Foreign News
Friends stars and family remember ‘brilliant’ actor Matthew Perry
Matthew Perry’s loved ones and co-stars say they have been left “heartbroken” by his death aged 54.
The US actor – best known for playing Chandler Bing in hit ’90s show Friends – was found dead at his LA home.
The sitcom’s creators said he was a “brilliant talent” and “always the funniest person in the room”, while his family said he had “brought so much joy to the world”. Perry was praised in recent years for speaking openly about mental health.
Friends, which followed the fortunes of six friends living in New York, aired from 1994 until 2004 and became a cultural touchstone of the era. More than 52 million viewers in the US alone tuned in for its 2004 finale, making it the most watched TV episode of the 2000s.
The creators of the show, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, and its executive producer Kevin Bright, said Perry’s death “still seems impossible”. In a joint statement they said: “We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment – not just to his work, but in life as well. “He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart.” Referencing the style used for the titles of Friends episodes, they finished their tribute: “This truly is The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken.”
In a statement issued to People magazine, his family said they were “heartbroken”, adding: “Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend.” Perry’s fans “meant so much to him and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love”, they continued.
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow shared how she and Perry spent a “magical summer” together in 1993, where they swam in creeks, shared beers and “kissed in a field of long grass”. “He had shot the pilot of Friends but it had not aired yet. He was nervous, hoping his big break was just around the corner. It was.” She added: “I hope Matthew is at peace at long last. I really do.”
Maggie Wheeler, who played on-screen girlfriend Janice, said the joy he brought to so many in his “too short lifetime will live on”.
Morgan Fairchild, who played Perry’s on-screen mother and erotic novel writer Nora Bing, said: “I’m heartbroken about the untimely death of my ‘son’, Matthew Perry. The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock,” she added.
Paget Brewster, who played love interest Kathy in the sixth series of Friends, said Perry “won’t rest in peace” because “he’s already too busy making everyone laugh up there”. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, she urged people to read Perry’s 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, describing it as his “legacy to help”.
The book recounts his struggles with addiction to painkillers and alcohol during his sudden rise to fame, and lifelong struggles with mental health problems. Perry experienced health problems including a burst colon in 2018 due to his drug usage, which required several operations. In 2016, he told BBC Radio 2 that he could not remember three years of filming during Friends, because of his drink and drug use.
Perry’s efforts to help others struggling with addiction was reflected in a tribute from actor Hank Azaria, who appeared in five episodes of Friends. Azaria said Perry had been a “brother” when the pair first moved to LA, and revealed it was Perry who took him to his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting when he was struggling with addiction.
Born in Massachusetts in 1969, Perry was raised in Ottawa, Canada, where he attended elementary school with Justin Trudeau, who later became Canadian prime minister.
Canada’s leader wrote on X: “Matthew Perry’s passing is shocking and saddening. I’ll never forget the schoolyard games we used to play, and I know people around the world are never going to forget the joy he brought them. “Thanks for all the laughs, Matthew. You were loved – and you will be missed.”
Perry moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. He starred as Chazz Russell in Boys Will Be Boys and had roles in shows including Growing Pains. But it was his role in Friends – alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow – that launched him to international stardom.
Perry was cast as the awkward Chandler Bing, famous for his sarcastic one-liners and his childish behaviour with room-mate Joey Tribbiani. The role earned him an Emmy nomination in 2002. Regular reruns and streaming services have allowed it to find a new generation of devotees.
Tributes have also been paid by famous fans of the show, including singer Adele, who said she felt she had a connection with Perry after decades of watching Friends, despite having never met him in person. “I just want to say how much I love what he did for all of us,” she said in a video message.
Warner Bros, which produced the show, described Perry as a “true gift to us all”.
Despite the universal popularity of Friends, Perry spoke about not being able to watch the show in an interview last year.
“I didn’t watch the show, and haven’t watched the show, because I could go, ‘Drinking, opiates, drinking, cocaine,'” he said. “I could tell season by season, by how I looked. That’s why I don’t wanna watch it, because that’s what I see.”
Perry’s film credits include fools Rush In, Almost Heroes and the Whole Nine Yards and he won critical acclaim for later TV roles.
His role as associate White House counsel Joe Quincy in Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing earned him two Emmy nominations for outstanding guest actor in a drama series in 2003 and 2004.
He played the lead role in Sorkin’s later series, Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, then wrote and produced his own show called Mr Sunshine in which he also played the lead character.
Lucy Davis, who starred in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, said it was an “honour” to work with Perry on the show.
In a post on X, she wrote:”He was as funny off screen as he was on screen. He was really kind to me: I had one week where I was having difficulty with something at work and he came up to me and told me not to worry because he had my back. “Thanks for all the laughs Matthew. You made a great impact on me.”
The Friends cast reunited in 2021 for a televised reunion, where Perry once again opened up about his mental health struggles during the peak of the show’s success. He recalled “freaking out” and feeling “like I would die” if the audience didn’t laugh at one of his lines, describing his mindset at the time as “not healthy”.
The LA Times and TMZ, which first reported that Perry had died, said the actor was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his house.
A Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson told the BBC that first responders went to an address in the Pacific Palisades area, regarding a “water emergency” of an unknown type, but did not name Perry.
Perry’s final Instagram post published a few days ago, shows him relaxing in a rooftop pool. It has since attracted a stream of tributes from fans.
Perry leaves parents John Bennett Perry and Suzanne Perry, who split up when he was a baby. He has five half-siblings. He never married and had no children.
(BBC)
More than a thousand people have been left with respiratory problems after a sandstorm swept across Iraq’s central and southern parts of the country, health officials said.
One official in Muthanna province reported to the AFP news agency at least 700 cases of what they said was suffocation.
Footage shared online showed areas cloaked in a thick orange haze, with local media reporting power cuts and the suspension of flights in a number of regions.
Dust storms are common in Iraq, but some experts believe they are becoming more frequent due to climate change.
Pedestrians and police wore face masks to protect themselves from the dust and paramedics were on site to assist people with difficulty breathing, according to AFP.
Hospitals in Muthanna province in southern Iraq received at least “700 cases of suffocation”, a local health official said.
More than 250 people were taken to hospital in Najaf province, and at least 322 patients including children were sent to hospitals in Diwaniyah province.
A further 530 people reported breathing issues in Dhi Qar and Basra provinces.
The sandstorm blanketed Iraq’s southern provinces in an orange cloud that reduced visibility to less than one kilometre (0.62 mile).
The authorities were forced to shut down airports in the provinces of Najaf and Basra.
Conditions are expected to gradually improve by Tuesday morning, according to local weather services.
Iraq is listed by the UN as one of the five countries most vulnerable to climate change as it encounters regular sandstorms, sweltering heat and water scarcity.
A severe sandstorm in 2022 left one person dead and more than 5,000 needing treatment for respiratory illnesses.
Iraq will be experiencing more “dust days” in the future, according to its environment ministry.
[BBC]
Indian businessman Mehul Choksi has been arrested in Belgium following India’s request for his extradition.
Choksi, who left India in 2018, was arrested on Saturday, his lawyer Vijay Aggarwal told the BBC on Monday.
The diamond merchant is wanted by India for allegedly defrauding one of the country’s largest banks of nearly $1.8bn (£1.3bn).
Choksi has not commented publicly on the case, but his lawyer said they would appeal against his detention and also oppose his extradition to India.
“These are the obvious grounds on which we will argue the case, that he is not a flight risk and secondly, that he is extremely sick. He is undergoing cancer treatment,” Mr Agarwal said. He added that they would “contest the extradition on grounds that there isn’t enough evidence against him and the extradition request is politically motivated and the trial in India may not be fair”.
The BBC has reached out to India’s foreign ministry and financial crimes agency – the Enforcement Directorate (ED) – for comment.
According to a Times of India report, Choksi was arrested on the basis of two non-bailable warrants issued by an Indian court in 2018 and 2021 – although it’s not clear why the action came now.
Mehul Choksi and his nephew, Nirav Modi, are wanted by Indian authorities in connection with a $1.8bn fraud case at Punjab National Bank (PNB).
Niray Modi, who’s also been living abroad since 2018, is lodged in a prison in London and is awaiting extradition to India.
Both were high-profile diamond traders. Modi’s jewellery was worn by several Hollywood celebrities such as Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet. One of the biggest Bollywood stars, Priyanka Chopra, was his company’s brand ambassador. Choksi, meanwhile, was the owner of Gitanjali Gems, an Indian jewellery retailer which once had about 4,000 stores across India.
The ED has accused Choksi and Modi of colluding with some employees of PNB’s Brady House branch in Mumbai city to get fraudulent advances for payments to overseas suppliers of jewels.
These funds were then allegedly diverted and laundered.
Choksi and Modi have denied the allegations against them.
After leaving India, Choksi reportedly travelled to the US and later to Antigua – where he has citizenship. In 2021, he was reportedly arrested in Dominica and deported back to Antigua.
Hariprasad SV, a Bengaluru-based entrepreneur who had in 2016 alerted authorities about the alleged scam at PNB, said Choksi’s arrest was “great news”. “Apart from bringing him back, the most important thing is to get back all those billions of dollars he looted from India,” he told ANI news agency.
[BBC]
US President Donald Trump’s administration has exempted smartphones, computers and some other electronic devices from “reciprocal” tariffs, including the 125% levies imposed on Chinese imports.
US Customs and Border Patrol published a notice late on Friday explaining the goods would be excluded from Trump’s 10% global tariff on most countries and the much larger Chinese import tax.
The move comes after concerns from US tech companies that the price of gadgets could skyrocket, as many of them are made in China.
This is the first significant reprieve of any kind in Trump’s tariffs on China, with one trade analyst describing it as a “game-changer scenario”.
[BBC]
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