Amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s declarations of interest in taking over Greenland, a Saudi investment group is in talks with New York-based Critical Metals Corp. to build a refinery for processing the massive Arctic island’s mineral resources.

Critical Metals announced on Thursday that it signed a non-binding term sheet to form a 50-50 joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s Tariq Abdel Hadi Abdullah Al-Qahtani & Brothers. The facility would be linked to the U.S. company’s planned Tanbreez mining project in Greenland.

Under the plan, about a quarter of the minerals from the Tanbreez mine would be processed in Saudi Arabia, which is looking to extract more value from its own deposits of so-called rare earths. Critical Metals said the refined materials could be used in high-tech applications and distributed through U.S. defense supply chains.

If finalized, the deal would give Critical Metals guaranteed customers and likely ease its path to full financing for the project, which is estimated to cost $290 million to start production by next year.

“We see a strong opportunity to work closely with partners in the United States to responsibly develop and deploy these materials in support of next-generation technologies,” Abdulmalik Tariq Al-Qahtani, the Saudi firm’s CEO, said in a statement.

Qatar’s Estithmar Holding is poised to purchase controlling stakes in two Syrian banks.

The investment group plans to take over majority ownership of Shahba Bank and about 30% of Syria International Islamic Bank, Reuters reports.

The move would be the first foreign banking acquisition in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad and follows the recent lifting of U.S. sanctions on Syria.

The year-old interim government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been seeking to bring foreign capital into Syria’s banking system after more than a decade of conflict.

International Holding Co., the vast Abu Dhabi conglomerate overseen by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, has inked a deal to co-invest with the U.S. government’s foreign investment arm.

The agreement with the International Development Finance Corp. opens the way for collaboration across a broad swath of sectors, including energy, infrastructure, mining, port operations and data centers.

It will focus on projects spanning emerging and frontier markets, with the ability to “deploy capital at scale,” IHC announced.

The deal is unconventional for the DFC, which traditionally funds development projects in lower- and middle-income countries, and comes amid shifting U.S. priorities abroad under President Donald Trump.

After pouring nearly $5 billion into its upstart LIV Golf tournament, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is facing questions about whether its high-stakes confrontation with the PGA was worth it.

Inside the $925 billion sovereign wealth fund, senior officials are reflecting on nearly four years of sparse attendance, lower-than-expected TV ratings and sagging global influence as they make decisions on whether to keep financing LIV, Bloomberg reports.

The PIF, which is led by Aramco Chairman and golf enthusiast Yasir al-Rumayyan, rattled the PGA when it signed some of the sport’s biggest names with nine-figure contracts, including Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Dustin Johnson.

U.S. President Donald Trump is one of LIV’s biggest fans and hosted several of its tournaments at his golf resorts in New Jersey, Virginia and Florida.

Since its splashy first year, competitive pressure from the Tour has intensified with moves such as a “Returning Member Program,” which lured Brooks Koepka back to the PGA fold under the threat of heavy financial penalties.

Attempts to merge the LIV with the PGA have faltered, meanwhile, leaving the Saudi backers to carry continued operational losses and come up with a formula for reviving the league or pulling the plug.

French energy giant TotalEnergies has formed a joint venture with Bahrain’s Bapco Energies aimed at boosting trade in petroleum products across the Middle East.

The venture called BxT Trading will handle flows from Bapco’s expanded Sitra refinery and draw on TotalEnergies’ global expertise to deepen market access.

The companies said they expect the partnership to strengthen Bahrain’s competitiveness and enhance TotalEnergies’ regional presence.

Bapco Chairman Sheikh Nasser Al Khalifa and TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne signed the 50-50 venture agreement at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has moved to consolidate its expansive gaming investments, shifting about $12 billion worth of shares, including its stake in Nintendo, to its Savvy Games subsidiary.

Savvy, which was created in 2021 with a cash stockpile of $38 billion, is the backbone of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans to dominate global gaming.

The move to bring more of the PIF’s gaming investments under one roof indicates a desire to further elevate Savvy’s status in the industry.

“These transfers will move the stewardship of PIF’s games investments to Savvy, given Savvy is a leading games organization for the PIF and a core component of the National Gaming and Esports Strategy,” Amar Batkhuu, a Savvy spokesperson, told Bloomberg, noting that the transfer has been planned for a long time.

Savvy’s investments include Niantic, the developer of mobile hit “Pokemon Go” and “Monopoly Go” developer Scopely Inc., as well as several esports plays, which have had mixed success.

Most recently, it has been in talks with TikTok owner ByteDance to buy its Shanghai Moonton Technology unit, one of the world’s most popular mobile developers. 

The company’s success was somewhat overshadowed last year by the PIF’s own blockbuster deal to take gaming titan Electronic Arts private in a $50 billion leveraged buyout backed by private equity firm Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.

Dubai’s global port operator DP World is ready to start operations in Venezuela “within 24 hours” if the situation changes following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro by the U.S., its chairman says.

“Tomorrow if there’s a cargo opportunity in Venezuela, we will go … We can start within 24 hours if we need to. We know the place very well, the teams, everybody,” Sultan bin Sulayem, DP World Chairman and Group CEO, told The National.

The container shipping and logistics giant previously ran terminal operations at Venezuela’s Puerto Cabello until 2009, when the military took over the country’s ports and airports under former President Hugo Chavez.

Since then U.S. sanctions have made it difficult to return.

The UAE’s top energy executive told the audience at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week that an expected 500% increase in power demand from data centers by 2040 – propelled by artificial intelligence – means that hydrocarbons will remain the Earth’s dominant fuel.

In a keynote address to the annual environment conference on Monday, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of the ADNOC state oil company and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, said the UAE has invested more than $148 billion in AI initiatives.

The government plans to expand its clean energy capacity to more than 22 gigawatts by 2031 to help meet rising electricity needs from its data centers, he said.

“While some view this as a constraint, I view it as a catalyst,” said Al Jaber, who served as President at the U.N.’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai three years ago. “Sustainable progress is not about slowing down growth; it is about designing a better engine.”

Al Jaber told the gathering that roughly $4 trillion of annual investment will be required globally in grids and data center infrastructure to keep pace with demand as digitalization accelerates.

The event drew senior leadership from around the world, with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed attending the opening ceremony alongside heads of state from Serbia, Albania, Nigeria, South Africa and the Philippines.

Chief executives from major energy and investment firms came to Abu Dhabi for the conference, including BlackRock, TotalEnergies, Engie and Iberdrola.