Friday morning news: February 27, 2026

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U.S.-Ukraine meeting » In Ukraine:

ZELENSKYY: [Speaking Ukrainian]

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the next round of peace talks with Russia will likely be held in Abu Dhabi early next month.

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and unofficial envoy Jared Kushner met with Ukrainian officials on Thursday. Those talks focused on post-war reconstruction.

Witkoff said he's hoping for good news in the coming weeks, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that only the United States can help broker peace in Ukraine.

RUBIO: The United Nations isn't gonna do it. France isn't gonna do it. The EU isn't gonna do it, the Russians won't even speak to them.

Meanwhile, more of the same in Ukraine:

SOUND: [Zaporizhzhia attack]

Authorities say at least 10 people were injured yesterday after yet another overnight Russian airstrike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.

US-Iran negotiations » American and Iranian negotiators wrapped up indirect talks in Geneva Thursday without a deal.

WORLD’s Harrison Watters has more.

HARRISON WATTERS: Negotiators from the Sultanate of Oman shuttled back and forth between American and Iranian diplomats…trying to bring both sides to agreement on issues like sanctions relief and uranium enrichment.

ARAGHCHI [Farsi]: I can say that we made good progress after several hours of intensive negotiation.

WATTERS: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state media there was good progress after several hours of intense negotiation…but did not specify.

Ahead of the talks, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he wasn’t expecting much to change.

RUBIO: Iran refuses, refuses to talk about the ballistic missiles, to us or to anyone. And that's a big problem.

WATTERS: Meanwhile, a second U.S. carrier strike group will soon reach the coast of Israel, putting additional pressure on Iran.

Another round of talks between nuclear technicians is scheduled for Monday in Vienna.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters.

Clinton testimony » Former President Bill Clinton will testify behind closed doors to lawmakers today about ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Former State Secretary Hillary Clinton testified before the House Oversight committee on Thursday. 

Neither are accused of wrongdoing.

Hillary Clinton testified that she has no information about Epstein’s crimes and does not recall meeting him.

But Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer says he’s not convinced.

COMER: Well that's funny, because Epstein was in the White House 16 times while Bill Clinton was president, and then Bill Clinton flew on his plane 27 times post presidency, as well as Ghislaine Maxwell was at a front row seat at Chelsea Clinton's wedding.

The testimony was videotaped, but it remains unclear if that footage will be made public.

Minnesota fraud » Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is blasting the Trump administration over its announcement that it is halting more than a quarter of a billion dollars in Medicaid funding to the state.

Vice President JD Vance said the freeze will be enforced until Minnesota “takes its obligations seriously” when it comes to fighting fraud. And Vance again said on Thursday:

VANCE:  That is a scandal, and it's something that Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats promoted with their open border, encouraged it, and funded it.

That comes after alleged fraudulent business practices by some Somali immigrants in the state.

But the Democratic governor called the move—his words, part of an … “illegal and unprecedented … retribution campaign” by the Trump administration.

WALZ: Did you hear in there what specific steps they were going to take to stop the fraud or what the specific fraud they were talking about? They're using it as a general term in this, and they're not serious.

Walz also argues that hundreds of thousands of people in Minnesota will lose access to healthcare because of this action.

But administration officials say that's not so, that it will not have a major short-term impact, and that funds will be released as the state steps up anti-fraud measures.

Judge rejects block on White House ballroom project » A federal judge has rejected a request to block construction of a new White House ballroom. 

WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has that story.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that a preservation group was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its bid to halt President Trump’s construction project.

The new ballroom is being built where the now-demolished East Wing of the White House once stood.

The group wanted the court to put a hold on the project until it undergoes multiple independent reviews and wins approval from Congress.

The White House says the $400 million dollar project is being funded by private donations rather than taxpayer dollars.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Warner Bros. / Paramount » In a major turnaround, it looks like Paramount may have won the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery. 

Netflix is declining to raise it's offer to buy the studio and streaming business after Paramount raised it's offer. 

Warner's board announced that the Skydance-owned Paramount's offer was superior to the agreement they had previously struck with Netflix. 

Unlike Netflix's bid, Paramount wants all of Warner's operations, including legacy cable networks like CNN and Discovery. That would put CNN under the same roof as Paramount's CBS and combine two major Hollywood studios. 

I'm Kent Covington.

And straight ahead: John Stonestreet is here for Culture Friday. Plus, a gospel-centered animated feature that’s up for an Academy Award.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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