Hundreds of drones will take flight inside the National Stadium as NDP 2026 stages its first-ever indoor drone show, alongside the largest special effects and lighting presentation in the parade's history. Singaporeans can expect several NDP firsts this year, said the NDP 2026 Executive Committee.Some 300 drones will perform in synchrony with electronic music artist Jasmine Sokko and two aerialists suspended 30m above the stadium floor.  a { text-decoration: none; color: #464feb; } tr th, tr td { border: 1px solid #e6e6e6; } tr th { background-color: #f5f5f5; } The show will also feature more than 170 special effects machines — more than double the scale of previous NDPs — alongside an expanded lighting system with the largest deployment of moving lights and lasers to date, comprising more than 1,600 moving lights and approximately 50 lasers.The parade and ceremony segment will feature 32 contingents and the largest civilian parade participation in more than a decade.

Drivers who intentionally use their vehicles to endanger others and cause death or grievous hurt may face harsher penalties, if amendments to traffic laws are passed.The Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday (July 7) by Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Sim Ann, proposing several amendments to the law.Aside from harsher penalties to drivers for dangerous or careless driving, the Bill also includes stepping up enforcement for the holding of mobile devices while driving and lowering alcohol level limits for drink-driving.According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), traffic fatality rates have risen by about 24 per cent between 2021 and 2025, while traffic violations have gone up by around 38 per cent in the same period.Presently, drivers that deliberately endanger another person using a vehicle and causing death can only be convicted for murder or culpable homicide if it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that he intended to kill, or knew that his actions are likely to cause death.

«Ministers have no time to watch movies.»That was Acting Culture, Community and Youth Minister David Neo's quip in Parliament on July 7, after Workers' Party MP Kenneth Tiong asked whether ministers had watched either the Teochew or Mandarin-dubbed version of Chinese hit film Dear You.While Neo's quip drew laughs in the House, the exchange came amid a wider, more serious discussion involving Singapore's decades-old restrictions on dialect content.In the latest Parliament sitting on July 7, the government's bilingual policy was one of the key topics that MPs raised questions about.Dear You, which became a box-office hit in mainland China, is a drama that follows a man who travels to Thailand to search for his lost-long grandfather. The film's limited Teochew-language screenings have sparked public pushback for the film to be screened in its original dialect for its commercial release, instead of its Mandarin-dubbed version, on account of the Government's bilingual policy.Tiong and Neo were among 11 members of the House who voiced their opinions on Dear You.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has approved 272 screenings of the Teochew version of Dear You and will consider approving more if the film distributor applies for additional screenings to meet audience demand.Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, shared this in Parliament on Tuesday (July 7) while responding to questions from MPs about IMDA's decision to screen the Mandarin-dubbed version, instead of its original Teochew version, on account of the Government's bilingual policy.«Guidelines on language use in media are implemented by IMDA. They support the Government's longstanding policy to promote Mandarin as one of four official languages, and have generally served us well,» the senior minister of state said, as he explained the authority's initial decision.But he also acknowledged that Singapore's language environment has evolved, pointing to how IMDA has exercised greater flexibility to allow more dialect content in films each year.The authority is reviewing the current film classification framework with respect to the use of dialect in films. 

A 29-year-old motorcyclist was taken to the hospital after crashing into a concrete wall along the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) on Sunday (5 July) morning.In response to AsiaOne's queries, the police said it was alerted to the accident at about 6.35am. The incident occurred along the KPE in the direction of the Marina Coastal Expressway, before the Nicoll Highway exit.According to the police, the motorcycle was believed to have skidded on its own.Dashcam footage posted on Facebook page, Roads SG, show the motorcyclist travelling in the left lane before moving into the centre lane to overtake a car. After completing the manoeuvre, the motorcyclist returned to the left lane but appeared to lose control and veered into the concrete wall.The impact caused both the rider and the motorcycle to fall onto the road. The motorcycle then skidded across the lanes, coming to a stop some distance away from the rider, while the rider rolled towards the road shoulder.The Singapore Civil Defence Force told AsiaOne that one person was taken conscious to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.Police investigations are ongoing.[[nid:739670]]

A 52-year-old man was taken to hospital after a car believed to have self-skidded along Balestier Road plunged into a roadside drain on Sunday (July 5).Footage of the aftermath shared on social media show a silver sedan lodged in a roadside drain along a slip road leading to an expressway.Police officers and ambulances were also seen present at the scene.Responding to queries from AsiaOne, the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they were alerted to an accident involving a car believed to have self-skidded along Balestier Road at about 8.20pm.The accident occurred at a slip road leading to the Central Expressway towards the Ayer Rajah Expressway, said the police.A 52-year-old male passenger was taken conscious to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. SCDF said another person was assessed for minor injuries but declined to be taken to the hospital.A 56-year-old male car driver is assisting with ongoing police investigations. [[nid:739625]]xingying.koh@asiaone.com

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) foiled an attempt to smuggle 3,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes into Singapore via a Malaysia-registered lorry, according to a Facebook post on July 7.In the post, ICA said search and examination officers at Tuas Checkpoint directed a lorry for enhanced checks and found duty-unpaid cigarettes within the cargo consignment on June 26.ICA officers seized the cigarettes and arrested the 40-year-old Malaysian driver in connection with the case. The suspect and all exhibits have been referred to Singapore Customs for further investigation.ICA reaffirmed its commitment to «facilitating trade and travel while keeping Singapore’s borders safe and secure».[[nid:739028]]laili.abdeen@asiaone.com

Errant cyclists and unsafe riding behaviour is in the spotlight again after a group of cyclists was caught on dashcam footage riding through at least two red lights in Pasir Ris on Sunday (July 5).Footage of the incident posted by TikTok user Zan M shows a group of at least seven cyclists riding along Pasir Ris Drive 3 at about 9.30am.They were first spotted running a red light at the junction outside Pasir Ris Bus Interchange, where pedestrians were crossing with the lights in their favour.Meanwhile, two buses waiting to make a right turn had to make a narrower turn to keep a safe distance from the group.Moments later, the same group is seen again running a red light outside Pasir Ris Park.

Have you ever tried to outrun an MRT train? In a viral Instagram video on Sunday (July 5), local content creator Michael Collins shared his race against a train from Shenton Way to Marina Bay.In the video, the 26-year-old explained that he had two minutes and 35 seconds to reach Marina Bay station in order to get onto the same train he had alighted from at Shenton Way station.«I have always dreamt of being the first man to beat the MRT,» wrote Collins in the caption.He described how he had «studied every single MRT line» and «researched every newly opened MRT station» to find stations that are less than 600m apart.He told AsiaOne that he started by manually keying in every adjacent MRT station into Google Maps to find which stations were situated most closely to one another.Through his research, he found four pairs of stations that fit the bill: Chinatown and Clarke Quay, Rochor and Little India, Downtown and Telok Ayer as well as Shenton Way and Marina Bay stations.

Veteran Opposition leader Goh Meng Seng is stepping down as leader of the People's Power Party (PPP) which he founded in 2015. In a Facebook post on Monday (July 6), PPP said it has completed its central executive committee's (CEC) «renewal plan».William Lim Lian Chin has been elected as the party's secretary-general, while both Goh and Derrick Sim have decided to step down from their posts and the CEC.«The party thanks them for their past contributions and leadership with great gratitude. »The party under the new leadership will continue to strive on in providing Singaporeans a real voice of truthful concerns and contribute towards the robust development of democracy for Singapore," it added. 

A man was found dead inside his HDB flat in Bukit Batok after neighbours noticed a two-week pile of newspapers and a foul smell, prompting them to call the police on Sunday (July 5) morning.A female neighbour of the man who lived at Block 14, Bukit Batok Street 21 told Shin Min Daily News that an older man lived in the unit and neighbours had started to notice a foul smell some days back.As her unit is further away, she only smelled the stench when the wind blew.She added that neighbours had a discussion about the matter on Saturday and decided to check on the unit again the next day before calling the police.On Sunday morning, the stench was even stronger. Outside the man's unit was a pile of newspapers dating back to June 21.Police officers arrived within 10 minutes of neighbours calling for assistance.A crime scene investigation vehicle was also activated as officers combed through the unit.A police hearse took the man's body away in the afternoon, the Chinese daily reported.One neighbour told Shin Min that the man was quiet and rarely interacted with others, while other neighbours said he lived alone.

Leader of the House Indranee Rajah is set to deliver a ministerial statement on the conduct of Workers' Party leaders Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap in Parliament on Tuesday (July 7).The statement will be a «determination» on the early 2022 findings from Parliament's Committee of Privileges (COP) on their conduct, according to the order paper for the upcoming sitting published on Monday (July 6).In late 2021, Indranee referred former WP MP Raeesah Khan to the COP for lying in Parliament. The committee then found in early 2022 that WP chief Pritam Singh, Lim and Faisal — then all Aljunied GRC MPs and the WP's topmost leaders — had all lied under oath to the COP during its probe into Raeesah. [[nid:556741]]

The realtor shared that he has observed that Singaporean parents do “crazy” things to enrol their children in elite primary schools.A real estate agent who used to be a teacher has posted a video questioning parents’ preference for elite schools, claiming that he “couldn’t care less” if his daughters attended one.Prab Nathan, who was formerly a teacher for almost a decade, posted his now-viral Instagram reel on July 3.In it, the realtor shared that he has observed how Singaporean parents “obsess way too much” over getting their children into ‘brand name’ primary schools — sometimes doing “crazy” things to guarantee a spot for their children.“Moving house, sometimes uncomfortably for all of them, pay hundreds of thousands more, volunteer for years, fight over addresses, lose sleep, and sometimes even sacrifice their sanity,” he explained in the video.Prab also shared that he had been a student and teacher at Raffles Institution.

The partnership between Singapore and Indonesia is deep, and the two countries are trusted partners with a shared stake in one another, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Monday (July 6).Speaking at a joint press conference with Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto at the Istana Merdeka, PM Wong also underscored Singapore's confidence in Indonesia's future, reiterating that the city-state has been investing consistently in Indonesia over many years.«We want Indonesia to succeed, because our futures are closely linked, and our confidence in Indonesia is reflected in our actions,» he said.Since 2014, Singapore has consistently been Indonesia's largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI). Last year, FDI from Singapore to Indonesia amounted to US$17.4 billion (S$22.4 billion).The two leaders witnessed the exchange of 18 agreements spanning areas such as carbon credits collaboration, defence cooperation, and energy collaboration, after holding their annual Singapore-Indonesia Leaders' Retreat.