environmentally friendly. india is the fifth largest car market in the world and growing, meaning at present, the focus will be on that growth and not what's best for the environment. aljazeera.com, you should check it out. >> the unemployment rate hits an low. a u.n. paneling sides with the wikileaks founder, but britain says he is still wanted for arrest. and hillary clinton and bernie sanders trade accusations days before the primary.

treyeding is just getting underway on wall street and the markets are reacting. the labor department says the pace of hiring slowed last month, but the unemployment rate went down. patty break this down for us. >> reporter: the economy added 151,000 jobs last month. in that was lower than a lot of expectations, but it was still above 150. the unemployment rate dropped to 4.9% as stephanie said that is the lowest rate in nearly eight years. and the number of people participating in the labor force, that went up, and that is a really, really positive sign. another positive are manufacturing jobs. the economy added 29,000 of them

last month. the u.s. dollar has been so strong compared to other currencies, so was super encouraging. average wages went up as well. so stephanie, even though the pace of jobs creation is slowing down, this report was not all bad. >> we want to see that wage growth that's for sure. >> exactly. 10,000 people in the united states lost their jobs when wal-mart announced the closing of 154 of its stores. today the final one of those stores will close its doors. most of the shutdowns were in rural areas. jonathan martin joins us from fairfield, alabama where the wal-mart store closed last week. what has that meant to the economy? >> reporter: good morning, it has been a week or so, and

people are telling me they are feeling the impact. a lot of seniors saying it has been tough to find produce and meats, because there is no other grocery store in the city limits. less than 10 miles outside of birmingham, alabama, fairfield is a city that has seen its share of hard luck. a quarter of the residents live in poverty. and a steel plant laid off a thousand workers last year. but the mayor says no one was expecting to hear that wal-mart would shut its doors. >> reporter: it is a devastating blow to this community. >> reporter: wal-mart's closing leaves a food desert. many in fairfield don't own cars

and about 20% of citizens are seniors. >> a grocery store in a community is a hub. people have to have groceries. they are human. they have to eat. >> wal-mart supplied our pharmacy, clothing, food, all of the other necessities that we needed. >> reporter: wal-mart recently closed more than 150 stores across the country, fairfield is one of three communities where it has left a food desert. the federal go considers a food desert a community where at least a fifth of residents live in poverty. without wal-mart the nearest grocery store is just a few miles away, but the problem is getting there. there is a lack of public transportation, and if you are walking you have to cross this busy highway, where there is no

sidewalk. >> it's sad for us seniors. we got to do without, unless we have a family member that is going to bring you your food, you know. >> reporter: wal-mart issued a statement saying in part: the mayor tells us he and other officials pleaded with wal-mart officials not to close, but worrieies those efforts came to late. and again, stephanie, the mayor said right now they don't even know if they can stay open as a city, because 30% of their tax base is now gone, and if you come downtown here in fairfield about 50 to 60% of the mom and pop stores are closed and so

wal-mart was just another devastating blow to this community, and right now there is no word on whether any other retailer or grocery store will fill the void. >> yeah. jonathan does wal-mart have plans to close more u.s. stores? >> reporter: at this point there is no mention of anymore mass closings. but i talked to a spokesperson the other day and he toll me they have plans to open about a hundred stores in 2016, but a lot of those stores opening are not necessarily going into these underserved communities, a lot of these communities where there are food deserts. so it is not necessarily going to fix the issue here. >> thank you. state officials in california say a huge gas leak near l.a. could be capped by the

end of next week. it has been leaking methane for months forcing thousands from their homes. even if the leak is capped soon, the economic impact may be felt for a long time there, stephanie stanton reports. >> reporter: at the nail garden salon at partner ranch, empty chairs are now the norm? what used to be a thriving business. >> you used to see every spa chair or all of these front chairs filled up, and phone calls would not stop. >> reporter: she says business has dropped nearly 60% since the gas leak. >> they really miss coming here. and every time they come here, we catch up on everything. and it's really good to see them. >> reporter: the salon is one of several small businesses taking

part in class action lawsuit against the gas company. the attorney is overseeing the lawsuit which aims to collect a billion dollars in damages. >> i don't think it is far fetched to think they will be able to recover those damages. when you are talking about an entire community that has suffered losses, the combined total is easily a billion dollars. >> reporter: the development center is offering small business loans to help keep businesses afloat during the crisis. >> every business we have talked to have protested the notion of getting a small business loan when they don't know when the business will be back. >> reporter: this empty house has been on the market for more than four months. it is one of 57 current listings. >> when we look at the same time period last year, homes definitely were on the market a

shorter time period last year than currently, and that has to do with perception of the gas leak. >> reporter: this real estate broker says he is always loosing clients because two banks have halted lending. >> there are a couple of large bankings that are not lending, but there are quite a few smaller banks that still lend. but if the perception is, i can't get a loan, that is going to stop many from buying. >> reporter: stewart and this realtor are both joining the class action lawsuit, hoping to recoup losses. >> i started marketing here. people know me, so it is really hard for me just to close my business in real estate and go to another area. >> reporter: and with the well still leaking methane, the forecast remains uncertain at best. new revelations in flint

over how much state leaders new about the water crisis. governor snyder's office was made aware of an outbrake of legionnaires' disease since last march. snyder said he didn't learn about the outbreak until january. and the state senate passed legislation on tuesday giving money for the water bills. the new hampshire prime minister mare is just four days away, and the gloves seemingly off for the democrats. after months of campaigning which many saw as friendly, hillary clinton and bernie sanders clashed on the debate stage last night.

>> i really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you, and enough is enough. if you have got something to say, say it, directly, but you will not find that i ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that i ever received. >> in my view, the business model of wall street is fraud. it's fraud. i believe that corruption is rampant. >> reporter: the latest poll shows sander's support in new hampshire is almost double clinton's. he has a strong backs since he's from neighboring vermont. donald trump still holds a wide lead in new hampshire. he at a 29% right now, marco rubio is second at 18%, ted cruz and john kasich follow behind him, and their support is all

within the poll's margin of error. as erika pitzi reports undecided voters are shopping until the last moment. >> reporter: rain or snow this morning, voters are turning out in droves. most voters say they are trying to make at least five campaign events before primary on tuesday. and a lot of the represents we have been going to, we have been seeing at least 100 people packing into these meet and greets, and lot of people saying it is really important to hear and see these candidates in person. the reason? they want to see if these candidates are as sincere as they seem to be. >> i want to see if i'm listening to somebody who is just giving me a canned speech or somebody who is genuine. >> reporter: new hampshire voters take this process very seriously. in this state they don't even have to pick a party until the

moment they cast their ballot on tuesday, so the candidates know this, they say -- chris christie saying yesterday, new hampshires like to shop, and that is certainly true. they can choose either democrats or republicans come primary day. steph? >> erika pitzi thank you. new hampshire voters are split over what they want out of the campaign. 66% of democrats say the country is on the right track, only 5% of republicans agree. it is a snowy day in new hampshire, and knowy here in new york city as well. it's not clear if the weather played a role in a crane collapse that happened in lower manhattan. the crane about a block long fell on a number of cars. rescue teams are on the scene. the storm hitting new york is stretching all the way north way past boston.

let's bring in nicole mitchell for more on that. >> reporter: this is the front. it pulled through, but then a storm that moved its way up the coastline, and that's what we are dealing a lot of people would happily get rid of this particular system. right now it is snow anywhere from the mid-atlantic northward into new england. the higher amounts are the closer or the farther out you get to the atlantic, and then the farther north. a lot of these temperatures are right at this freezing mark. it's a little slushy in some cases as it hits the ground, and with temperatures going up through the day a lot of this will melt pretty quickly. here are some of those places

that could get bigger totals. boston, 4 to 8, up in to maine, 8 to 12. i mentioned the developing area. this clears out. that front is still lingering and by the time get into tomorrow, we could have redevelopment once again, anywhere from florida up to about north carolina, watch for potential rain during the day tomorrow. and finally, hopefully that is the end of everything. besides that a little snow for the midwest, and another system pushing into the west. a lot of my colleagues around the country are getting nice things. all i'm getting is complaints about the ruined weekend. >> i'll take you out to lunch later. thanks nicole. one woman's fight to get justice in afghanistan. an american outsider working the system. ♪

>> from rural midwest to war-torn mideast. she went for the money and found a greater calling... wikileaks founder is calling a ruling from the u.n. is victory. he is trying to avoid extradition to sweden as part of a sex crime investigation. he addressed the ruling earlier this morning.

>> there has been a final decision. there is no ability to appeal the decision of the united nations. the lawfulness of my detention or otherwise is now a matter of settled law. hence if they proceed to underfine the u.n. system, we'll see -- we'll seek various enforcement measures that can be taken by the u.n. >> britain, though, said the ruling was not legal. three found in assanges favor, one ruled against, and one didn't take part. afghanistan's justice system is a mix of old laws and systems. a new al jazeera's documentary, "motley's law," talks about a woman who is still working to

bring justice to afghanistan. >> the court is ruling on the forged signature and illegal documents for its decision. is what he is saying? ask him what money does he owe to people that didn't even come to court as witnesses? how much did he -- he talked about two witnesses. how much money is he saying he owes to people who didn't even come to court? no witnesses. so he is convicted on no witnesses, still. to whom does he owe money to and also part of the verdict is supposed to be you explaining how much money he owes. because he is being held illegally. [ inaudible ] that's according

to afghan law. one of the principles of the holy quran is that every person is born innocent and the one who brings the charge or accuses the other one is the one who is supposed to produce the guilt. no evidence, and the response we get today is that's our problem. >> her client was released by the way. the subject of that documentary, she joined us earlier this morning. >> it was a financial opportunity for myself as well as my family. i went in 2008 with a nice hefty bill of student loans as well as my husband, and also the mother of three kids, so it really was for the financial opportunity. now what has kept me in

afghanistan is more than that. it's more than just money. it's basically understanding that the people in afghanistan and those that come to afghanistan, they deserve good legal eventation. >> and you do say in the documentary that you are able to make money from the foreigners who get caught up in the justice system there, but you take on a lot of pro bono cases. how do you work within a legal system that would jail a woman for adultery who's husband tried to strangle her? >> well, it wasn't necessarily mean that the laws have to make sense that i'm defending against. but within afghanistan unfortunately a person that is charged with adultery is often the victim of a crime, which the

justice system often overlooks. colleges in florida are one step closer to becoming more gun friendly. the state house passed a bill allowing some people to bring concealed guns. as ines ferre reports, not everyone wants them there. >> reporter: the bill approved by the florida house would allow permit holders 21 or older to carry concealed guns on college campuses. another the university of kansas one student activist correctly outlined what the policy allowing guns on campus would mean there. >> guns will be allowed in the dormitories. your students will be able to conceal carry in all of the classrooms. >> reporter: the university of texas is working on rules to comply with a new state law allowing concealed carry. at a recent campus debate, john lutz said concealed handguns

deter attacks on campus. >> time after time, where these killers explicitly talk about picking a place where theying don't believe people have guns, because they know they can kill more people before they get stopped. they explicitly talk about time after time. >> reporter: open carry is allowed in texas but not on college campuses. a recent survey show 68% of students oppose a bill being considered in this the legislature to allow guns on campus. at least 11 prohibit guns all together, and the rest either require guns to be left in locked cars or leave the decision up to colleges. ines ferre, al jazeera. still ahead . . . ♪ do you remember >> saying good-bye to a man who

helped define the sound of a generation. ♪ while i'm chasing the clouds away ♪

♪ do you remember >> the music world is mourning a major loss today, the founder of earth wind and fire has died. the record producer david foster, spoke about white's importance to the music world. >> i just thought he was

amazing. he was in my head all the time, going you'll never work with earth wind and fire. every artist that you can name right now -- >> he is on that tree from earth wind and fire. >> yeah. the gap band -- it all came from earth wind and fire. all of it. >> the band won six grammy awards and was inducted into the fall of fame in 2000. maurice white was 74. a huge dog race is coming to an end tomorrow in wyoming. >> reporter: the top athletes in wyoming are completing. this week canine competitors battle for top honors and over 200,000 in prize money in the

largest sled dog race in the lower 48. for most dog sled racing produces images of the iditarod. but in wyoming it's about speed. for the human handlers this sport is more than just a hobby, it's a way of life. they are a close knit group, and competition is more camaraderie than cut throat. dog sled racing is open to anyone who wants to compete. all you need is a dozen dogs, and the ability to withstand bitter cold and extreme terrain. bragging rights won't come until saturday when a new winner is crowned. one musher and a team of dedicated dogs. >> slightly more accessible than the iditarod, which is a

thousand miles. thajs -- thanks for watching. i'm stephanie sy. have a great weekend. ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello a warm welcome to the news hour. i'm jane dutton in doha. coming up, thousands of syrians flee the aleppo countryside, as government forces break through rebel defenses. burundi refugees sheltering in camps speak of killings allegely by government militia.