Maduro: I know who plotted drone attack

PRESIDENT Nicolas Maduro has accused two opposition legislators of having roles in the drone attack that Venezuelan officials have called an assassination attempt on the leader.

The head of Venezuela’s pro-government constitutional assembly said he would have the body take up a proposal yesterday to strip the politicians of their immunity from prosecution.

During a national television broadcast on Tuesday night, Mr Maduro, above, said statements from some of the six suspects already arrested in the attack on Saturday pointed to key financiers and others, including Julio Borges, one of the country’s most prominent opposition leaders who is a politician but is living in exile in Colombia. “Several of the declarations indicated Julio Borges. The investigations point to him,” Mr Maduro said, though he provided no details on Mr Borges’ alleged role. Mr Borges did not immediately comment on Mr Maduro’s accusation. The president also named opposition politician Juan Requesens, who was seen in a video widely circulating on social media being arrested by Venezuela’s political police force. AROUND 14,000 firefighters are battling 18 fires that have carved their way through forest land and are threatening urban areas in California.

President of the California Fire Chiefs Association, Mark A Hartwig, said fires are burning “much more intensely” than they were before.