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The first considerations of building a regional rail network in and around Saarbrücken began in the 1990s. The bus service in central Saarbrücken then ran at such a high density that the vehicles sometimes operated at one-minute intervals. Following the example of the Karlsruhe model, which had operated with great success since 1992, the Saarland began to plan to build a regional Stadtbahn. The core of the concept was the building of an inner-city railway line, while the outer branches would share the existing Deutsche Bahn railway infrastructure. As early as 1992, it borrowed a light rail vehicle from the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn and ran it on the Fürstenhausen–Gersweiler Bahnhof–Saarbrücken Messebahnhof route on the Rossel Valley Railway ("Rosseltalbahn"), south of the Saar.

Before the opening of the Saarbrücken city centre line, there was a trial operation between Saarbrücken Central Station ("Hauptbahnhof") and Hanweiler with Saarbahn vehicles. However, as it was still in the Deutsche Bahn timetable, replacing the previously locomotive-hauled trains on this section, it was operated by Deutsche Bahn. This forward operation began on 29 September 1997 and ended on 24 October 1997, the opening day of the new line through the city centre.

On 24 October 2007, the Saarbrücken Stadtbahn celebrated its tenth train anniversary. Since inception more than 100 million passengers had been carried, almost twice as many as originally planned. Thus, it had become a great success as a model for other cities considering the establishment of a light railway.

The core of the Saarbahn—the new line between Brebach station and Ludwigstraße—was put into operation on 24 October 1997, after just under two and a half years of construction. Since its opening, there has been a system separation point between Römerkastell and Brebach station. This is a 90-metre-long non-energised section of the overhead line, which is traversed using momentum, while the vehicle's electric system automatically switches to the other system. Saarbahn railcars coming from central Saarbrücken change from 750 volts DC to 15,000 volts AC and run via Kleinblittersdorf to Sarreguemines, Lorraine. The French section from the border station at Hanweiler has been equipped with the German electric system since 1983. The first light rail vehicle that reached Saarguemines was two-system railcar 810 of the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG), which ran there on 11 September 1993 during a presentation ride.

The extension in the northerly direction took place in several stages. It was extended to Cottbuser Platz on 31 July 1999, to Siedlerheim on 13 November 2000, to Riegelsberg Süd on 24 September 2001 and to Walpershofen/Etzenhofen on 26 September 2009. Construction of the Riegelsberg Süd–Walpershofen/Etzenhofen section, required the contribution of additional costs of around €630,000 per year (an amount that was until recently disputed) from the city of Saarbrücken, the municipality of Riegelsberg and indirectly from the Saarland. Clearing work was performed on the former route of the Koller Valley Railway (Lebach–Völklingen railway) through Walpershofen and Dilsburg in January and February 2009, the railway overpass in the center of Walpershofen was renewed in 2009/10 and the reactivation of Heusweiler Markt was largely completed in the summer of 2011. This stretch of track was inaugurated on 30 October 2011.

Although another system separation point between BOStrab and EEO was instituted at Walpershofen in 2011, the electrical system does not change there because the electric system for the Saarbahn on the Koller Valley Railway also runs at 750 volts DC.

With the exception of a small section between Riegelsberg-Güchenbach and Walpershofen/Etzenhofen over which the Saarbahn runs in an east-west direction along the Russenweg (L 267), which had never been used by a railway, the Saarbahn follows two very different historical railway lines:

From Saarbrücken through the Köllertaler Wald (Köller valley forest) and Riegelsberg to Riegelsberg-Güchenbach, Saarbahn follows the course of the historical Riegelsberg tramway: an interurban tram line from St.Johann/Saarbrücken via Riegelsberg to Heusweiler, which was opened in 1907. The line broadly followed today's federal highway 268, which also continues directly from Güchenbach to Heusweiler. The line served the mines in Heusweiler-Dilsburg and Von der Heydt. The tramway was replaced by trolleybuses in 1953 and was replaced in turn by diesel-powered buses in 1964.

After the new section between Riegelsberg-Güchenbach and Walpershofen/Etzenhofen, the Saarbahn reaches, at the Walpershofen/Etzenhofen stop, the line of the former Koller Valley Railway, over which it continues north through Walpershofen to its temporary terminus at Heusweiler Markt.

A extension of the current line, from the current northern terminus, Heusweiler Markt, north to Lebach-Jabach opened for service on 5 October 2014. This extension will expand the Saarbahn line to cover a total of of route.

Currently the cross-city route is operated as line S1 between Heusweiler Markt and Sarreguemines, with services every 7.5 minutes during the day on the core section between Siedlerheim and Brebach station. Originally, a five-minute interval service was planned for the central area, but this was rejected because it would have led to operational problems. On the sections using rail tracks between Brebach and Kleinblittersdorf and between Heusweiler Markt and Siedlerheim there is a 15-minute interval service and on the Kleinblittersdorf–Sarreguemines section services operate every 30 minutes only in the morning and every 60 minutes at other times.

In the off peak hour, services operate at 15-minute intervals in the central section, every 30 minutes to Kleinblittersdorf or Siedlerheim and every 60 minutes to Sarreguemines. In the morning peak for professional and school transport and in the afternoon peak, coupled vehicles are used, otherwise single sets are operated. The Saarbahn carries approximately 40,000 passengers daily.

Currently there are 28 Flexity Link tram-trains in use, which were manufactured by Bombardier in Vienna and Bruges. Six sets were temporarily loaned to Kassel, where they operated trial runs for RegioTram Kassel. From the timetable change in December 2009, three tram-trains were lent to the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe for use on line S9.

A line is proposed towards Schafbrücke. Another proposal would include an extension via Burbach to Völklingen station, but this plan has been put on hold, as the effects of mining have to be remedied first. Other plans include an extension to the University, to Rotenbühl, to Alt-Saarbrücken, to Forbach and to Eschberg. , no work has been carried out on any of these proposals.

= = = Thalheim-Altikon railway station = = =

Thalheim-Altikon railway station is a railway station in the Swiss canton of Zurich and municipality of Thalheim an der Thur. It takes its name from Thalheim and the adjoining municipality of Altikon. The station is located on the Winterthur to Etzwilen line and is served by Zurich S-Bahn line S29, which links Winterthur and Stein am Rhein.

= = = 2013 ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship = = =

The 2013 ISAF Women's Match World Championship was held in Busan, South Korea between June 4 and June 9, 2013.

= = = Galef = = =

Galef is a surname of Ashkenazic origin. Notable people with the surname include:

= = = Jean Nicolle = = =

Jean Nicolle (1610 - 1650) was a French Norman painter.

Jean Nicolle, born in Louviers in 1610. Not much is known about his life except through his works. Some of his paintings decorate the choir of Notre-Dame de Louviers, others are at the City Museum.

= = = Battle of Brenta = = =

The Battle of Brenta was fought between the cavalry of the Kingdom of Italy under king Berengar I and the Hungarians, hired by the East Francian king Arnulf of Carinthia, against him, at an unidentified location in northern Italian Peninsula along the river Brenta on 24 September 899. It was one of the earliest battles of the Hungarian invasions of Europe. The result was a crushing defeat for Berengar I, opening the following raids for the Hungarians against Italy. The Hungarian invasion resulted in the burning of many cities, like Feltre, Vercelli, Modena and monasteries like the monastery in Nonantola, and attacking even Venice, however without success.

In the meantime Berengar's arch enemy, Arnulf of Carinthia died in December 899, as a result the Hungarians, whom he hired against the Italian king, left the kingdom in the next year with all their plunders, not before concluding peace with Berengar, who gave them many hostages and "gifts". On their way home the Hungarians made an "amphibious assault", a unique achievement from an exclusively land army in the pre-modern times, crossing the Adriatic Sea in order to attack Venice.

In some historians' opinion the returning army had a role also in the conquering of Pannonia, as part of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, from the Bavarians by the Hungarians in late 900.

Many contemporary sources mention this battle, like the "Chronicon" of Regino of Prüm, the "Annales Fuldenses", the "Chronicon Sagornini" of John the Deacon, "Catalogus abbatum nonantulorum", etc. The most important source is "Antapodosis, seu rerum per Europam gestarum", written by Liutprand of Cremona, which gives the most detailed description of the events which led to the battle and battle itself.

At the end of the IX. century the Carolingian Empire of Charlemagne was long gone, in its place remained three kingdoms (West Francia, East Francia, Kingdom of Italy), led by kings of Carolingian bloodline, which disputed the supremacy among them. Arnulf of Carinthia, the son of the East Francian king Carloman, who became German king in 887, wanted to recreate the Carolingian Empire, thus in 894, as result of his Italian campaign, became King of Italy, and in 896 he was even crowned as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome by the pope. To his goals in Italy he was helped by Berengar of Friuli, the grandson of Charlemagne, who after 898 started to see himself more worthy for the title of emperor, because he considered himself as a truer Carolingian than Arnulf, considering the latter to be an illegitimate son of Carloman.

Berengar was king of Italy from 888 but lost his lands to Guy III of Spoleto who proclaimed himself king of Italy and emperor. Berengar was saved by the intervention of Arnulf of Carinthia in 894, defeating Guy of Spoleto, who died shortly after. Arnulf in 896, crowned himself as King of Italy (and emperor), but named his illegitimate son Ratold as sub-king of Italy. Ratold and Berengar agreed to divide Italy between themselves, but shortly after they started to fight for supremacy. Ratold died unexpectedly, so Berengar remained as single ruler, and started to aspire for the title of emperor. Aware of this, Arnulf, very ill, could not go personally in campaign in Italy, but concluded an alliance with the leaders of the Hungarians, who in 895-896 occupied the Eastern parts of the Carpathian Basin, convincing them to send an army to attack Berengar. Arnulf was accused by enemies that he concluded the alliance with the Hungarians by cutting a dog and a wolf in two. This was the way of making alliances by the nomadic people, the parties swearing that they will keep the alliance, and cursed themselves to die like the animals they cut in a half, if they break their oath. So, probably beside the Christian way, about which the chronicles do not write anything, Arnulf had to conclude this alliance also in the Hungarians "pagan" way. This shows that Arnulf was aware of the Hungarian danger for the Eastern provinces of his realm: mainly the March of Pannonia. So with this alliance had two purposes: to punish Berengar and to divert their energies far away from Pannonia, so at least for a while he could be assured that they will not attack him. And of course, maybe he hoped that these two dangerous neighbours will weaken each other.

Hungarian armies never went to Italy before. Military intelligence was one of the most important features of nomadic warfare. Starting a war without knowing the enemies power, number of soldiers, will to fight, etc., was unimaginable in the nomadic societies. This is why in late October 898 they sent a light armored, quick moving small unit on reconnaissance, which crossed Pannonia on their way to Northern Italy, then arrived in Italy in Friuli. They camped three days with their tents near the river Brenta, sending their scouts in small groups to reconnoitre the land, its wealth, the number and the fighting spirit of the enemy troops, the routes of attack and retreat, the places which can be chosen as battlefields, where the most spoils are to find, the number of the cities, castles and the strength of their defence system. It is certain that the place of the future battle was chosen during this minor incursion. We do not know the exact numbers of this scout unit, but according to Marco Polo, in the Mongolian Empire the reconnaissance units were composed of 200 riders. So we can presume that the Hungarian scout unit, which went in 898 into Italy, had a number around 100-200. After three days the small groups they sent in every direction, returned, analyzed the information they gained, then returned home.

As Liutprand of Cremona mentions, after returning home, the Hungarians used the winter to prepare their weapons, sharpen their arrowheads, and to teach to the youth how to fight. Then in 899, a Hungarian army, crossing Pannonia, headed to Italy. The historians do not agree about the road they took. Gyula Kristó argues that they bypassed Pannonia, and went westwards following the courses of the rivers Sava and Drava, and entering Italy near Aquileia, on the road named after them "Strata Hungarorum", due to the fact that they used it so often during the next decades and centuries. According to István Bóna, the Hungarian army, with the permission of Arnulf, crossed Pannonia, then headed towards Italy on the ancient road Via Gemina, which linked the ancient cities Celeia, Ljubljana and Aquileia, arrived in Italy. The historians' opinions differ also about the period of the year in which the Hungarian army arrived to Italy. According to Kristó, basing on the account of Liutprand, they arrived in February–March. Bóna believes, according to the account of "Catalogus abbatum nonantulorum" that they arrived in August 899.

They entered Italy they passed next to the big walls of Aquileia, without attacking it, then scattered in smaller units, spread in many directions, attacking the surroundings of Treviso, Vicenza, Verona, Brescia, Bergamo, Milano, Pavia, destroying Feltre, one of their unit reaching in the West even the Great St Bernard Pass. Usually the Hungarian nomadic warriors did not attack the castles and big cities surrounded by walls, because they were not skilled in sieges, and having no siege machinery, so they plundered and burned monasteries, gathering spoils in the way.

As Liutprand of Cremona mentions, hearing about the apparition of the Hungarians in his kingdom, Berengar I. was very surprised how this army from a nation, about which he never heard of, appeared so suddenly. Then he sent envoys and letters in every corners of his country demanding to everybody to send their troops to him to fight the Hungarians. After all his troops gathered his army became three times bigger than the Magyar army. According to "Chronicon Sagornini" of John the Deacon, the Italian army was 15,000, so we can conclude, that the Hungarians were 5,000. This number could be exaggerated, like the medieval chroniclers often did with the numbers of the armies, but the affirmation that the Italians were three times more than the Hungarians, has no reason not to be accepted, because usually the chroniclers exaggerate the number of the enemy armies and diminish the number of the troops of their own, so we can accept that the Italians heavily outnumbered the Hungarians. Noticing his superiority, Berengar started to think too much of himself, and instead of attacking the Hungarian army immediately, he spent his time in a town carousing with his men. This gave time to the Hungarian troops, scattered to plunder in every corner of the Italian kingdom, to retreat towards the gathering place, one precisely not specified place on the bank of the river Brenta, which, as shown before, probably was chosen from the beginning to be the place of the battle. Seeing this, king Berengar thought that they were frightened from the number of his troops, and started to chase them, thinking that he already won. His mounted troops even managed to surprise a Hungarian troop and force it to cross in haste the river Adda causing the drowning of many of them. But generally the retreat was a success, because the Hungarians light armors and weapons (the commoners, who usually made the pillaging raids, wear no or just leather armours, only the leaders had lamellar armours, their weapons were always composite bows, the hand-to-hand weapons were sabres, and rarely battle axes or maces) enabled their horses to be more rapid than the heavy armored and weaponed Carolingian type Italian cavalry. The Hungarians retreated on the old Roman road Via Postumia towards the future battlefield.

The Hungarians retreat also served as was part of their psychological warfare, which had the goal to induce self-confidence in Berengar and the belief that he already won the war against them, with this lulling his vigilance. To augment this they sent envoys to Berengar, which promised that they will renounce to all of their plunders, and asked only their safe return to their homeland, but the over confident Berengar and his commanders refused this, believing that it will be an easy task to make them all prisoners. Although the chronicler Liutprand believes that the Hungarians were frightened, hopeless, and just wanted to escape alive, but the modern historians realized that this was only a clever role playing in order to induce the Italians in the mood, which eased their future defeat. The role playing of the Hungarian army was almost exposed when the Italian vanguard reached the Hungarian rearguard at the "wide fields" of Verona and forced it to fight, and the Magyars were forced to defeat the Italians, in order to escape, although probably it was not among the commanders' plans to expose their strength before the final battle. But when Berengar's main forces arrived, the Hungarian rearguard ran away, continuing its retreat. But Berengar did not took this sign too serious, and continued to chase the fleeing Hungarians.

After this long pursuit, on 24 September 899, the Hungarians and the Italians arrived to the river Brenta, after the "most ingenious planned flight of the world history", as István Bóna points. He probably names this retreat so, because of the multiple results it produced:

The nomadic armies used the tactic of feigned retreat very often in the ancient and medieval times, and the Hungarians were masters of it, using it in many battles of the period of their invasions of Europe (899-970). Liutprand mentions that the horses of the Hungarians were very tired, but they had the strength to cross the river before the Italians arrived, so Brenta separated the two armies from each other. The heavily armored Italians could not pass the river so easily, so they remained on the other side, and both armies assembled their battle lines on the both sides of the river.

Then the Hungarians again sent envoys to the Italian side, this time with even more alluring propositions for the Italians; in return for their safe return home, they promised to give them everything: prisoners, equipment, weapons, horses, keeping only one for each of them for their homecoming. To show how serious they are about this proposal, they promised that they will never return to Italy, and as guarantees for this, they will send their own sons to the Italians. With these exaggerate but still unacceptable promises (knowing that Berengar will not accept their departure after the destruction they caused, and would want to take them all prisoners), the Hungarians managed to totally convince the king that their fate depends only from his goodwill. So the Italians responded harshly, threatening them, probably wanting their total surrender.

The Hungarians waited for this moment. The Italians assembled a fortified camp, which however was not sufficiently guarded, left their guard down, and many of them started to eat and drink, to refresh after the long and exhausting pursuit, waiting the continuation of the negotiations, because Berengar thought that the Magyars are too weak and tired to fight, so they are at his mercy. But at the other side of the Brenta river was probably not only the tired, pursued Magyar army group, but other Hungarian troops too which at the start of the campaign, were sent in other directions to plunder, and in the meantime they returned for the battle, and also those who remained in their permanent camp placed in that very place from the beginning of the campaign, because it was chosen a year ago in their reconnaissance incursion. In their campaigns in Europe, the Hungarians in every country they stayed longer, chose a place to be their permanent camp during their stay in the region (in 926 the Abbey of Saint Gall, in 937 in France the Abbey of Saint Basolus near Verzy, in the same year the meadows of Galliano near Capua, where they stood for 12 days), so knowing these, it is highly probable, that the principal camp and the rallying point of the Hungarians was on the meadows near the Brenta river. So, without Berengar's knowledge, on the other side of the river were a great number of fresh troops with fresh horses, which just waited to start the battle.

When the Italians were totally unaware and relaxed, the Hungarians sent three troops to cross the river on some remote places, and to place themselves on different strategical points around the Italian camp. When these units took their places, the main Hungarian army crossed the river, at an area away from the detection of the Italians, and directly charged the unsuspecting Italians outside the camp, starting a massacre among them.

The majority of the Italians were in the fortified camp, eating and drinking, when the three Hungarian units sent in ambush, encircled the camp and started to shoot arrows, and caught the Italians so off guard, that Liutprand writes that many of them still ate in the moment, when the Hungarians arrows, or lances pierced the food in their throats. Of course, Liutprand could be exaggerating when he writes that the Italians were killed with the food in their throats, but nevertheless he expresses with this image the total surprise caused by the Hungarian attack to the Italians. This simultaneous attack on the Italians inside and outside of the camp, prevented them from helping each other. The Hungarians who attacked the camp, destroyed the defences preventing the Italians from barricading themselves in the camp, shot continuously arrows on the Italians trapped in it, and probably waited for the main army to finish the Italians outside, then they stormed together inside the fortified camp, because the Italians, due to their surprise and terror, were in impossibility to organize a defence of it, and started a slaughter. The Italians were totally off guard, and was impossible for them to organize a resistance, being caught in this way, so the only option was to flee. But when some of them arrived to the place where their horses were camped, they saw that it was already taken by Hungarian warriors, so these Italians were massacred by them. Probably one of the three Hungarian units sent before to encircle the Italian camp had the duty to occupy the stables before the battle even started.

Some Italians tried to stay away from the little pockets of fight, where groups of their fellows tried to resist, hoping that if they show themselves peaceful and friends to the Hungarians, they will be spared, but they too were massacred.

The Hungarians, after crushing all tiny attempts of resistance, showed no mercy to the Italians, who in the course of the days spent in chasing them, then after their arriving to the Brenta river, when they sent their envoys asking for an agreement, insulted them so many times, so they killed even those who wanted to surrender.

The number of the Italian losses was huge. Annales Fuldenses show the number of the Italians killed as 20,000 men. This is of course an exaggerated number, knowing that the Italian army composed maximum 15,000 men, but shows that the losses were really high. "Catalogus abbatum nonantulorum" writes about thousands of Christian deaths, the "Chronicon" of Regino of Prüm writes about the uncountable masses of the people killed with arrows, or "Chronicon Sagornini" of John the Deacon points that "few of them [the Italians] turned back home". The Hungarian losses were low, since they encountered almost no resistance.

King Berengar managed to escape to Pavia, changing his dress with the clothing of one of his soldiers.

This battle is a vivid example of the ingenuity and the multitude of methods and strategies which the armies of the nomadic societies used in order to achieve victory including choosing the right battlefield which assured superiority over the enemy days or weeks before the battle, deceiving military moves, psychological warfare, the importance of surprise attacks and preponderance of archery in the battle.

After this victory the whole Italian Kingdom lied on the mercy of the Hungarians. With no Italian army to oppose them, the Hungarians decided to spend the mild winter in Italy, continuing to attack monasteries, castles and cities, trying to conquer them, like they did before they had started to be chased by Berengar's army.

On 13 December 899 they attacked Vercelli, where the bishop of Vercelli and archchancellor of the Carolingian Empire, Liutward, trying to escape them, taking with him his treasures, accidentally stumbled upon them, so he was killed and his treasures taken away. On 26 January 900 they conquered Modena, and two days later the Abbey of Nonantola, where they burned the monastery and the church, and killed monks.

In the meantime, on 8 December 899, emperor Arnulf died in Regensburg, so the alliance between East Francia and the Principality of Hungary lost its validity. The Hungarian envoys sent from the new home of the Hungarians, the eastern part of the Carpathian Basin, to negotiate the renewal of the alliance, were seen as spies by the guardian and councillor of the new king, the 6 year old Louis the Child, Hatto I, Archbishop of Mainz and his advisers, and sent home, having achieved nothing. This started a state of war between the two political communities, so the Principality of Hungary needed the Hungarian army from Italy, which, because they became an important task in the conquest of Pannonia, which was planned by the Hungarians. They had to attack the Bavarian province from South West in the same time when another Hungarian army attacked it from East.

Before the Hungarians left Italy, in the spring of 900, they concluded peace with Berengar, who gave them in exchange for they departure hostages, and money for the peace. After this defeat, or at the latest from 904, Berengar started to pay them tribute regularly, and until his death in 924, and in exchange the Hungarians helped him against every enemies that he had. As Liuprand writes, the Hungarians became Berengar's friends. It seems that, in time, some of the Hungarian leaders became his personal friends.

On their way back home, the Hungarians accomplished a military performance, which was never even tried by a land army in the history. Having no ships, boats or any kind of water crafts, on 29 June 900, they "embarked" on a sea campaign against Venice. As "Chronicon Sagornini" of John the Deacon writes that with their horses and "leather ships" to attack first the cities from the coast, then also the city of Venice itself. The "leather ship" here refer to an animal skin (goat, sheep, maybe cow) tied up to form something like a huge bota bag, filled with air, tied on their horses sides, which helped the warrior and his horse to float, with which the Hungarians and the warriors of other nomadic societies usually used to cross rivers. They first attacked and burned the coastal towns like Equilio, Cittanova, Fine, Capo d'Argine, then tying the filled animal skins to their horses, they crossed the waters of the Lagoon of Venice, and sacked the island town of Chioggia, which was a part of the Dogado (homeland of the Republic of Venice). Then on the day of the martyrdom of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (29 June), on their "leather ships", they tried to enter Rialto and Malamocco, but before they reached the islands, on the place called Albiola the doge of Venice Pietro Tribuno met them with the Venetian war fleet, forcing them to retreat. Although they lost this unusual sea battle, the Hungarians achieved something what was never done by a land army: attacking islands lying in the sea. And although the attack from 29 June was unsuccessful, they succeeded in the attack on the island of Chioggia. This attack was not a violation of the agreement with Berengar, because at that time Venice was not part of the Italian kingdom, but was an autonomous republic under Byzantine influence.

Historians disagree about the route taken by which the army returned to the Hungarian lands. On one hand György Szabados believes that the Hungarian army turned back home from Italy without entering Pannonia, avoiding it from the south, because in his opinion they were exhausted of continuous fighting in Italy in the last year, and were loaded up with plunders, so they would not be capable to accomplish such an important mission. The same opinion had György Györffy too in 1974.

On the other hand, Gyula Kristó and István Bóna think that the Hungarian army returning from Italy took part in the conquest of Pannonia, but in different ways. Kristó believes that the returning Hungarian army had the task only to plunder the land, weakening the capability of the inhabitants to withstand the final attack, then crossed the Danube, turning home, and after that two new Hungarian armies, coming from East accomplished the occupation. Bóna believes that the returning Hungarian army played an active role in the conquest of Pannonia, coming from the southwest, when other armies coming from east, from the Eastern part of the Carpathian Basin, crossed the Danube, attacking it from the north and east. He thinks that the Hungarian army came back from Italy because they received an order from home to come help in the conquering of Pannonia, accomplishing it with an encircling movement.

= = = Leaf (payment platform) = = =

Leaf Holdings, Inc., also known as Leaf, is a platform technology that serves as a central hub for small business commerce. The Leaf platform consists of a tablet computer built specifically for Point of Sale (POS), and a cloud-based software tool for business management, analytics, and customer engagement. Leaf is designed to help retail stores, restaurants, and other small businesses improve the speed and ease of checkout, and to help business owners obtain better insight into, and control over their operations.

Leaf was founded in January 2011 by Aron Schwarzkopf and Sebastian Castro and is financially backed by angel investors. Schwarzkopf graduated from Babson College with a degree in entrepreneurship in 2010 and a vague idea of how he wanted to revolutionize the way local companies do business in a world increasingly shifting to the cloud. Since then, he has led Leaf from an idea on a napkin through the introduction of its built-for-business tablet in late 2012, to a platform that processes more than $30 million a year in payments. Leaf started in the Boston metro market and recently revealed plans to move into more than 12 US markets in 2013.

The Leaf platform is made up of three distinct pieces that work together to serve as the hub for small business commerce: The LeafPresenter, LeafBusiness, and the Leaf App Store.

= = = David L. Soltz = = =

David Lee Soltz is an American environmental biologist and the 18th President of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Stolz studied as an undergraduate at University of California, Berkeley, and received his PhD in biology in 1974 from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a doctoral dissertation on variation in the life history and social organization of Nevada pupfish populations. After receiving his PhD, he joined the faculty of California State University at Los Angeles, eventually serving as Dean of its College of Natural and Social Sciences. He then served as Provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington from 2001 to 2007. In November 2007, he was appointed President of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and took up his post in January 2008.

= = = Theodore C. Almquist = = =

Theodore C. Almquist (November 29, 1941 – April 22, 2010) was a Brigadier General in the United States Air Force.

From 1966 to 1967, Almquist was a dental intern at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base. Afterwards, he was assigned to RAF Upper Heyford in England until 1970, at which time he returned to Wilford Hall Medical Center.

In 1972, Almquist became the chief dentist assistant director of general medical practices at Chanute Air Force Base. He remained there until 1975 when he was stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base in West Germany.

From June 1976 to June 1978 he was stationed at Hessich Oldendorf Germany.

In 1978, Almquist again returned to Wilford Hall Medical Center. Two years later, he was assigned to Brooks Air Force Base. From 1984 to 1988, Almquist was Director of Dental Service at Offutt Air Force Base. Later, he was named Command Dental Surgeon for Alaskan Air Command and Base Dental Surgeon at Elmendorf Air Force Base.

Almquist became Assistant Surgeon General for Dental Services of the Air Force and assumed command and Chairman of the first region of Tricare in 1995. He retired in 1998.

Awards he received during his career include the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Outstanding Unit Award with three oak leaf clusters and the National Defense Service Medal with service star.

Having been diagnosed with colon cancer two years earlier, Almquist died in his sleep on the morning of April 22, 2010.

= = = Dave Garrison = = =

David (Dave) H. Garrison is the Host of the Faith & Liberty Talk Show, an American businessman, lawyer, and former Republican candidate for Congress from Texas. Garrison received national attention for his 2012 bid for United States Congress in the 25th district of Texas.

Garrison earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Pre-Law (Political Science & History double major) in 1988. He earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from South Texas College of Law in 1997.

He has been licensed to practice law in the State of Texas since 1997.

Garrison was a senior executive with several companies including Halliburton Corporation and Brown & Root Inc. At Halliburton he worked for several years under former Vice President Dick Cheney who was Halliburton's CEO. Garrison was directly responsible for many of Halliburton's international operations in more than fifty-six countries with 4500 subordinates. He also, has over thirty-eight years of business experience primarily as a senior executive with Fortune 100 companies such as USAA Inc., In January 2008, Dave retired as the Executive Vice President of Corporate Services for USAA Inc. where he had responsibility for many aspects of corporate operations.

Dave is also the author of over 100 newspaper columns published in the Washington Examiner, Gannett Newspapers, and The Circleville Herald

Garrison ran for U.S. Congress in 2012 (TX-R CD25) where he was one of the leading candidates in a field of twelve candidates. Dave received the only A+ rating from Heritage Alliance and the Texas Eagle Forum. Further, Dave received the highest ratings possible from the National Right to Life (NRLC) and the National Rifle Association (NRA).

He came in fourth in the Republican primary on May 29, 2012, with slightly less than 12% of the vote, being beaten by Wes Riddle and Roger Williams, who advanced to the run-off; Williams was elected in November 2012.

Garrison teaches in the Ohio Christian University Business program, where he created new majors, conducted a regular Rome, Italy study abroad program, added a Business plan competition and developed a Business Advisory Council. He was named as the “Faculty of the Year” for 2010/2011 for Ohio Christian University.

He is the Dean of the School of Business & Government Department for Ohio Christian University. He is also the founder, producer, and host for the Faith & Liberty Talk Show (a podcast), a production of the Ohio Christian University Business & Government Department. The Faith & Liberty Talk Show premiered on January 18, 2013. During the show, he interviews many different nationally known authorities who have had significant accomplishments in politics, literature, business, economics, religion, and many other areas relevant to Christians engaging the political and civil arena.

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