NTDTV (Suspected drug trafficker Walid Makled was sought by both the U.S. and Venezuela but he was eventually extradited from Colombia to its South American neighbor in May 2011). 
 
Online Sources- UPI, Reuters, MSNBC, CBS News, AFP