Abu Dhabi’s MGX has closed a $49 billion artificial intelligence fund, topping its $45 billion target and creating one of the largest AI investment vehicles ever assembled.

The fund drew institutional and private investors from the Middle East, North America, Asia and Europe, and has already begun deploying capital, Bloomberg reports.

Chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE National Security Advisor, and backed by Mubadala and G42, MGX has invested in OpenAI and xAI, while teaming up with BlackRock and Microsoft on the massive Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership project.

The new capital adds to MGX’s existing investments as the firm pursues a long-term goal of managing more than $100 billion in assets while raising outside institutional money alongside its Abu Dhabi sponsors.

The fundraising provides additional capital for investments in AI models, semiconductor infrastructure and data centers, where the cost of training advanced AI systems and building the computing infrastructure to support them requires investments of tens of billions of dollars.

Kuwait’s Zain is betting more than $1.5 billion on Syria, agreeing to build and operate the country’s second mobile network in what would rank among the biggest foreign investments since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster.

The telecom company, formally known as Mobile Telecommunications Co., will pay $747 million for the license and invest about $800 million to upgrade Syria’s wireless infrastructure, including deploying 5G services, while the Syrian government will retain a 25% stake in the venture, Bloomberg reports.

The award gives President Ahmed al-Sharaa one of his biggest early foreign investments as he seeks to rebuild the country’s economy after the U.S. eased most sanctions.

The license became available after Johannesburg-based MTN Group exited Syria, while Qatar’s Ooredoo was also competing for the concession. Zain competes with Syriatel, a mostly government-owned company.

Zain, which trades on the Boursa Kuwait stock exchange, counts the Kuwait Investment Authority and Omantel among its largest shareholders.

Egypt is exploring a new mechanism to finance late-stage startups, Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Mohamed Farid said.

The initiative, which involves the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, aims to address funding gaps at advanced stages of company growth and support a new integrated investment data system.

Farid, speaking on Monday at the 2026 annual investors meeting of Development Partners International, also outlined broader reforms to boost exports, upgrade trade infrastructure, and expand market access through technology and institutional coordination.

Separately, the IMF said it has reached a draft agreement with Egypt on program reviews that could unlock about $1.6 billion in funds.

Qatar has become FIFA’s testing ground for sporting innovations, including connected match balls, AI-powered player tracking and referee body cameras, before their rollout at global soccer tournaments.

Behind the scenes, stadiums in the country now function as live laboratories where new officiating and broadcast technologies are trialed under real match conditions, Wired reports.

The systems are designed to answer some of football’s oldest debates, including whether the ball crossed the line, went out of play, or a player was offside, more quickly and accurately than ever before.

Since 2021, and especially through events like the FIFA Arab Cup, Qatar has repeatedly hosted early-stage deployments of FIFA’s most advanced tools before they reach the global stage.

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is likely to operate at less than half its normal capacity for months as naval mines and narrow navigation channels continue to restrict traffic, according to executives at some of the world’s biggest shipping companies.

The CEO of Japan’s NYK Line, Takaya Soga, said only two narrow transit routes are currently usable and warned shipping volumes are unlikely to return to pre-conflict levels anytime soon, while the International Maritime Organization estimates Iran may have laid about 80 naval mines in the waterway, the Financial Times reports.

A prolonged disruption would continue to complicate exports for Gulf energy producers including Saudi Aramco and ADNOC, while logistics operators such as AD Ports Group and DP World face slower vessel movements through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, even as alternative routes remain available for some cargoes.

Security risks have persisted since the June 17 U.S.-Iran agreement, with an Evergreen Marine container ship attacked after passing through the strait and a tanker reporting hull damage after being struck by an unidentified object, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard requires ships to coordinate transits with its navy.

Although NYK, China’s COSCO Shipping and Italy’s Grimaldi have resumed some voyages, insurance company Allianz estimates more than 1,200 cargo ships carrying about $125 billion of goods were stranded during the disruption, and freight forwarder Kuehne+Nagel said there is no clear timetable for a full recovery.

A Qatari company has agreed to purchase an infamous villa owned by the late Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in one of Italy’s biggest-ever private real estate sales.

Berlusconi’s heirs have agreed to sell Villa Certosa in the Costa Smeralda region on the island of Sardinia to Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani’s Constellation Hotels Holding for about $395 million, Reuters reports.

Often used to host heads of state, billionaires and celebrities, the villa was also the setting for Berlusconi’s notorious “bunga bunga” parties, which were the subject of multiple investigations.

Set on 300 acres overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, the property includes 126 rooms, an amphitheater, a rare cactus collection and a James Bond-style underground grotto for boats to dock.

Saudi Aramco and QatarEnergy are moving oil and natural gas back onto world markets after weeks of war-related disruptions, testing whether the U.S.-Iran ceasefire can keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

Aramco resumed exports from its Ras Tanura terminal, Saudi Arabia’s largest oil port, with two supertankers loading crude while a third waited offshore, Reuters reports.

Meanwhile, at least eight LNG carriers have gathered outside QatarEnergy’s Ras Laffan complex, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas export facility, with additional vessels heading toward the terminal, according to Bloomberg.

The push to restart exports comes despite lingering security concerns after an Evergreen Marine cargo ship was struck by an unknown object in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, prompting the British navy to suspend escort operations while shipping companies reassess the risks of using the waterway.

Each of the tankers at Ras Tanura can carry about 2 million barrels of crude, and the terminal exported more than 5 million barrels a day before the conflict.

Aramco last loaded a China-bound cargo there on March 8 before shifting exports to the Red Sea port of Yanbu after shipping through Hormuz was disrupted.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ended a three-day Gulf tour on Thursday, saying all six GCC countries support keeping the Strait of Hormuz free of tolls and restrictions on commercial shipping instituted by Iran.

Subsea cable project delays in the Middle East are expected to persist despite the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, raising risks to the region’s ambitions to become a digital hub.

Analysts interviewed by the Financial Times said security concerns, insurance restrictions and the need for seabed surveys and redeployed cable-laying ships mean disruptions across the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf are effectively indefinite.

They added that the region’s infrastructure now has the reputation of being “a fragile chokepoint,” with past Red Sea cable cuts and geopolitical tensions reinforcing perceptions of vulnerability and deterring new investment.

Affected projects include Meta’s 2Africa Gulf segment, the proposed $700mn WorldLink network, Ooredoo’s Fiber in the Gulf, and Sea-Me-We 6, which links Southeast Asia to Europe, all of which are being slowed or paused as geopolitical risk deters new investment.