Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" topped the North American box office for a second straight weekend, ringing in the New Year with $30 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday.

The action film, the fourth in the series, thus far has taken in $133 million, according to Exhibitor Relations.

Oscar-nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter and golf prodigy Rory McIlroy led the list of recipients of Britain's New Year's honors on Saturday.

Bonham Carter received a CBE, or Commander of the Order of the British Empire award -- one step below a knighthood -- after the most successful year of her career, capped by her performance in "The King's Speech", the hit film about the stammering king George VI.

Elton John is working on a biopic about himself and would like Justin Timberlake to take on the lead role, he said in an interview published Sunday.

The British veteran star also spoke about his and partner David Furnish's love for their son Zachary -- whose first birthday was on Christmas Day -- saying the child was the "light of our lives."

Famous Spanish tenor Placido Domingo debuted late Saturday in a new opera, "The Enchanted Island," that premiered at the Metropolitan Opera theater in New York on New Year's Eve.

The 70-year-old singer, who performed the role of King Neptune, was warmly welcomed by the audience as he appeared at the end of the first act.

Extravagant firework displays lit up the skies from Sydney to New York in a global New Year's party as people around the world set aside their worries to welcome 2012.

Turning the page on a year of financial turmoil in Europe and the United States, uprisings across the Arab world, devastation in Japan, and the dramatic killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in his Pakistani hideout, revelers danced to pop stars, drank champagne, and cheered out the final seconds of 2011.

On the second floor of the Playboy Mansion, beyond the seemingly endless hallway lined with photos of the famous folks who have visited the legendary party playground, is a narrow staircase that leads to a small loft.

"LOCK DOOR," signed "Hef," reads a handmade note tacked to the loft's tiny entrance.

A controversial reality TV show about Arab Americans tackles 9/11 in its penultimate episode this weekend, with its stars seething anger at Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda for upending their lives.

Since it premiered on the TLC cable channel, "All-American Muslim" -- the first series of its kind on U.S. television -- has lifted a veil on the lives of five middle-class families of Middle Eastern heritage in the Detroit area.

British comic Russell Brand has filed for divorce from U.S. pop star Katy Perry, US media reports said Friday, just over a year after the pair was married in India.

Quoting court documents Brand filed in Los Angeles, TMZ said the British actor and comedian cited "irreconcilable differences" as a reason for divorce.

Grammy-winning blues and soul legend Etta James, famous for her hit "At Last," was taken off respiratory assistance but remains hospitalized in California, her agent said Friday.

"Ms James has been taken off the respirator and is now breathing on her own. Her blood pressure is normal," Lupe de Leon told AFP. "We are all happy with this news."

As a classically trained pianist, Phyllis Chen knew her way around a grand piano from a young age. But then she saw her first toy piano -- and life took on a whole new dimension.

Toy pianos are child-size, some no bigger than a music box. And while they might be in the shape of a grand, they can be picked up by one person, possibly even by one hand.