FCO

FCO may mean:

See also

Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport

Fiumicino – Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (Italian: Fiumicino – Aeroporto Internazionale Leonardo da Vinci) (IATA: FCO, ICAO: LIRF) or Rome Fiumicino Airport, also simply known as Fiumicino Airport, is a major international airport in Rome, Italy. It is one of the busiest airports in Europe by passenger traffic with 40.5 million passengers served in 2015. It is located in Fiumicino, 18.9 nautical miles (35.0 km; 21.7 mi) southwest of Rome's historic city centre.

The airport serves as the main hub for Alitalia, the largest Italian airline and Vueling, a Spanish low-cost carrier owned by International Airlines Group. Based on total passenger numbers, it is the eighth busiest airport in Europe and was the world's 35th busiest airport in 2014. It covers an area of 29 square kilometres (7,200 acres) and is named after the most recognized polymath Leonardo da Vinci, who designed the first proto helicopter and a flying machine with wings in 1480.

History

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), commonly called the Foreign Office, is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting and promoting British interests worldwide. It was created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.

The head of the FCO is the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly abbreviated to "Foreign Secretary" (currently Philip Hammond). This position is regarded as one of the four most prestigious appointments in the Cabinet, alongside those of Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. Together with the Prime Minister, these are the Great Offices of State.

The FCO is managed from day-to-day by a civil servant, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who also acts as the Head of the Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service. This position is held by Sir Simon McDonald, who took office on 1 September 2015.

Responsibilities

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, more commonly Leonardo da Vinci (Italian: [leoˈnardo da (v)ˈvintʃi]; 15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519), was an Italian polymath whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of paleontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter and tank, his genius epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal.

Many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the "Universal Genius" or "Renaissance Man", an individual of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination". According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent in recorded history, and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, while the man himself mysterious and remote". Marco Rosci, however, notes that while there is much speculation regarding his life and personality, his view of the world was logical rather than mysterious, and that the empirical methods he employed were unorthodox for his time.

Banco do Brasil

Banco do Brasil S.A. (English: Bank of Brazil) is the largest Brazilian and Latin American bank by assets, and the third by market value. The bank, headquartered in Brasília, was founded in 1808 and is the oldest active bank in Brazil, and one of the oldest banks in continuous operation in the world. It is not the country's central bank.

Banco do Brasil is controlled by the Brazilian government but its stock is traded at the São Paulo Stock Exchange and its management follows standard international banking practices (Basel Accords). Since 2000 it is one of the four most-profitable Brazilian banks (the others being Itaú Unibanco, Bradesco, and Santander Brasil) and holds a strong leadership position in retail banking.

History

Banco do Brasil was founded by then prince-regent João VI of Portugal to finance the kingdom's public debt when he moved from Europe to Brazil, in 1808. It went bankrupt two times in history: one at independence in 1821, when the regent-prince returned to Portugal taking with him some of the bank's assets, and the second in 1898.