Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro said Thursday he wants a meeting with President Donald Trump — the same man he ridicules as a crass imperial magnate and blasts for U.S. sanctions against officials in his socialist administration.

In a lengthy address to the 545 members of a new, all-powerful constitutional assembly, Maduro instructed Venezuela's foreign minister to approach the United States about arranging a telephone conversation or meeting with Trump.

CNN fired conservative commentator Jeffrey Lord on Thursday after he tweeted a Nazi salute at a critic.

A network spokesperson confirmed that Lord was no longer with the network and said "Nazi salutes are indefensible." The statement came hours after Lord tweeted the Nazi slogan "Sieg Heil!" at the head of a liberal advocacy group, Media Matters for America.

Last year's global weather was far more extreme or record-breaking than anything approaching normal, according to a new report.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday released its annual checkup of the Earth, highlighting numerous records including hottest year, highest sea level, and lowest sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctica.

The Lebanese army has shelled the posts of the Islamic State group on the outskirts of the eastern border towns of al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek, the Army Command-Orientation Directorate said in statement on Thursday.

The Lebanese army is gearing up for a long-awaited assault to dislodge hundreds of Islamic State militants from a remote corner near Syrian border, seeking to end a years-long threat posed to neighboring towns and villages by the extremists.

The campaign might involve cooperation with Hizbullah and the Syrian army on the other side of the border — although Lebanese authorities insist they are not coordinating with Syrian President Bashar Assad's government.

German authorities are trying to determine whether four German women, including a teenager, detained in Iraq on allegations of sympathizing with the Islamic State group can return home.

President Nicolas Maduro vowed that a band of anti-government fighters who attacked a Venezuelan army base will get the "maximum penalty" as his administration roots out his enemies.

Troops killed two of the 20 intruders who slipped into the Paramacay base in the central city of Valencia early Sunday, apparently intent on fomenting a military uprising, Maduro said in his weekly broadcast on state television.

As U.S. President Donald Trump recently stood beside Prime Minister Saad Hariri praising his government for standing up to Hizbullah, the Iranian-backed group was busy demonstrating just how wrong he was. The group's fighters were clearing the country's eastern frontier from al-Qaida fighters in a sweeping offensive and negotiating a complex prisoner deal with the group.

Far from being an ally in the fight against Hizbullah, the Lebanese government headed by Hariri is based on a partnership with the Shiite group, whose clout and dominance in Lebanon is on the rise.

Iran's soccer federation condemned two Iranians who play for a Greek team on Friday for participating in a match against an Israeli team, Iranian media reported.

Venezuela's controversial "Constituent Assembly," a new legislative body with supreme powers packed with supporters of President Nicolas Maduro, began its first session in Caracas on Friday.

The assembly of 500-plus members, which is tasked with rewriting the crisis-wracked country's constitution, took its seats in an oval chamber under the golden dome of the capital's 145-year-old Legislative Palace.