‘Art as Activism’ Charity Auction Benefits AHF’s Girls Act Global Programs

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‘Art as Activism’ Charity Auction Benefits AHF’s Girls Act Global Programs

2026-07-23 03:04 Last Updated At：03:21

RIVERSIDE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 22, 2026--

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and its Girls Act program, which empowers girls and young women across the globe to be healthy and thrive, will host “ Art as Activism,” a charity art auction benefiting Girls Act on Saturday, July 25 th at the Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, California. More than a dozen acclaimed artists have contributed artwork to the benefit, with many in attendance at the event to speak with patrons and guests about their artwork. “Art as Activism” is an evening of art, culture and community coming together to empower girls and create a brighter future. The event will also include live music, food and wine in addition to the charity auction and will benefit Girls Act programs in Jamaica and Haiti.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260722826188/en/

To RSVP or learn more, please visit: ArtAsActivismGirlsAct.eventbrite.com

June 1 trial date set for Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro in his US drug trafficking case

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife will go on trial on drug trafficking charges next June, a judge said Wednesday, as their lawyers continue to object to the U.S. military action that snatched them from power.

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein set the June 1 trial date at the request of lawyers on both sides. Under the approved schedule, defense lawyers will begin filing requests in early September to challenge the indictment and the couple will return to the courtroom Nov. 17 for oral arguments on the motions.

Maduro, 63, and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, have been held at a Brooklyn jail since U.S. forces seized them from their Caracas home in a middle-of-the-night raid and brought them to New York in early January.

Neither spoke during Wednesday’s 15-minute hearing as each sat separately at a defense table, surrounded by their lawyers. Both have pleaded not guilty. They face potential life prison sentences if a jury agrees that they were part of a conspiracy to send cocaine into the U.S.

As he was led into the courtroom, the bespectacled Maduro greeted the judge’s staff and shook hands with lawyers for him and his wife. Noticeably thinner in a tan jail suit and with his thick mustache, he seemed upbeat, smiling and chatting with his lawyer. He listened to a Spanish interpretation of the proceeding through headphones and clasped his hands in front of him in a prayerlike gesture. He had a black pen wedged in his right fingers and sporadically jotted notes on a white pad.

As deputy U.S. marshals led him out, he waved to someone in the gallery.

President Donald Trump’s administration has defended the raid to capture Maduro as a “surgical law enforcement operation” in a criminal case first brought six years ago. Maduro has called himself a prisoner of war and his capture a kidnapping.

U.S. prosecutors say Maduro carried out a conspiracy to move thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. by colluding with Venezuelan law enforcement to help drug kingpins.

“I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the constitutional president of my country,” he said in Spanish at his arraignment in January.

Maduro’s lawyer, Barry Pollack, has said he expects to contest the legality of Maduro’s “military abduction.”

During Wednesday's hearing, Pollack said he will first challenge the indictment on sovereign immunity grounds because if that is successful, Maduro won't have to continue litigating the case.

The lawyers have said there are complex legal defenses that the court must address before a trial can begin.

Maduro and Flores have not asked to be released on bail.