CARL AZUZ,
CNN 10 ANCHOR: Global news for a global audience. This is CNN 10.
Welcome,
everyone. I'm Carl Azuz.
The Middle
Eastern nation of Israel is planning to expand its settlements, its housing
areas in the West Bank. We start today by explaining why that's significant.
The West
Bank is a disputed area of land in the ongoing conflict between Israelis and
Palestinians. It used to be controlled by the nation of Jordan. But during a
brief war, in 1967, Israel captured the land and claimed it as its own. Today,
Israel says part of the land is historically theirs, part is politically
theirs. It uses some of the land to provide security and it says it needs the
space to give more housing to its people.
The
Palestinians in the region say the land is theirs and that it was stolen.
They're hoping to have the West Bank as part of a future country of their own.
And Palestinian officials say Israel's decision to build new settlements there
would threaten the region's security and put an obstacle in front of any efforts
to achieve peace between Palestinians and Israelis.
Timing may
factor in the Israel's decision. The U.S. has historically been an Israeli
ally. But the Obama administration was strongly opposed to Israel's
construction of new settlements. Now, with the Trump administration in power,
international experts expect that the U.S. will more supportive of Israel's
settlements.
Up next,
major changes in the U.S. government's immigration policy.
(BEGIN
VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD
TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just signed two executive orders that
will save thousands of lives, millions of jobs, and billions and billions of
dollars.
(END VIDEO
CLIP)
AZUZ: One
of them that President Trump announced yesterday has to do with sanctuary
cities. These are cities that shelter people who are in the U.S. illegally. For
example, police forces in these cities might not help U.S. government officials
find and deport undocumented immigrants, unless they've committed certain
crimes. President Trump wants to punish these cities for not cooperating with
the federal government and he'd do that by taking away certain funds they get
from the government.
"The
Wall Street Journal" reports that the president's ability to this is
limited without congressional approval, but that he could slow down the process
of giving these cities certain grants.
Critics of
the executive actions say President Trump doesn't have the constitutional
authority to carry it out and that pressuring cities to deport illegal
immigrants could tear families apart.
The other
actions the president announced yesterday: add thousands of U.S. border patrol
agents and thousands of other government officials to deport undocumented
immigrants. This would require congressional approval to pay for.
And
something the president repeatedly promised to do while campaigning -- build a
physical border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. President Trump says this
will help the U.S. get back control of its borders and that the wall would help
Mexico as well by discouraging illegal immigration from countries south of
Mexico.
Mr. Trump
plans to use U.S. government funds to pay for the construction and then get
Mexico to pay America back. That's something Mexican leaders have said they
won't do and critics say the wall would be a monumental waste of U.S. taxpayer
money.
(BEGIN
VIDEOTAPE)
JASON
CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What would it take to build a wall on the border
between the United States and Mexico?
You're
talking about an area 1,954 miles, stretching across California, Arizona, New
Mexico and right here in Texas -- just about 100 yards away from Mexico.
We spoke
to civil engineers, architects and academics. They all say the wall can be
built. It can be done. The question is, how?
The first
thing one has to do is, before you go up, you have to go down and build a
foundation. This will help provide support for the wall. In order to prevent
people from tunneling under it, it should be at least five feet deep.
The second
thing one must consider is what do you use to build the wall? What materials do
you go after? Well, how about cinderblock?
The upside
is it's strong; it's secure; it's readily available. The downside is, it's
labor intensive to have to stack every single brick in order to build the wall.
So, our experts say that option doesn't work.
There is
another option. Using poured concrete on site. That's what they did when they
built the Hoover Dam. The downside to that is when you poor concrete in warmer
climates like along many of these border states, experts say what you could end
up with is a weaker wall, because the concrete might not dry correctly, meaning
a wall that could end up crumbling.
So what
could be the answer here?
The
experts that we spoke to say the way to go is pre-casted cement wall panels.
Those panels will be lined side by side, sort of like what you might see on a
highway. Each panel would be about 20 feet high. Again, five feet below ground.
About ten feet wide and eight inches thick.
Again,
that wall would be stretching some 2,000 miles, and our expert says it would
require 339 million cubic feet of concrete. And that's just for the panels.
You're also going to need reinforced steel. At least 5 billion pounds.
So what
about the estimated cost?
Because it
hasn't been done before, let's use those highway panels as an example. They
cost about $40 a square foot. That would end up costing about $10.5 billion.
Sounds like a lot of money, is a lot of money.
But again,
remember, Donald Trump says the U.S. government wouldn't end up footing the
bill on this one. It would be Mexico.
And what
about the timing on all of this? How long would it take to build? According to
our expert, if you're ambitious, you could get it done within a presidential
term, four years.
Jason
Carroll, CNN, McAllen, Texas.
(END
VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN
VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ
(voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
What do
Apple, Home Depot, McDonald's and Walt Disney have in common? Are they all
based in California, part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, part of the
NASDAQ, or none of these?
All four
of these companies are included in the Dow, an average of 30 major U.S. stocks.
(END VIDEO
CLIP)
AZUZ: The
Dow is one indicator of the health of the U.S. economy. It's not the only one.
But a rising stock market is usually seen as a good economic sign. And
yesterday, the Dow hit a high note: 20,000, for the first time ever.
This
number shows that the value of stocks in the average increased. The fact that
it's climbed this high shows that stock market investors are optimistic about
the direction the economy is going in.
Experts
credit the work of two U.S. leaders for the climb.
One,
President Trump. Analysts believe his plans to cut taxes, increased spending on
roads and bridges and reduced regulations on business could help increase
corporate profits and help the American economy growth faster.
Two,
former President Obama. Analysts believe the economy he left behind, which saw
years of job growth and a decreasing unemployment rate also contributed to the
Dow's rise, since the great recession brought it down in early 2009. The
recovery from that was considered to be slow. But the economy's health has
noticeably improved.
(BEGIN
VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
REPORTER:
It was mid-November 1972. This hit was number one on the Billboard charts.
Richard Nixon had just won reelection and on Wall Street, traders marked Dow
1,000, with IBM, the growth stock of the day, leading the charge. It was the
first truly mega Wall Street milestone.
It took
the Dow 27 years to hit 10,000, in March 1999.
(MUSIC)
REPORTER:
Cher's hit "Believe" was topping the charts. Stocks were truly a
force of nature back then. And at the end NYSE, traders went nuts.
STEPHEN
GUILFOYLE, PRESIDENT, SARGE986: That was kind of a big deal. At that time,
there were still a lot of people down here. We probably still have between us
and the Amex, maybe 7,500 people. So, at that time, yes, it was confetti in the
air, with everybody wearing baseball caps.
REPORTER:
A little event called the global financial crisis leveled stocks in 2008,
sending the Dow plunging below 7,000. But those with the stomach for rest were
rewarded when stocks roared back.
President
Trump's victory in November sparked a powerful rally, bringing the Dow less
than a point away from 20,000. Stocks turned choppy. The milestone remained
elusive.
Some may
play down these benchmarks, but soaring stocks can boost consumer confidence,
and for traders on the New York Stock Exchange, big round numbers remain
magical.
(END
VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ:
Nothing says "I love you" like naming a roach. At New York City's
Bronx Zoo, love is in the air as Valentine's Day nears. What they're allowing
people to do is to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after a loved one, or as
they put it, a not-so loved one.
Since the
annual event started in 2011, more than 11,000 roaches had been named. For 10
bucks, you get a certificate. For 50, you can get that, some chocolates and a
flash roach doll. Of course, the lucky lady or gentleman might hate that
approach. They might respond with reproach, or they might broach the subject of
a breakup.
On the
other leg, if they have their antennae out for something unusual, and this
doesn't make them hiss-terical or encroach on any other plans, maybe they'll
find it truly roachmantic.
I'm Carl
Azuz.