Latest news with #Sirhan
Fast Company
2 days ago
- Health
- Fast Company
A revolution in heart disease treatment
Cardiovascular disease affects 315 million people globally and is the world's leading cause of death. For the past quarter-century, it has been standard practice for heart surgeons to treat this by inserting small, mesh tubes called stents to widen or unblock patients' coronary arteries to restore blood flow. Unfortunately, many of those patients experienced additional issues—from blood clots to heart attacks—within years, sometimes months, of the procedure. That's where DynamX, a new vascular technology from Elixir Medical, comes in. Like traditional stents, DynamX is minimally invasive and expands arteries to promote blood flow, but their unique design also enables them to restore arteries' natural defense mechanisms, helping patients avoid life-threatening events or costly and dangerous repeat procedures. The technology's promise to allow cardiac patients to heal more completely and live full, productive lives earned Elixir a spot as one of Fast Company 's 2025 Most Innovative Companies. Novel technology, proven effectiveness Traditional stents solve heart patients' immediate, critical need for restoring arterial blood flow. However, because they don't heal the arteries themselves, about half of patients re-experience an adverse medical event within 10 years, says Motasim Sirhan, Elixir founder and CEO. DynamX is different. After six months, Elixir's implant transforms into an essential part of the artery itself as its mesh tube unlocks, freeing and reinforcing the artery's wall. The implant then gradually restores and adapts to the blood vessel's natural pulsing motion. 'You need to address the disease where it's originating, not the just symptoms of it,' Sirhan says. 'This is the first technology to do that.' In the spring and fall of 2024, Elixir announced the results of a pair of large, international randomized clinical trials that demonstrate DynamX's favorable results. Patients with these implants had 65% fewer serious heart events and 78% fewer issues in the left anterior descending artery—which is critical for heart function as it supplies 50% of blood to the heart—than patients with traditional stent implants. Last year, recognizing DynamX's promise, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Elixir 'Breakthrough Device Designation' (BDD) on two applications of its DynamX technology: to treat heart artery blockage and serious artery blockages in the leg below the knee. BDD accelerates the review and approval process for novel technologies that may provide more effective treatment of life-threatening diseases and conditions. Patient-focused solutions As they developed DynamX, the company's researchers never lost sight of the seriousness and scale of the problem they were addressing. Many people begin to have cardiac issues in their 50s and 60s, requiring them to undergo multiple procedures. Patients often miss a substantial amount of work and sometimes can't participate fully in family activities. As Sirhan puts it, these hardships—on top of the millions or cardiac deaths annually—are 'not acceptable.' Elixir's innovative solution is the product of a multidisciplinary team of experts in physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, and other fields. The researchers addressed the challenge from different perspectives but with a singular mission: serving patients. 'What was important for us,' Sirhan says, 'was being able to make a difference in patient treatment and to not be fazed by the difficulty of the mission.'
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CIA releases declassified documents on Robert F Kennedy assassination
The CIA released 54 declassified documents related to the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) on Thursday, providing an additional 1,450 pages of material for the public to scour through for answers to their conspiracies. CIA Director John Ratcliffe released the documents in response to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to declassify files on the assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. and RFK. According to the CIA, the latest batch of documents complements the thousands of pages the agency provided to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as part of their public releases related to JFK earlier this year. The most recent release shows for the first time that RFK, as a senator, shared his experiences traveling to the former Soviet Union with the CIA while reflecting his patriotic commitment to serving his country. 'Light On The Truth': Gabbard Announces Rfk Files Released Months After Trump's Order "Today's release delivers on President Trump's commitment to maximum transparency, enabling the CIA to shine light on information that serves the public interest," Ratcliffe said. "I am proud to share our work on this incredibly important topic with the American people." Read On The Fox News App Along with sharing information about RFK's Soviet Union experiences, the files also dive into the psychological assessments of Sirhan Sirhan, the man who shot and killed RFK in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. In a personality assessment memo on July 8, 1968, federal authorities declared that "under no circumstances would we have predicted that [Sirhan] was 'capable' of doing what he did." Gabbard Says Rfk, Mlk Jr Records 'Ready To Release' In Days, Has 'Hunters' Looking At Fbi, Cia For More Files In the same memo, the feds said the odds of Sirhan being successful were "tremendous." "Obviously, we cannot see him as part of a conspiracy," the memo read. "He could be a tool of a conspiracy in the sense that the attempted assassin of Secretary of State [William] Seward and the assigned assassin of Vice President Andrew Johnson [George Atzerodt] were tools of the [John Wilkes] Booth conspiracy. It is very likely, however, that he could have effectively acted under precise instructions." It goes on to say that most people of the type of attack Sirhan was accused of at the time attack their mother or their girlfriend. "Occasionally they will lash out against an employer or colleagues (a case in point is the recent Pennsylvania case of the 'quiet' man who killed his car pool and then himself)," the memo read. "Sometimes they will pick public figures and make abortive attempts to get at them. Essentially, we see Sirhan as being more like the impulsive assassins of [former presidents James] Garfield and [William] McKinley than the calculating assassins of [Abraham] Lincoln and President Kennedy." Lawmakers Cheer Trump's Jfk Files Release: 'Restoration Of The People's Trust' The file release is what the CIA said was a collaborative effort directed by Trump and led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard with coordination from the CIA, Department of Justice, FBI and NARA. "Today's release is another important step in fulfilling President Trump's commitment to maximum transparency. Thank you to those at the CIA, ODNI, and NARA who worked hard to locate, review, and digitize these documents, many of which have never been released publicly before," Gabbard said. "We will continue coordinating with our partners across the Intelligence Community to fulfill President Trump's promise of maximum transparency." The documents are available to the public and can be viewed by visiting and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a guest on Fox News' "The Story" on Thursday and told host Martha MacCallum that he did not know his father was reporting back to the CIA during his trip to the Soviet Union in 1955, when he was a Senate aide. "My mother was on that trip," RFK Jr. said. "She joined him in St. Petersburg, and she actually was working for the CIA at that time, and she was wearing a carnation in her lapel that was attached to a little bubble where she could take pictures." RFK Jr. continued by saying the Soviets had brought artwork back to now-St. Petersburg after the defeat of Nazi Germany. The Germans, he explained, had confiscated the artwork from some of the Jewish families and that the CIA was interested in that. "I don't think it was anything of grave national security interest, but it was, you know, it's an interesting fact that I didn't know about my dad," he said. Fox News Digital's Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this article source: CIA releases declassified documents on Robert F Kennedy assassination
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CIA Denies Prior Knowledge Of Sirhan Sirhan In Newly Declassified RFK Assassination Files
The CIA claims it had no knowledge of Sirhan Sirhan before the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, according to newly declassified files released Thursday. The documents—part of a tranche ordered released by President Donald Trump, upon resuming office in January—include an internal 'blind memo' dated October 31, 1975. The memo states that 'Sirhan Sirhan's security file reflects that he had never been of interest to the Agency prior to the assassination of Robert Kennedy.' Kennedy was gunned down shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in the kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, moments after delivering a victory speech in the California Democratic primary. Sirhan, then 24, was arrested at the scene and later convicted of murder. But the newly released CIA files shed light on the agency's role in the aftermath—and raise fresh questions about what they knew and when. According to the memo, on the day of the shooting, various organs within the CIA were tasked with collecting information on Sirhan. The memo says this information—largely background material obtained through U.S. visa records and foreign CIA stations—was quietly funneled to the LAPD via the agency's Los Angeles Field Office. The LAPD reportedly agreed that all such material would remain confidential and unattributed to the CIA. By June 11, 1968, LAPD Chief Thomas Reddin had created a 23-person task force to handle the Kennedy investigation. The CIA's Los Angeles chief, William Curtin, liaised directly with the LAPD's Captain Hugh Brown, sharing intelligence, including information on Sirhan's family and possible associates. According to the memo, the CIA also performed traces on names linked to Sirhan but found nothing indicating ties to terrorist groups. The CIA asserts in the memo that Sirhan's file does not reflect that the agency had any prior interest in him and that its assistance to the LAPD 'was [never] surfaced in any way.' If true, this disclosure eliminates one long-held theory about CIA foreknowledge or involvement in Kennedy's assassination. However, it leaves untouched broader doubts surrounding the case—many of which continue to divide even the Kennedy family. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now Secretary of Health and Human Services, has long maintained that Sirhan did not fire the fatal shot. 'Sirhan is not my father's killer,' Kennedy Jr. wrote in a 2021 op-ed, pointing instead to private security guard Thane Eugene Cesar, who was positioned behind Kennedy and was never charged. Kennedy Jr.'s views have been sharply contested by most of his siblings, including his late mother, Ethel Kennedy, who said in 2021 that Sirhan should 'not have the opportunity to terrorize again.' Ethel Kennedy died in October 2024 at age 96. The release of today's files—part of a broader declassification effort involving the assassinations of both Kennedys and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—also revives the voice of labor leader Paul Schrade, a confidant of RFK, who was wounded during the shooting. Schrade, who died in 2022, spent decades arguing for a new investigation, citing forensic evidence that suggested 13 shots were fired—more than the eight bullets in Sirhan's revolver. Kennedy Jr. pointed out that Sirhan fired the 8 shots while standing in front of his target. The first hit Schrade. The second missed Kennedy's father and was later extracted by LAPD from a nearby door jam. The other six shots came after Sirhan was tackled and hit bystanders. However, Kennedy's father was shot four times from behind. He believes these bullets came from Cesar, a new security guard who Kennedy says had extensive ties to America's largest defense contractors. Author and Researcher Lisa Pease has repeatedly stated that she obtained records that indicate Cesar was a CIA contractor. In a 2012 letter to then-Attorney General Eric Holder, Kennedy Jr. echoed Schrade's concerns and called for a reinvestigation. 'After years of careful investigation, I arrived at the conviction that the story of my father's murder was not as cut and dried as portrayed at trial,' he wrote. Some documents previously declassified also include photos of handwritten notes allegedly found in Sirhan's bedroom. One line reads: 'My determination to remove RFK is becoming more and more of an unshakeable obsession.' Despite those notes, Sirhan, now 81, continues to maintain that he has no memory of the shooting. His claims, coupled with lingering doubts about ballistics, autopsy evidence, and witness testimony, have kept skeptics' theories alive for more than half a century.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CIA releases 1,400 new pages of investigative file into RFK assassination, including chilling note from his killer
The CIA released a new batch of declassified documents related to the government's investigation into the assassination of Robert F, Kennedy on Thursday, which includes a copy of a note that Kennedy's killer, Sirhan Sirhan, wrote. Per President Donald Trump's executive order directing agencies to declassify materials in cases of public interest, including RFK and his brother JFK's assassinations, the CIA released 54 declassified documents, amounting to 1,400 pages. "The records reveal for the first time that Senator Kennedy shared his experiences traveling to the former Soviet Union with CIA, reflecting his patriotic commitment to serving his country," the CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement. Much of the information in the release is not considered particularly revealing, but it does include an incriminating note that Sirhan wrote on May 18, 1968 – less than one month before Sirhan would fatally shoot Kennedy. 'R.F.K. must die, RFK must be killed, Robert F. Kennedy must be assassinated,' Sirhan wrote down over and over again on a piece of notebook paper used during his murder trial. The note appears to have been obtained by the Associated Press and reprinted by the Washington Post, though it is unclear what year that was. Kennedy, the brother of former president John F. Kennedy, was killed while serving as the Democratic senator of New York and campaigning for president. He was departing from the ballroom inside the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, when 24-year-old Sirhan shot him multiple times. Sirhan admitted to killing Kennedy and said he was motivated by the senator's support of Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. However, he has also made conflicting statements over the years about the shooting – which has fueled conspiracy theories about the assassination. Ultimately, Sirhan was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, although that was commuted to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Sirhan, now 81, has unsuccessfully sought parole at least 17 times over the past 56 years, the most recent being in August 2024. But the handwritten note has been a point of contention over the years as Sirhan's lawyer, Lawrence Teester, has argued his client was hypnotized and framed – pointing to the note as an example of his client's state of mind. Other documents included in Thursday's drop include Sirhan's psychological profile, though heavily redacted. This is a breaking news story, more follows….
New York Post
09-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
What RFK Jr. actually believes about his father's assassination — and how it's torn the Kennedy family apart
Robert Kennedy Jr. has long maintained that Sirhan Sirhan, who has spent nearly 60 years in prison for killing his father, is innocent of the crime — and that a second gunman was involved in the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy in 1968. That belief has fueled division between him and the majority of his siblings as well as their mother, Ethel, when she was alive. And it's sure to heat up again as Sirhan, 81, could be eligible for parole again next year. 'I believe Cesar killed my father,' Kennedy Jr. wrote in a 2021 San Francisco Chronicle op-ed of security guard Thane Eugene Cesar, who died in 2019 and was never charged. 'Sirhan,' Kennedy Jr. wrote, 'is not my father's killer.' Advertisement It was revealed Wednesday that Kennedy Jr., the current US Health and Human Services Secretary, sent a letter to then US Attorney General Eric Holder in 2012 requesting a new investigation into his father's death and the two-gunman theory. The letter to Holder, who served under Barack Obama, came to light in documents on the assassination declassified by the Trump administration. 10 Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. has long believed that Sirhan Sirhan did not fire the shot that killed his father in 1968. Getty Images When Kennedy Jr., 71, recommended to the California Board of Parole Hearings that Sirhan be given parole in 2021 — the 16th time he faced the board — six of his siblings, led by their mother, Ethel, slammed the move. Advertisement 10 Robert F. Kennedy's nine surviving children are split in their beliefs about his father's convicted killer, Sirhan Sirhan — with two arguing for their parole. RFK Jr. has said he believes a second gunman shot his father. Michael Guillen/NY Post 'Our family and our country suffered an unspeakable loss due to the inhumanity of one man,' said Ethel in a Sept. 7, 2021, post on her daughter Kerry Kennedy's X account — adding: 'He should not have the opportunity to terrorize again.' Ethel passed away Oct. 10, 2024, at age 96. Her children Joe, Courtney, Kerry, Chris, Max and Rory have opposed Sirhan's parole. Son Douglas, like Kennedy Jr., is in favor. Advertisement 10 Robert Kennedy confidant Paul Schrade spent much of his life trying to convince authorities to reopen the investigation into the assassination of the Democratic presidential candidate. The Washington Post via Getty Images Daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend told the Washington Post in 2018 that Kennedy Jr. 'makes a compelling case' about Sirhan not acting alone, but has not commented on the matter since. Kennedy Jr.'s 2012 letter to Holder included a three-page 'Summary of Evidence for the New Investigation' compiled by Paul Schrade. A former labor leader and confidant of RFK, Schrade was among five people wounded in the fusillade of bullets that resulted in Kennedy's death at Los Angeles's Ambassador Hotel following his Democratic presidential primary victory in California. Schrade, who was shot in the head by Sirhan during the melee, spent years trying to prove his theory that there were two gunmen involved in the assassination. Advertisement 10 Paul Schrade was among one of the victims of the shooting at the Ambassador Hotel that killed Robert Kennedy in 1968. He was shot in the head by Sirhan Sirhan. AP 'Paul and his team of nationally prominent attorneys including former US Attorney Rob Bonner strongly believe this new evidence is conclusive and requires a new investigation,' Kennedy Jr. wrote in his letter to Holder. 'I agree and support his request for a new investigation.' The request was based on 'new forensic tests on a journalist's audiotape recorded during this crime and found in the FBI's files,' said Schrade in his own letter to Holder dated July 29, 2012. 10 Robert Kennedy was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after his victory speech in the California Democratic presidential primary. Bettmann Archive 10 An acoustics expert has maintained that 13 shots were fired in the shooting of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Sirhan fired all eight shots from his .22 caliber Ivar Johnson revolver and did not reload, said Schrade in his letter to Holder. Bettmann Archive An acoustics expert who examined the recording maintained that 13 shots were fired. Sirhan fired all eight shots from his .22 caliber Ivar Johnson revolver and did not reload, said Schrade in his letter to Holder. Schrade, who died in 2022 at age 97, also pointed to the autopsy report that showed that RFK was shot from behind. Eyewitnesses said that Sirhan had stood in front of the candidate. 'I have been a strong advocate for the release of Mr. Sirhan B. Sirhan since I learned of evidence that was not presented to the court during his trial,' said Kennedy Jr. in an August 27, 2021, letter to the Board of Parole Hearings. 'After years of careful investigation, I arrived at the conviction that the story of my father's murder was not as cut and dried as portrayed at trial. Advertisement 10 Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of the assassination of Robert Kennedy. He claims to have no memory of the event, 10 Sirhan Sirhan, now 81, has been denied parole multiple times. He could be up for parole again in 2026. AP 'While Sirhan clearly fired shots at my father, overwhelming evidence suggests that these were not the shots that took his life.' Cesar, hired as a security guard for the night 'was in the exact position to fire the shots as described in the autopsy. Three witnesses saw him draw his gun — which he later admitted — and one said she saw him fire it,' Kennedy Jr. wrote in 2021. 'The Los Angeles police never bothered to examine the gun. Cesar, who was moonlighting that night from his high-security clearance job at the Lockheed plant, acknowledged a loathing for the Kennedys and their race-mixing sympathizers.' Advertisement Sirhan has consistently maintained that he does not recall the events that took place on the day of the assassination. 10 Douglas Kennedy, a younger brother of Robert Kennedy Jr., also wants a new investigation into the assassination of his father, and supports parole for Sirhan Sirhan Douglas Healey Other recently released files on the assassination released by director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revealed numerous menacing handwritten notes in Sirhan's bedroom in the Pasadena, Calif., home he shared with his mother and three siblings. 'My determination to remove RFK is becoming more the more of an unshakeable obsession,' read one of the scribbled notes included in the file. Advertisement When Sirhan was up for parole in 2021, the Kennedy family fight over his impending release led to one side 'double-crossing' the other, insider sources told The Post at the time. 10 'While Sirhan clearly fired shots at my father, overwhelming evidence suggests that these were not the shots that took his life,' RFK Jr. wrote in 2021. Here, Robert F. Kennedy and wife Ethel tour northwest Washington, which was devastated by fires in the wake of Martin Luther King's 1968 assassination. Bettmann Archive The family members against Sirhan's release had promised that they would not make a statement to the parole board, sources told The Post. 'The night before the hearing I got a letter from the parole board via the LAPD,' Sirhan's lawyer Angela Berry told The Post in 2021. 'It read, 'On behalf of the Kennedy family, we oppose the release of Sirhan.' [Kennedy Jr.] had been staying out of it specifically on the assumption that his family was going to stay out of it … I got ahold of him right away letting him know what happened.' Advertisement In response, Kennedy Jr. stayed up late writing a letter in favor of Sirhan's release that barely made it into the hearing, sources said. 'The parole hearing started at 8:30 a.m. and Robert's letter streamed in at 10:30 a.m.,' Berry said. 'It read in part, 'I have to assure you that the letter you got is not on behalf of the whole Kennedy family.' That was the very last thing the hearing officer read into the record.'
