Venezuela opposition leaders 'taken from their homes', family members say

Two Venezuelan opposition leaders have been taken from their homes, family members have said.

Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma were serving house arrest when they were taken, family members said on Twitter.

The wife of Mr Lopez and the daughter of Mr Ledezma said they were holding President Nicolas Maduro responsible for the fate of the two men.

Mr Maduro brushed off new US sanctions on him and condemnation at home and abroad of the newly chosen constitutional assembly, saying the vote has given him a popular mandate to radically overhaul Venezuela's political system.

He said he had no intention of deviating from his plans to rewrite the constitution and go after a string of enemies, from independent Venezuelan news channels to gunmen he claimed were sent by neighbouring Colombia to disrupt the vote as part of an international conspiracy led by the man he calls "Emperor Donald Trump."

"They don't intimidate me. The threats and sanctions of the empire don't intimidate me for a moment," Mr Maduro said on national television.

"I don't listen to orders from the empire, not now or ever... Bring on more sanctions, Donald Trump."

The sanctions came after electoral authorities said more than eight million people voted on Sunday to create a constitutional assembly endowing Mr Maduro's ruling party with virtually unlimited powers — a turnout doubted by independent analysts, while the election was labeled illegitimate by leaders across the Americas and Europe.