Herman Achille, Count Van Rompuy (Dutch: [ˈɦɛrmɑn vɑn ˈrɔmpœy]; born 31 October 1947) is a Belgian politician, who formerly served as Prime Minister of Belgium and then as the first President of the European Council.
A politician from Belgium's Christian Democratic and Flemish party, Van Rompuy served as the 66th prime minister of Belgium from 30 December 2008 until Yves Leterme (who was also his predecessor) succeeded him on 25 November 2009. On 19 November 2009 Van Rompuy was selected by the members of the European Council, which is the institution of the European Union (EU) comprising the heads of state or government of the EU member states, as the first full-time President of that Council under the Treaty of Lisbon. He was appointed for the period from 1 December 2009 until 31 May 2012, though he only took up his position officially on 1 January 2010. On 1 March 2012 he was re-elected for a second (and last) term, to last from 1 June 2012 until 30 November 2014.
A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van it can be bigger or smaller than a truck and SUV, and bigger than an automobile. There is some varying in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, minivans, are commonly used for transporting people from a family. Larger vans with passenger seats are used for institutional purposes, such as transporting students. Larger vans with only front seats are often used for business purposes, to carry goods and equipment. Specially-equipped vans are used by television stations as mobile studios. Postal services and courier companies use large step vans to deliver packages.
Van meaning a type of vehicle arose as a contraction of the word caravan. The early records of van as a vehicle in English are in the mid 19th century meaning a covered wagon for transporting goods (earliest reported record 1829). Caravan with the same meaning has records since the 1670s. A caravan, meaning one wagon, had arisen as an extension or corruption of caravan meaning a convoy of multiple wagons.
A covered goods wagon or van is a railway goods wagon which is designed for the transportation of moisture-susceptible goods and therefore fully enclosed by sides and a fixed roof. They are often referred to simply as covered wagons, and this is the term used by the International Union of Railways (UIC). Since the introduction of the international classification for goods wagons by the UIC in the 1960s a distinction has been drawn between ordinary and special covered wagons. Other types of wagon, such as refrigerated vans and goods wagons with opening roofs, are closely related to covered wagons from a design point of view.
Similar freight cars in North America are boxcars.
Covered goods wagons for transporting part-load or parcel goods are almost as old as the railway itself. Because part-load goods were the most common freight in the early days of the railway, the covered van was then the most important type of goods wagon and, for example, comprised about 40% of the German railways goods fleet until the 1960s. Since then however the open wagon and flat wagon have become more common. By contrast the covered goods wagon still forms the majority of two-axled wagons in countries like Germany, because the comparatively light freight does not routinely require the use of bogie wagons.
G20 or G-20 may refer to:
Global is the 25th studio album by American rock musician Todd Rundgren. It was released in April 2015.
All tracks are written by Todd Rundgren.
Global, styled also as Global with Matthew Amroliwala (as of 8 September 2014), is a news programme on BBC World News that premiered on 14 January 2013 with the relaunch of the channel from Broadcasting House. The programme was hosted initially by Jon Sopel who joined the channel from the domestic BBC News channel. Sopel regularly presented the programme on location around the world and in this case it is broadcast in part on the BBC News channel. Sopel was promoted to North America Editor in 2014, and was succeeded in September by Matthew Amroliwala.
Global replaced The Hub, which originally was an edition of World News Today and served as a news 'nerve centre' for South Asia and the Middle East, providing both the headlines, and detailed analysis of the global news agenda.
Global is aired from 15:00–16:30 GMT (16:00–17:30 BST in summer time), Monday to Friday on BBC World News, usually followed by an edition of World Business Report.
When Jon Sopel presented, the title sequence ends by stating 'Global with Jon Sopel'. However, when he does not, as he is often on assignment, the titles only show 'Global', regardless of the replacement presenter. This only happens if he isn't reporting from a location on a topic covered in the show.
The Suzhou RunHua Global Center (Chinese: 苏州盛高环球大厦), formerly the SPG Global Towers, are a pair of skyscrapers in Suzhou, China. Groundbreaking on the buildings began in 2007, and they were completed in 2010. Building A is 282 m (925 ft) to the architectural tip with 49 floors, and is used mostly for office space, while tower B is 240 m (790 ft) to the architectural tip with 54 floors, and is residential.
The towers bear a striking resemblance to the One Liberty Place skyscraper complex in Philadelphia, United States.
Coordinates: 31°18′50″N 120°40′14″E / 31.3138°N 120.6705°E / 31.3138; 120.6705