At the conclusion of the six-hour ANCA Endowment Fund Telethon $2,548,000 was raised from donations large and small from a wide cross-section of participants, demonstrating and bolstering the grassroots power and capability of the Armenian-American community.

Millions are tuned in today to a special nationwide telethon aimed at galvanizing the community around its ongoing grassroots initiatives. Under the banner of “One Nation – One Future – One Cause,” the 6-hour telethon will mobilize support for the unparalleled civic and educational efforts tirelessly carried out by the ANCA 365 days a year.

Since the election of President Barack Obama, the disappointments for Armenians have been grave – and they haven’t been quiet about it either. Shots are being fired wherever there is a shot to be taken. The amount of opprobrium being dished onto the president, Armenians for Obama, the Armenian National Committee PAC, and any former supporter of Obama’s, is enough to fill the Grand Canyon.

Dozens of protesters and police have clashed in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, as demonstrations calling for Mikheil Saakashvili, the country’s president, to resign turned violent.

The Sisli First Criminal Court of First Instance in Istanbul has sentenced Muhammet Karay to 3 years 3 months imprisonment for sending an email message containing threats against employees of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos newspaper and Armenians in general on 25 January 2007, six days after the murder of the newspaper’s editor Hrant Dink.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko spoke at a regular electrical power meeting in Baku on the importance of bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, the Trend news agency reports.

The ANCE Endowment Fund Telethon is about the continued growth and strengthening of the Armenian Nation through investment in its invaluable infrastructure and institutions.

Last week marked the 20th anniversary of Horizon Television’s first broadcast on Saturday, May 20, 1989. This revolutionary new media venture at the time was the first to offer breaking news stories from Armenia to the Diaspora. It was also the first television program to chronicle modern Armenian history as it unfolded behind the Iron Curtain and throughout the Diaspora for millions of television viewers in the US.

Mr. And Mrs. Vahe and Aida Yeghiazarian helped set the tone for a successful ANCA Endowment Fund Telethon this Sunday, opening their home for a gala reception raising over $100,000 for the civic and educational activities of the charitable community organization.

On Wednesday May 27, hundreds gathered around the Beverly Hilton Hotel, in Beverly Hills, California to remind the President of his broken promise as he hosted a Democratic Party fundraiser. Joining them were hundreds of other activists demonstrating for gay rights and an end to the war in Iraq and torture.

In an impressive first-ever theatrical effort, the Rose and Alex Pilibos High School Drama Program—led by directors Dominic Catrambone and Jeremy Kent Jackson of DiscoveryOnstage—successfully staged the Neil Simon comic fable Fools. Mr. C and Mr. J, as they are affectionately known to the Pilibos drama class, trained totally unseasoned and introverted high school students and turned out seasoned, confident actors. When asked what the students were like as actors at the start of the elective class and what they represented as actors onstage in their theatrical debuts, Mr. J said simply, “Night and day.”

The U.S., Russian, and French diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group are in Baku for talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, kicking off the group’s latest joint tour of the region for high-level talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry announced that Ralph Yirikian will be named its Man of the Year during “Match for Life 2009,” the registry’s upcoming annual gala. The event will also honor a number of volunteers for their outstanding service to the ABMDR, and celebrate the launch of the registry’s Stem Cell Harvesting Center in Yerevan.