The future is here

摘要

For Chinese, it will be the Year of the Rat. The United Nations has declared it the International Year of the Potato. To mark a century since the birth of Ian Fleming, there will be a new James Bond novel. What else lies in store in 2008? For an idea, turn to The World in 2008, the 22nd edition of our collection of forecasts for the year ahead. Predictions come from The Economist's journalists as well as notable people from the worlds of politics (France's Nicolas Sarkozy, Mexico's Felipe Calderon), business (PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi) and Hollywood (Angelina Jolie).