Seleucus IV Philopator, ruler of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, reigned from 187 BC to 175 BC over a realm consisting of Syria, Mesopotamia and Nearer Iran. He was the second son and successor of Antiochus III the Great and Laodice III. Seleucus IV wed his sister Laodice IV, by whom he had three children: two sons Antiochus, Demetrius I Soter and a daughter Laodice V. Seleucus was made co-ruler with his father, acceded as sole Basileus upon Antiochus' death in 187 BC, he was compelled by financial necessities, created in part by the heavy war-indemnity exacted by Rome in the Treaty of Apamea which concluded their war with the Seleucids in 188 BC, to pursue an ambitious policy. In an effort to collect money to pay the Romans, he sent his minister Heliodorus to Jerusalem to seize the Jewish temple treasury; the Bible tells of a prophecy given by a messenger angel in Daniel 11:20. The text states that Seleucus "will be remembered as the king who sent a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor."

The deuterocanonical lends more to this in 2 Maccabees 3:2-3... "It came to pass that the kings themselves, the princes esteemed the place worthy of the highest honour, glorified the temple with great gifts: So that Seleucus king of Asia allowed out of his revenues all the charges belonging to the ministry of the sacrifices." On his return from Jerusalem, Heliodorus assassinated Seleucus, installed Seleucus' younger son Antiochus as king. The true heir Demetrius, son of Seleucus, was now being retained in Rome as a hostage, the kingdom was seized by the younger brother of Seleucus, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Antiochus managed to oust Heliodorus and co-ruled with the young Antiochus until 170 BC when he had him murdered. List of Syrian monarchs Timeline of Syrian history Seleucus IV Philopator entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith

A serious outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease occurred in South Korea in 2010–2011, leading to the culling of hundreds of thousands of pigs in an effort to contain it. The outbreak began in November 2010 in pig farms in Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do, has since spread in the country rapidly. More than 100 cases of foot-and-mouth disease have been confirmed in the country so far, South Korean officials have started a mass cull of 12 percent of the entire domestic pig population and 107,000 of three million cattle of the country to halt the outbreak; as parts of the culling process, it was reported by some sections of the English-language media that the South Korean government had decided to bury 1.4 million pigs alive, which drew complaints from animal activists. The American animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals started online campaigns, arguing that the animals should be vaccinated rather than buried alive. Joyce D'Silva, Director of Public Affairs for Compassion in World Farming, said that they are "appalled", argued that it is contrary to international guidelines on humane culling, which the South Korean government endorsed.

However the local media had only reported that there had been incidents of swine being buried alive, that a South Korean agriculture ministry official had confirmed some incidents, but that they had been few, explaining that "officials are rushed to stop the spread, the number of people involved is too small for the operation," and that until a more humane way to cull the infected swine is found, the government will have to resort to burying the infected animals alive because the "government has temporarily run out of euthanasia drugs."On 12 January 2011, local officials stated that more than US$1 billion worth of livestock have been lost so far to the disease, including government efforts to halt the spread. According to Kim Jae-hong, a veterinary science professor at Seoul National University, the outbreak is "the most serious in Korea's history" and it is difficult to say when the spread of the disease will be stopped, he said that "the most important thing right now is to control movement in and out of the farmhouses that are affected, disinfect the cars around the area".

South Korea's Citizens' Institute for Environmental Studies revealed 32 places that had dead livestocks buried around 4 drinking water facilities in Gyeonggi-do. A ProMED-mail post described the epizootic and subsequent cancellations of festivities as being reminiscent of Britain's February 19, 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, more so of an outbreak in Japan beginning late March 2010, caused by the same strain of the virus. In that epizootic cattle herds were found to be 3.9-4.5 times more susceptible to the virus than pig herds, but pig herds had 5.0-13.6 times greater relative infectiousness.

Pahrump Valley is a Mojave Desert valley west of Las Vegas and the Spring Mountains massif in southern Nye County and eastern San Bernardino County, California. Pahrump, Nevada, is in the valley's center and the Tecopa and Chicago Valleys are to the west; the valley has routes to a route to Las Vegas. Pahrump along with Valley Electric will soon be the first town in Nevada to offer fiber internet to each house within its geographical area; the Pahrump Valley was crossed by the Old Spanish Trail and the Salt Lake Road. The large block of the Spring Mountains borders Pahrump Valley on the northeast and east, with Nevada State Route 160 skirting parts of the mountain's south, being the only due west route from Las Vegas. Route 160 turns northwest to Pahrump in the valley's center-north meets U. S. Route 95 at the valley's north perimeter. Carpenter Canyon road runs about 10 miles to Carpenter Canyon. Carpenter Canyon creek is one of the few year round fish creeks in the Spring Mountains. In California, the Nopah Range borders the valley's southwest, with the north of the adjacent Resting Spring Range merging north to form the northwest border of the Pahrump Valley.

The east-west Kingston Range is the southern border of the valley. The closest community to Pahrump is Shoshone, California, 25 mi southwest, with Ash Meadows Ranch and Death Valley Junction, California farther to the northwest; the Pahrump Valley Wilderness is in the southern Pahrump Valley, the northern Kingston Range, the California and Mesquite Valleys. McCracken, Robert D.. Pahrump: A Valley Waiting to Become a City. Tonapah, NV: Nye County Press. Pp. 77. ISBN 1-878138-53-7. OCLC 25273619