Ex-Spice Girl turned fashion designer Victoria Beckham and Oscar-winning actor Mark Rylance were among the public figures to receive Britain's traditional New Year Honours on Friday but two recipients turned theirs down.

Beckham, who rose to fame in the 1990s girl band the Spice Girls and is married to former England footballer David Beckham, launched her first fashion label in 2006.

A post-mortem examination on the body of late pop icon George Michael, who died on Christmas Day after a chart-topping career and years of drug-taking, has proved "inconclusive," police said on Friday.

William Salice, who helped create the hugely popular Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs for children, died in Italy on Thursday aged 83, his foundation said.

When Fortunato Foti dreams up his designs for Sydney's dazzling New Year's Eve fireworks display, he's drawing on more than 200 years of pyrotechnics expertise.

The Foti family moved from Italy to Australia in the 1950s, but have been in the same business since 1793.

Debbie Reynolds, the "Singin' in the Rain" actress who tap-danced her way into American hearts as a star of Hollywood's Golden Age, died Wednesday, grief-stricken over daughter Carrie Fisher's death a day earlier.

The 84-year-old suffered a stroke at son Todd Fisher's Beverly Hills home after telling him "I miss her so much, I want to be with Carrie," he was quoted as telling celebrity news website TMZ.

Scarlett Johansson has been named the top grossing movie star of 2016 by Forbes magazine after appearing in films that amassed $1.2 billion in global ticket sales.

The Tony Award-winning American actress starred in the Marvel blockbuster "Captain America: Civil War" the year's biggest box office hit, which made $1.15 billion worldwide. 

Hollywood star Carrie Fisher -- best known for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the wildly popular "Star Wars" films -- died Tuesday, days after suffering a heart attack on a transatlantic flight.

The 60-year-old actress had been in intensive care in a Los Angeles hospital after collapsing on the jetliner from London on Friday.

George Michael's family said Tuesday they were "touched" by emotional tributes to the late British pop icon, as flowers, candles, balloons and cards piled up outside his homes.

British pop star George Michael, who rose to fame with the band Wham! and sold more than 100 million albums in his career, has died aged 53, his publicist said on Sunday.

Hollywood star Carrie Fisher was fighting for her life on Friday after suffering a massive heart attack near the end of a transatlantic flight.