This is a temporary backup site for TRENDS MENA while our primary website is being restored following a regional disruption affecting Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure in the GCC.

Search Site

BYD 2025 revenue surges

The EV manufacturer reported net profit of $.3.3bn for 9M 2025.

Aramco net income $28bn

Capital investment during Q3 2025 $12.9bn on investments in energy projects.

e& revenue up 23%

Consolidated net profit reached $2.94 billion during 2025.

Al Rajhi profit up 26%

Operating income for 2025 increased 22% to SAR 39 bn.

Emirates NBD 2025 profit $8.5bn

Total income rises by 12 percent, operating profit up 13%.

Ancient Egypt artists altered their work, new study reveals

  • A team of international scientists looked afresh at paintings in the Valley of the Kings, a royal burial ground for pharaohs and other ancient Egyptian elites
  • Scientists found alterations on the tomob of the nobleman Menna, depicted with his arms stretched out toward the god of the dead, Osiris

Paris, France–From subtly shifting the position of Ramses II’s sceptre, to touch-ups on a necklace or headdress, ancient Egyptian artists were more creative than previously thought, according to a study published Wednesday.

Using new portable imaging and chemical analysis techniques, an international team of scientists took a fresh look at paintings in the Valley of the Kings — a royal burial ground for pharaohs and other ancient Egyptian elites.

Egyptologists have until now considered art in these tombs to be very conventional, adhering to certain rules and using predefined patterns which were transferred onto walls.

However, a small robot moving in front of the painted walls used X-ray, ultraviolet, and infrared vision to “scrutinize” the art in-depth, much like a medical scanner, said Philippe Walter of the French center for scientific research, CNRS, a co-author of the study published in the PLOS One journal.

On an image of Ramses II, decorating the tomb of the priest Nakhtamon, painted some 1,200 years BCE, the pharaoh is depicted in profile, wearing a necklace and headdress and holding a royal sceptre.

However image analysis revealed a different composition, hinting at efforts to touch up the original work.

“We didn’t expect to see such modifications of a supposedly very formal representation of a pharaoh,” meant to be frozen in time, said Walter.

Similar alterations were found on the tomb of the nobleman Menna, depicted with his arms stretched out towards the god of the dead, Osiris.

Analysis showed the position of one of the arms had been moved, while changes were made in the pigments used for skin color.

It is unclear how many years passed between the alterations, or why they were carried out, but the scientists said it showed evidence of “freedom of creation.”

Walter compared this “personal touch” to that seen from “the great painters of the Renaissance,” who were shown to make adjustments to their work.

Philippe Martinez, the other co-author of the study with the CNRS, said that if this practice was shown to be commonplace, it would bring pharaonic art closer to our “modern aesthetic standards, nourished by Greco-Roman art”.