January 6, 2000: VOA’s Tibetan Service broke the news that the leader of one of Tibetan Buddhism's most prominent sects, the14-year old "Karmapa," had secretly left China and arrived in northern India.

February 2, 2000: VOA’s Talk to America launched its first live chat on the Internet between 1830 and 1900 UTC, as a new and innovative way for VOA to expand and connect with its audience.

March 2000: In a message to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Burma’s human rights leader Aung San Suu Kyi defended the right to listen to VOA.

June 9, 2000: VOA’s Russian TV program, Window on the World, airs its first broadcast on Moscow-based Daryal TV at 7 p.m. Moscow time.

June 21, 2000: Four armed men attempted to enter forcibly VOA’s Angola Project office in Luanda.

July 3, 2000: For the first time in more than 40 years, Tibetans were able to see their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, officiate at a Monlam Chenmo, or Great Prayer Festival, via a VOA satellite from the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

August 2, 2000: VOA launches Straight Talk Africa, a program broadcast on radio, TV, and the Internet. The weekly program covers topics such as politics, health, social issues, and conflict resolution that are of interest to VOA's African audience

August 9, 2000: VOA Indonesian Service launches Halo VOA, a weekly program that covers critical issues and events shaping Indonesia's political, economic and social landscape.

September 18, 2000: VOA launches Hello America, a live Arabic-language radio and TV call-in program for the Middle East.

October 19, 2000: VOA launches an Internet version of its Pronunciation Guide, a database of correct pronunciations of people and place names often in the news.

November 1, 2000: VOA launches www.VOANews.com, a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week Internet news service.

November 3, 2000: VOA News Review, a live 30-minute radio/TV/Internet simulcast examining the past week’s news events, debuts on VOA.

December 1, 2000: VOA produces World AIDS Day concerts in partnership with private broadcasters, non-governmental organizations and local communities to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa.

December 31, 2000: VOA Indonesian Service launches TV program Dunia Kita, a series of reports from VOA's video journalists around the world for exclusive broadcast on the all-news channel Metro TV, a VOA affiliate in Indonesia.

May 6, 2001: VOA Chinese Branch launches radio and TV simulcast Strait Talk, the first live radio and TV call-in program taking calls from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and simulcast by Taiwan's largest radio network, the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC).

June 14, 2001: In its first such venture in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Voice of America launches round-the-clock broadcasts via FM station 107.5 in Nairobi, Kenya.

August 8, 2001: VOA launches Special Report Africa, a weekly half-hour-long roundtable featuring panelists who are well-versed in the problems and policies of importance to sub-Saharan Africa.

September 5, 2001: In an exclusive interview with VOA's Tibetan Service, following taking the oath of office on September 5, the first elected Chief Minister of the Dalai Lama's "government-in-exile" Samdhong Rinpoche says that he will look for new means to pursue the Dalai Lama's "middle way" approach to China on the issue of Tibet. That approach has been to seek what the Dalai Lama has called "genuine autonomy" for Tibet rather than independence from China.

September 10, 2001: The Voice of America’s Chinese Branch officially launches its new web site for China at www.voachinese.com. Test-launched in July, the site offers U.S., regional, and international news in Mandarin, and features an advanced search engine and improved layout and graphics. It replaces the branch’s former site, available since 1995 but blocked by Chinese authorities since 1997.

September 11, 2001: VOA moves to an all-news format and immediately expands broadcasting in Arabic and Persian to cover the terrorist attacks on the United States.

September 17, 2001: VOA's Afghan languages, Dari and Pashto, begin a series of broadcast expansions to cover ongoing events in the United States, Afghanistan and the region. Special daily television programming on the war on terrorism is also broadcast.

September 21, 2001: In her first interview after taking office, Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri talks exclusively with the Voice of America's Indonesian Service at Blair House, for radio and television. The exclusive video is broadcast by all major television and radio stations in Indonesia.

September 28, 2001: VOA Chinese Branch launches radio and TV simulcast Pro and Con, a quick-fire political talk show with experts debating topics from the overseas Chinese democracy movement to India-Pakistan relations; and Cultural Odyssey, an original American arts and entertainment program, is now distributed in China and Taiwan.

October 4, 2001: VOA French to Africa Service launches the radio and TV simulcast Washington Forum, a live journalists’ roundtable featuring topics of interest to audiences in Francophone Africa.

November 1, 2001: The Voice of America's online international news service, VOANews.COM, marks one year of providing reliable, balanced, and comprehensive multimedia news to a global audience. VOA provides its Internet audience with current news and features in 53 languages paired with more than 200 hours of audio and video programs streamed daily.

November 16, 2001: For the second time in two years, Voice of America's Greek Service Chief George Bistis and Turkish Service Chief Taclan Suerdem receive the Ipekci Peace and Friendship Prize for Communication. Bistis and Suerdem were chosen "for their multifaceted and sincere cooperation in support of the Greek-Turkish rapprochement on an international level."

January 25, 2002: VOA Kurdish inaugurates its first-ever call-in show Hello Washington, engaging listeners in discussions of human rights, cultural rights and democratic representation for the Kurds.

February 25, 2002: President George W. Bush speaks at VOA in honor VOA's 60 years of broadcasting to the world.

March 4, 2002: Chosun Ilbo now links its Internet site, Digital Chosun, to VOA to take Korean Internet surfers to VOA's new Korean-language Internet site (www.voakorea.com). Chosun Ilbo is one of the oldest and largest daily newspapers in South Korea. VOA and Chosun Ilbo’s Digital Chosun, signed a memorandum of understanding establishing the new affiliate relationship on the Internet.

March 11, 2002: The Broadcasting Board of Governors signs agreements in Bahrain and Qatar for FM radio transmission of the Middle East Radio Network, paving the way for broad distribution of the new service.

March 22, 2002: The Middle East Radio Network, a unique, U.S. government-sponsored Arabic-language broadcasting service, goes on the air across the region in the initial phase of a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service."Now, listeners across the Middle East will have an opportunity to get their news, information and entertainment in a whole new format," said Norman J. Pattiz, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The BBG oversees all U.S., non-military, international broadcasting and spearheaded creation of the service. "They’ll also be able to learn the truth about America and what it stands for," Pattiz said.

March 26, 2002: El Salvador's Vice President Carlos Quintanilla Shmidt is one of the guests on Hablemos con Washington broadcast live from VOA affiliate YSKL Radio Network in San Salvador, El Salvador.

April 29, 2002: The University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication presents the Voice of America with one of its three Payne Awards for Ethics in Journalism for 2002. The Payne Awards were established by Ancil Payne, a long-time Northwest leader in broadcast journalism. The Payne Awards honor journalists who encourage public trust in the media by courageously practicing the highest standards of their profession in the face of political or economic pressures.

April 29, 2002: The American Foreign Service Association selects Voice of America News Director Andre de Nesnera as the winner of its "Tex Harris Award for Constructive Dissent" for 2002. The award is presented to a U.S. Foreign Service specialist who has "exhibited extraordinary accomplishment involving initiative, integrity, intellectual courage and constructive dissent." Mr. de Nesnera was serving as news director when VOA aired portions of a controversial September 2001 interview with Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. VOA used brief excerpts from the interview in a news piece that also included the voices of President George W. Bush; John Esposito, a scholar of Islam at Georgetown University; and Abdullah Abdullah, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance.