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Najwa Karam: I Don’t Fear Change, I Fear Repetition

Lebanese singer Najwa Karam
Lebanese singer Najwa Karam
    Beirut - Fatima Abdallah
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Najwa Karam: I Don’t Fear Change, I Fear Repetition

Lebanese singer Najwa Karam
Lebanese singer Najwa Karam

Like her spirit, Helwe El Denye (The World is Beautiful), Lebanese singer Najwa Karam refuses to give up. In her long-anticipated upbeat new hit, she finally gives her fans what they had been waiting for. Her powerful voice and positive message are like therapy for those who are exhausted and despondent by the difficulties weighing down on them.

Its messages of encouragement and positivity- as she sings and calls on us to see that “the world is beautiful whatever is happening, always look at the cup half fun” and that “every moment we should thank the Lord, oh lord thank you for your blessings-” have clearly struck a chord. The song produced by Rotana has topped the streaming chart in Lebanon and the Arab world.

Known for setting trends, she is hoping to continue to make waves as she did in 2011 with Ma Fee Nom Baad El Yom (There’s No Sleeping After Today). When we asked her whether she worries before releasing the next big thing, especially given how bold her artistic decisions tend to be. Why doesn’t she prefer to take more conventional, safer options with guaranteed results?

Her response is quick and to the point. “I don’t fear renewal. On the contrary, I fear repetition. I started to renew between 2000 and 2001, and since Ashiqat Asmarani (I’m in Love with a Tan Man), Itahimuni Bigharamihi (They Accused me for Whom I Love), and Ma Takun Zaelat (Hope You’re Not Upset)... I decided to change shortly after my career began; it comforts me. I feel like I am keeping up with the times.”

As for thoughts on people’s tendency to link novelty with cheap art, they are equally concise and sharp.

“Change and renewal do not mean that a song is subpar. Rather, it means a song has broken with the familiarity people had been accustomed to from the artist. For me, I do not compromise on the lyrics, melody or the way of performance, all of which must be renewed according to the quality of the rhythm.”

Once we return to the subject of art and its purpose, Najwa tells us that she sees it as “A message, and the message is manifested as it really is in adversities, victories or events. The artist must harness their talent and voice to this end. Then, either we fill the universe with joy and glee, or we build on that setback to create hope and make a comeback that makes us proud.”

Are choices harder to make at this point in her career then, or do opportunities present themselves like flowers in a garden she can easily pick?

“Options are always available, making it difficult to wake to find the suitable sound for the new conditions of the moment while maintaining what I give. It is not easy at all to make and publicly release a song.”

Is that why you prefer absence?

“I pause when I have nothing to offer. When I’m away, I do not like to post on social media for the sake of it. Sometimes absence shines brighter than presence. When we are absent to achieve a goal, it’s just like being present to achieve a goal. I prefer to have a strong impact on people. Remaining relevant does not concern me, and I am not afraid of extinction.”

Before concluding, she wanted to say a couple of words. One to Lebanon, which she carries with her voice, and the second to Saudi Arabia, whose future leadership she admires. On her homeland, four words: “Lebanon is the phoenix.” “But we have to focus on its essence and meanings.” The kingdom? “It is a country confidently moving forward and developing. I congratulate the Saudi people from the bottom of my heart. They understand the art of innovatively adapting to the future. Its rulers are leading their people and their land to a better tomorrow.”

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Varieties

Snowstorm Paralyzes Vienna Airport

People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
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Snowstorm Paralyzes Vienna Airport

People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl
People wait at a tram stop after heavy snowfalls in Vienna, Austria, February 20, 2026. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl

Massive snowstorms caused power outages and transport chaos in Austria on Friday, forcing the Vienna airport to temporarily halt all flights.

Flights departing from the capital, a major European hub, were cancelled or delayed, and more than 230 arrivals were similarly disrupted or rerouted.

"Passengers whose flights have been delayed are asked not to come to the airport," the facility said in a statement.

The area received 20 centimeters (nearly eight inches) of snow, national news agency APA reported.

The main highway south of Vienna was closed for several hours, and other sections of highway were temporarily inaccessible because of snowdrift, stranded lorries or poor visibility, said the national automobile association, OAMTC.

According to AFP, electric companies reported power outages in several regions in the south and east, including Styria, where 30,000 homes lost electricity.

The weather was forecast to improve from around midday, but the risk of avalanches remained high.

Varieties

NASA Delivers Harsh Assessment of Botched Boeing Starliner Test Flight

NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File
NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File
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NASA Delivers Harsh Assessment of Botched Boeing Starliner Test Flight

NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File
NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were stuck on the ISS for nine months. Handout / NASA TV/AFP/File

NASA on Thursday blamed what it called engineering vulnerabilities in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft along with internal agency mistakes in a sharply critical report assessing a botched mission that left two astronauts stranded in space.

The US space agency labeled the 2024 test flight of the Starliner capsule a "Type A" mishap -- the same classification as the deadly Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters -- a category that reflects the "potential for a significant mishap," it said.

The failures left a pair of NASA astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station for nine months in a mission that captured global attention and became a political flashpoint.

"Starliner has design and engineering deficiencies that must be corrected, but the most troubling failure revealed by this investigation is not hardware. It's decision-making and leadership," said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman in a briefing.

"If left unchecked," he said, this mismanagement "could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight."

The top space official said the investigation found that a concern for the reputation of Boeing's Starliner clouded an earlier internal probe into the incident.

"Programmatic advocacy exceeded reasonable bounds and place the mission, the crew and America's space program at risk in ways that were not fully understood at the time," Isaacman said.

He said Starliner currently "is less reliable for crew survival than other crewed vehicles" and that "NASA will not fly another crew on Starliner until technical causes are understood and corrected" and a problematic propulsion system is fixed.

But the administrator insisted that "NASA will continue to work with Boeing, as we do all of our partners that are undertaking test flights."

In a statement, Boeing said it has "made substantial progress on corrective actions for technical challenges we encountered and driven significant cultural changes across the team that directly align with the findings in the report."

- 'We failed them' -

Isaacman also had harsh words for internal conduct at NASA.

"We managed the contract. We accepted the vehicle, we launched the crew to space. We made decisions from docking through post-mission actions," he told journalists.

"A considerable portion of the responsibility and accountability rests here."

In June 2024 Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams embarked on what was meant to be an eight-to-14-day mission. But this turned into nine months after propulsion problems emerged in orbit and the Starliner spacecraft was deemed unfit to fly them back.

The ex-Navy pilots were reassigned to the NASA-SpaceX Crew-9 mission. A Dragon spacecraft flew to the ISS that September with a team of two, rather than the usual four, to make room for the stranded pair.

The duo, both now retired, were finally able to arrive home safely in March 2025.

"They have so much grace, and they're so competent, the two of them, and we failed them," NASA associate administrator Amit Kshatriya told Thursday's briefing.

"The agency failed them."

Kshatriya said the details of the report were "hard to hear" but that "transparency" was the only path forward.

"This is not about pointing fingers," he said. "It's about making sure that we are holding each other accountable."

Both Boeing and SpaceX were commissioned to handle missions to the ISS more than a decade ago.

Varieties

Abandoned Baby Monkey Finds Comfort in Stuffed Orangutan

A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Abandoned Baby Monkey Finds Comfort in Stuffed Orangutan

A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

At a zoo outside Tokyo, the monkey enclosure has become a must-see attraction thanks to an inseparable pair: Punch, a baby Japanese macaque, and his stuffed orangutan companion.

Punch's mother abandoned the macaque when he was born seven months ago at the Ichikawa City Zoo and when an onlooker noticed and alerted zookeepers, they swung into action.

Japanese baby macaques typically cling to their mothers to build muscle strength and for a ‌sense of security, ‌so Punch needed a swift intervention, zookeeper ‌Kosuke ⁠Shikano said. The keepers ⁠experimented with substitutes including rolled-up towels and other stuffed animals before settling on the orange, bug-eyed orangutan, sold by Swedish furniture brand IKEA.

“This stuffed animal has relatively long hair and several easy places to hold," Shikano said. "We thought that its resemblance to a monkey might help ⁠Punch integrate back into the troop later ‌on, and that’s why ‌we chose it."

Punch has rarely been seen without it since, ‌dragging the cuddly toy everywhere even though it is ‌bigger than him, and delighting fans who have flocked to the zoo since videos of the two went viral, Reuters reported.

“Seeing Punch on social media, abandoned by his parents but still trying ‌so hard, really moved me," said 26-year-old nurse Miyu Igarashi. "So when I got the ⁠chance to ⁠meet up with a friend today, I suggested we go see Punch together.”

Shikano thinks Punch's mother abandoned him because of the extreme heat in July when she gave birth.

Punch has had some differences with the other monkeys as he has tried to communicate with them, but zookeepers say that is part of the learning process and he is steadily integrating with the troop.

"I think there will come a day when he no longer needs his stuffed toy," Shikano said.