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A makeshift memorial for actor Matthew Perry, the wise-cracking co-star of the 1990s hit television sitcom Friends, who was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Oct 28, is pictured on Bedford Street in Manhattan in New York City, US, Oct 30, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Mike Segar/File Photo) - 

Voinews, Jakarta - Friends star Matthew Perry died from the "acute effects" of the powerful sedative ketamine that, combined with other factors, caused the actor to lose consciousness and drown in his hot tub, according to an autopsy released on Friday (Oct 15).

The report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner came nearly seven weeks after Perry, 54, who publicly acknowledged decades of drug and alcohol abuse, was found by his live-in assistant floating face down and lifeless in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home.

Toxicology tests found ketamine, a short-acting anaesthetic with hallucinogenic properties, in Perry's body at high levels well within the range typically associated with general anaesthesia used in monitored surgical care, the report said.

"Matthew Perry's cause of death is determined to be from the acute effects of ketamine," the autopsy concluded.

Coronary artery disease, the effects of the opioid-addiction medicine buprenorphine, also detected in his system, and drowning were listed as contributing factors in his death, which was ruled an accident.

The concentrations of ketamine in Perry's body would have overstimulated his heart rate while depressing his breathing, likely leading him to lapse into unconsciousness before his face slipped below the water in the hot tub, the report said.

"The exact method of intake in Mr Perry's case is unknown," the report said, adding that trace amounts of the drug showed up in his stomach. No recent needle marks were found on his body, it said.

Referred to as a "dissociative anaesthetic hallucinogen" because it produces a feeling of detachment from pain, anxiety and the environment, ketamine can be injected, mixed with liquids, snorted as a powder or smoked, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

Autopsy findings suggested Perry may have been self-medicating with ketamine between medically supervised treatments with the drug.

According to witness interviews cited in the report, Perry had been undergoing ketamine infusion therapy for depression and anxiety. But his last known treatment was a week and a half before his death, so the ketamine found in his system by medical examiners would have been introduced since that last infusion, the report said.

Perry's Oct 28 death came one year after the publication of his memoir, Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing, which chronicled his decades-long bouts with addiction to prescription painkillers and alcohol, a struggle he said came close to ending his life more than once.

Perry, best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the 1990s hit television sitcom Friends, had been sober for 19 months with no known substance abuse relapses before his death, according to interviews cited in the autopsy.

Investigators found no alcohol, illicit drugs or drug paraphernalia at the scene of his death. Multiple nicotine vaping products and an inhaler were found in Perry's living room. Injectables of the anti-diabetes medication tirzepatide and nicotine lollipops were in the refrigerator.

The actor had stopped smoking two weeks earlier, had been prescribed Tamoxifen – a hormone regulator usually taken for breast cancer prevention – for weight loss, and was receiving testosterone shots, the report said.

Non-toxic levels of some prescription medications were detected in Perry's body, but no traces of alcohol, cocaine, heroin or other illegal narcotics were found, the report said.

As was widely reported since, Perry had played pickleball hours before his death, and a witness who knew the actor told investigators he seemed to be in "good spirits" when she last spoke with him days earlier, the report said//CNA-VOI

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong meets his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Dec 16, 2023. (Photo: Ministry of Communications and Information) - 

SINGAPORE: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Saturday (Dec 16) during his trip to Tokyo.

Mr Lee is in Tokyo from Dec 15 to Dec 18 for the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit. 

The prime ministers welcomed the signing of a memorandum of cooperation to establish a green and digital shipping corridor between ports in Singapore and Japan.

The agreement will facilitate the adoption of digital solutions and the provision of zero and near-zero emission fuels through demonstration projects, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in a statement on Saturday.

Both prime ministers also reaffirmed the longstanding and excellent relations between Singapore and Japan, and discussed how the countries could further expand and deepen cooperation in areas of mutual interest, such as the future economy, digitalisation, security, as well as sustainability and energy.

The leaders exchanged views on regional and international developments, and emphasised the importance of upholding a rules-based international order and the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

"Both leaders welcomed the upgrade of ASEAN-Japan relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership earlier this year, and noted that this would be an opportunity to further ties between both sides as well as jointly address the challenges facing the region," said MFA.

The prime ministers also "looked forward to celebrating 60 years of Singapore-Japan diplomatic relations in 2026".

The memorandum of cooperation to establish a green and digital shipping corridor was signed by Singapore's Acting Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat and Japan's Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Saito Tetsuo.

This memorandum marks the first green and digital shipping corridor established between Singapore and Japan to develop standards and best practices supporting the decarbonisation, digitalisation and growth of the maritime industry, said Singapore's Ministry of Transport (MOT)//CNA-VOI

A natural gas pipeline, and the logos of Tokyo Gas and Rockcliff Energy are seen in this illustration taken January 4, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo - 

TOKYO : A unit of Tokyo Gas has decided to buy Texas-based natural gas producer Rockcliff Energy from private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners for $2.7 billion to expand its overseas business, it said on Saturday.

The deal comes as part of the Japanese company's efforts to expand its North American shale gas operations to meet growing demand for natural gas as an energy transition fuel.

Tokyo Gas, Japan's biggest city gas supplier, and other utilities are stepping up overseas expansion to counter falling demand in their domestic market. Japan has an ageing population and a declining birthrate, while energy market reform has spurred competition among old-guard utilities.

Under the deal, TG Natural Resources (TGNR) - 79 per cent owned by Tokyo Gas - will buy all shares in Rockcliff Energy from Quantum Energy Partners. The deal is expected to close on Dec. 29, Tokyo Gas said.

With the acquisition, TGNR's natural gas production will quadruple to 1.3 billion cubic feet per day from about 330 million cubic feet per day, making it one of the largest shale gas producers in Texas and Louisiana, according to Tokyo Gas.

"We expect our gas production will be more efficient after the acquisition as Rockcliff Energy's output area is located adjacent to TGNR's blocks," Takashi Nakao, senior general manager of global business development at Tokyo Gas, told reporters.

The production is also close to new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals and other facilities expected to increase demand for natural gas in the future, Nakao said.

Asked if the supply will be exported to Japan as LNG, Nakao said the current plan is to sell all the gas in the U.S. domestic market, though he did not rule out possibly sending it as LNG to Japan in the future.

Talks about the acquisition were reported by Reuters early this year//CNA-VOI

FILE PHOTO: SpaceX headquarters is shown in Hawthorne, California, U.S. September 19, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake - 

SpaceX said it was targeting Thursday, Dec. 28 for the launch of the U.S. military's X-37B robot spaceplane on its seventh mission to orbit.

"Now targeting no earlier than Thursday, December 28 for Falcon Heavy to launch USSF-52 to orbit from Florida," SpaceX said in a post on X on Friday, after it stood down on the launch earlier this week to perform additional system checkouts.

The original plan to send the spacecraft to orbit late on Sunday was scrubbed due to poor weather conditions at Cape Canaveral, Florida//CNA-VOI