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U.S. Troops Withdraw from Syria; President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump Make Surprise Visit to Iraq; Wild Year for U.S. Stock Market; Government Shutdown Effecting Some National Parks and Photography; Different New Year Traditions in the United States

Aired January 03, 2019 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: This is 2019`s first edition of CNN 10. Welcome to everyone watching worldwide and Happy New Year. I`m Carl Azuz. CNN 10

is your source of effective explanations of current events and this Thursday`s show starts with a look at a planned withdraw of U.S. troops

from Syria. About 2,000 American troops are in the Middle Eastern country. Syria`s been in the midst of a civil war since 2011 and members of the U.S.

military were first deployed there in 2015 to help in the fight against the ISIS terrorist group. Last month U.S. President Donald Trump announced

that his Administration was taking steps to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria.

The statement reportedly came as a surprise to several American officials and it appeared to lead to the resignation of U.S. Defense Secretary James

Mattis. The day after President Trump`s plan was made public, Secretary Mattis sent him a letter that said the President has the right to a Defense

Secretary who`s views are better aligned with those of the Commander-in- Chief. President Trump has said that ISIS is mostly gone. That withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria would save lives and billions of dollars

and that it follows through on a campaign promise he made.

Critics have said that ISIS terrorists could reemerge if U.S. forces leave Syria too soon and that the withdraw could cause more instability in the

Middle Eastern country. At first President Trump said the pull out would happen within 30 days but the New York Times reported on Monday that the

President had extended that timeframe to four months. While debate over the U.S. role in Syria was taking place, President Trump and First Lady

Melania Trump made a surprise visit to another Middle Eastern country where U.S. troops are deployed. Their trip to Iraq took place the day after

Christmas.

Up next today, the U.S. stock market just wrapped up a wild year. There was extra reason for the applause on December 26th. The Dow Jones

Industrial Average, an index of 30 different significant stocks had it`s biggest day in history rising more than 1,000 points. This happened the

same year as it`s biggest drop in history. The Dow closed down more than 1,100 points on February 5th. Overall, analysts say 2018 was the worst

year for stocks since 2008 but it was also the year the DOW hit it`s all time record high. So extreme volatility, major changes in stocks driven by

everything from inflation fears and interest rate increases to rising wages. How are these swings felt on the trading floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does the market excite you when it goes up or down? Yes. Am I boisterous, loud, obnoxious guy? Absolutely. Do I have wild

and crazy hair? Yes. Do I look like Einstein? Absolutely. Am I half as smart as him? By no means. If you ask anyone around the room and you know

me at all, I get really excited about things that are upbeat and downbeat. I get upset about things. I am an emotional guy. For me, it`s super fun.

I mean, I love seeing my picture everywhere. Are there pictures that have been out there that I am embarrassed about? Not particularly. I don`t get

embarrassed easily.

I mean look at me. How can I get embarrassed? So, the way I dress. I also am a superstitious guy. I wear certain ties all the time. You have

to realize this job is really stressful in dealing with real money. A lot of people who I came up with are not here anymore. On any given day, we`re

sort of fighting for our lives in a lot of ways to represent our customers. Right? And do the right thing. So the emotions that you see are real.

The press used to not be down here. It was not until 2007 that photographers were really allowed on a regular basis to come down to the

floor. 2007, 2008 was the financial crisis.

The press was here a lot. I`m trying to get a sense of where the market`s been trading overnight. Market trades overnight due to headlines, news,

any number of things. In New York, this room, the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, even though we don`t do the buying we once did. It`s the

most significant place that impact markets all over the world. It was really very few outlets to get yourself onto the floor. You knew a friend

and you came down and you start at the bottom and went to the top.

So, my family has no background in finance. I just happen to be lucky that my path ended up that way. I got a job as a teletypisttt and I really

enjoyed it. I loved it. I loved the energy here on the floor. They have to realize it was a bustling - - it was like Grand Central Station back

then. This room is where I work actually and there were thousands of people here. Everything was done with a pad and paper. The floors were

full of paper by 9:30-10 o`clock in the morning. There were different rungs to go off to get to where you really wanted to go which was to have a

seat. That was your goal.

It was an exclusive (inaudible). It was a real honor to become a member of the Stock Exchange. The whole key to this game is communication. There`s

a lot less of it going on now that we use these computers. I can hide in the corner, send my order flow out and nobody needs to know what I`m doing.

But I tend to be one who likes to interact with another human being. But I`ve been here through the "Crash of `87", 9/11, Trump, Brexit, North

Korea. I`ve been here through the financial crisis of `08-`09. So every day here is stressful. Everyday is super exciting. You can (ph) still be

a broker on the floor.

It`s taken a lot of reinventing of myself over the years because the business has changed. I really honor the fact that I`ve had to re-brand

myself and make myself like famous and the most noticed broker in the world. And for me that`s the greatest thing in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARL AZUZ: Even though the U.S. government is partially shutdown, we`re going to have coverage on that in tomorrow`s show. National Parks have

stayed open. They haven`t during some previous shutdowns. They are significantly under staffed and because of that some parts of them are

closed like the campgrounds of California`s Joshua Tree National Park. They`re toilet tanks are filled to capacity. Still, parts are accessible

to many of those who document their beauty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get really (inaudible) with people change photos a lot and edit them. It`s like looking at "Mother Nature" and being like,

"oh that`s not good enough. Let me make you better." We`re in Joshua Tree National Park and pretty incredible. Seeing the Joshua Tree`s, they just

don`t grow everywhere. They`re kind of, you know, in the lower southwest part of the United States. They just look like Dr. Seuss everywhere. We

pull up in the big blue truck and we pull a massive camera out of the back.

People don`t even really know what kind of questions to ask. Like, do you see something that - - that I don`t see? We like to use wet plate

photography and that`s a little more complicated. The wet plate process is responsible for creating the first National Parks. In the 1800`s, you

know, the guys, they`d go out on like these exploratory missions and they`d make these images of the parks and then they`d work their way back to the

East Coast. And people had never seen what was out in the west.

And I kind of just wanted to walk in their footsteps if I could or just feel a little bit of what they did. So that`s what really drew me. You

got to work to make the picture. You`ve got to really work. You make your own film. We cut the glass plates. We make the cameras. We made every

piece in the truck and made everything with my own hands. It`s pretty rad.

Our process takes all day to make a single image, so it forces us to sit there and look at the environment. I like how that branch is going over

that one. And see how the lights changing and really just, like, soak it in. I just look for things that inspire me. Like the trees to me, they

didn`t look like landscape, grand things, they have their own individual personalities. So, just isolating some of them and having some of them

blurry kind of like a portrait. One, two, three. Instead of just drive by, I call it fast food photography. You`re just shooting whatever and

then you`re gone.

I think we got it. The reason I really fell in love with this process is because when we make that plate and we develop it, that`s the only one of

those that exists. The idea of having one, especially in this day and age, it`s really neat to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARL AZUZ: One of the most famous American New Year`s traditions is when a giant ball drops at midnight over New York City`s Time Square. For

something not as famous, but maybe more interesting take the "Acorn Drop" in Raleigh, North Carolina. A fitting event for the "City of the Oaks".

There`s also a "Pickle Drop" in Mt. Olive, North Carolina, home of a brand that makes pickles and in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where Peep candy is

made. Well there`s this. Now, this is the part of the show where we usually drop in a corny pun.

And honestly we`d be in a pickle if we didn`t. A lot of "peeps" would drop us complaints if we didn`t ring in the New Year with new puns and frankly

just saying them is a "ball". They`re an "Auld Lang Sign" that things are back on track. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10.

END