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Voters in Niue approve a bill to change the title of the Premier of Niue to prime minister, effective immediately, while rejecting a proposal to increase the term of the Niue Assembly from three to four years.
2024-09-5

Tonga enters a nationwide lockdown after the country reported its first locally transmitted COVID-19 cases.
2022-02-2

Tonga is hit by ashfall and a tsunami after the eruption of Hunga Tonga, destroying homes as locals struggle to find higher ground. Major flooding is reported in the capital Nukuʻalofa. Shock waves from the eruption are detected as far away as Alaska, United States. Other Pacific countries have also advised their citizens to seek higher ground. Internet access has reportedly been disrupted in Tonga.
2022-01-15

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledges help to the Cook Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Niue and Tonga to strengthen their health systems while vowing to the leaders of those nations to host a "safe and secure" 2020 Summer Olympics.
2021-06-30

Tongan Prime Minister ʻAkilisi Pōhiva, age 78, dies one day after being taken to a New Zealand hospital from his native country.
2019-09-12

The world's shortest man ever recorded, Chandra Bahadur Dangi, dies from pneumonia in an American Samoan hospital at age 75. Dangi lived with his family in Dang District, Nepal. His height, listed in the Guinness World Records, is 54.6 centimeters - 21.5 inches.
2015-09-4

An explosion of the Hunga Tonga submerged volcano in the South Pacific Ocean, near Nuku'alofa, Tonga, disrupts air travel and creates a one-kilometer new island.
2015-01-16

Tonga restores contact with the Ha'apai islands after Cyclone Ian passed through during the weekend, killing one person and significantly damaging structures.
2014-01-13

Cyclone Rene hammers Tonga with gusts of 160 kilometres an hour, isolating Tongans for several days. Widespread damage is reported in the capital, Nukuʻalofa, and contact is lost with the northern island of Vavaʻu.
2010-02-15