| Augmented-reality surgery, moon landings and a battle for the soul of Europe will be major talking points in the year ahead. But what else will make our countdown for the top ten stories for 2019?
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What will be the biggest stories of the year ahead?
00:35 – 5 – Augmented-reality surgery
2019 will bring a whole new reality for some patients going under the knife, as surgeons use augmented reality headsets to help carry out operations. Doctors at St Mary’s Hospital in London are pioneering the use of AR to improve skin graft surgery. It’s hoped this technology will make surgery faster and safer for patients. Multiple images from CT scans are combined to make a 3D hologram which is superimposed onto the surgeons real world view. The AR headsets were developed from the technology used in a Microsoft games console but they now have life-saving applications.
02:30 – 4 Japan tackles tourism
In September sports fans will turn their eyes to Japan as it hosts the Rugby World Cup. The tournament will be more than just a warm-up for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics it’s central to a plan to transform the country’s economy. The government hopes to boost the number of tourists to 40 million a year by 2020 – 25 percent more than in 2017. Currently around 85 percent of visitors to Japan are from Asia but it is now attracting more Western visitors with far more spending power. In preparation for this boom a taxi company in Tokyo has organized a competition to test drivers English. The winner early started learning English four years ago and he’s seen a steady rise in foreign customers. The Japanese government also wants more foreigners to stay in the country. With famously low immigration rates and almost a third of citizens aged over 65, Japan is suffering from a dire labor shortage but legislation has been passed that will allow three hundred and forty-five thousand foreign workers in over the next seven years. But with the Japanese population shrinking by nearly four hundred thousand a year the country may need to welcome even more people from the rest of the world.
05:06 Testing Trump
2019 is set to be US president Donald Trump’s most testing year yet when Democrats assume control of the House of Representatives and he comes under more scrutiny. Mr. Trump came to power promising to rid Washington DC of corruption and vested interests. But this could be the year the swamp really makes the president sweat. Top of the list for some Democrats is publishing the president’s tax returns. But it won’t just be his financial affairs under the spotlight – the real pressure on Mr. Trump in 2019 could come from the Muller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. If the investigation supports serious allegations against the president then 2019 could be the year that the Democrats begin impeachment proceedings. But don’t expect the Republican majority in the Senate to convict him or any charges to even make a dent in Mr. Trump’s core support across the country So for Mr. Trump’s political opponents the real focus in 2019 is likely to be on who they choose to run against him at the next presidential election.
07:46 – 2 Moon rush
On the 20th of July the world will remember the moment 50 years ago when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon. In 2019 there will be new entrants in the race to return to the moon. Israeli nonprofit organizations space il hopes it’s Lander will be the first lunar expedition funded by private enterprise and other companies like Astrobotic in the US are also planning to get in on the action soon. Not to be outdone China’s Lunar Lander should also touchdown in 2019, making it the first craft to land on the far side of the Moon – But there is more than just prestige at stake and it will no longer just be men taking giant leaps.
10:05 – 1 Battle for Europe
The biggest story of 2019 won’t be, as some might think, the UK’s protracted divorce from the European Union. In 2019 a bigger broader upheaval is set to unfold across the continent ahead of the European parliamentary elections. Populist parties have shaken the traditional political order across the continent and are hoping to win more power than ever in the 2019 vote. It raises the multi-billion euro question what will all this mean for the EU’s future. Some of its supporters hope that populist forces could ultimately push the EU into reforms which will save it and the continents prosperity.
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