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The Speaker of the Tongan Parliament, Lord Fakafanua, introduces the Illicit Drugs Control (Amendment) Bill 2021 for debate in the legislative assembly. The Speaker wants a mandatory death sentence for serious drug offenses. Tonga has a moratorium on the death penalty and has not used it in more than four decades.
2021-08-16

Tonga receives its first shipment of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine supplied through the COVAX initiative.
2021-03-31

Tonga extends the state of emergency, which includes curfews and restrictions on gatherings, until November 23. The country, which is COVID-19-free, imposed strict measures on March 12.
2020-10-28

The first unit of the Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, the first nuclear power station in the Arabian Peninsula, is connected to the country's electrical grid. According to the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, the completion of three more APR-1400 nuclear reactor units would result in the provision of 25% of the UAE's electricity and a reduction of carbon emissions by 21 million tons a year.
2020-08-19

Tonga refuses entry to four cruise ships due to health warnings following the pandemic.
2020-02-12

Tonga is directly hit by Cyclone Gita, causing heavy damage to the country. Gita is the strongest storm to hit Tonga in its history.
2018-02-12

A passenger bus carrying 46 people, mostly school groups from Tonga, crashes in the Gisborne Region of New Zealand, approximately 30 kilometers south of the city of Gisborne. Two people died while several were injured, with some still hospitalized.
2016-12-24

According to a statement from Ukraine's nuclear energy authority, Yadernoye Toplivo, a private U.S. nuclear energy company, ConverDyn, could begin helping Ukraine in the production of enriched uranium, a day after Russia shut off natural gas supplies to the country after the two failed to reach agreement over Ukraine's unpaid gas debts to Russia.
2015-07-2

Iran's negotiator Saeed Jalili defends the nation's controversial nuclear program that involves uranium enrichment, in a new round of talks with P5+1 countries in Kazakhstan.
2013-04-5

Japan shuts down its last nuclear reactor, leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time since 1970.
2012-05-5