Looking Ahead

Kennedy Center Honors

Former Beatle Paul McCartney and American country music legend Merle Haggard will headline the honorees for the 33rd Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime achievements in performing arts on Dec. 5. President Barack Obama will present the awards to McCartney and Haggard-along with Oprah Winfrey, choreographer Bill T. Jones, and Broadway composer and lyricist Jerry Herman.

Dawn Treader opens

The third film adaptation of C.S. Lewis' classic children's series, The Chronicles of Narnia, hits theaters on Dec. 10. Walden Media hopes the third Narnia film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, recaptures some of the mojo of its first Lewis adaptation, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The first Narnia film raked in nearly $750 million while its sequel, Prince Caspian, only generated $419 million.

World Cup announcement

The 24-member Executive Committee of FIFA will announce Dec. 2 the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The United States has been angling for the 2022 international soccer tournament while England, Russia, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium have been jousting for the 2018 bid.

Peace Prize awarded

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo will officially receive his Nobel Peace Prize in a Dec. 10 ceremony in Oslo presided over by King Harald V of Norway. But the Chinese dissident won't be on hand to accept the prize, because he's still in jail as a political prisoner of China's regime. Since hearing of Liu Xiaobo's award, Chinese officials have protested the prize loudly and often.

Haitian election

Haitians may head to the polls on Nov. 28 for presidential and legislative elections-their first since a Jan. 12 earthquake and its aftershocks killed an estimated 230,000 Haitians and left about a million homeless. Despite Haiti's electoral council's move to ban more than a dozen political parties from the ballot-including that of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide-the UN has endorsed the election.