>> good morning. this is al jazeera. i'm racial kerry. this is something the united states needs to do. >> significant 74th from across the i'll. the speaker of the house says he will back president obama. and strike against syria as he joins world leaders, group of 20 in russia. state department knew of scwurt problems including benghazi and refused to fix

them. and cleveland's ariel castro has been dead in his ohio jail cell. first out of cleveland, the man accused of holding three women captive can, is dead. stephanie sy is here. >> ariel castro had not been on suicide watch until june. his attorneys tried unsuccessfully to have him examined for issues. ohio department of corrections issued a statement saying he was housed in protective custody which means he was in a cell by himself. rounds were required every 30 minutes, after finding castro,

prison staff porkd lifesaving measures but it was too late. it's been just over a month since castro began serving life plus 1,000 years in prison after pleading guilty to 937 charges among them kidnapping, rape and aggravated murder for forcing one of his victims to marry. castro abducted amanda berry,. mcial,mohammad and michelle knight and gina dejesus. tearful knight spoke in front of the court. >> you have given years of my

life away and i have come back. i spent 11 years in hell. now your hell is just beginning. >> in july all three women released this youtube video to thank their supporters. >> first and foremost i want everybody to know how happy i am to be home with my family, my friends. >> i was sick. thank you. >> the boarded home where cast strowe had beaten tortured and raped his victims for so many years torn down through the plea deal. castro's own brothers called him a monster during the trial. we've yet to hear from his brothers or victims. joining us now, welcome. a research fellow at the university in oxford. specializes in the mental health

of prisoners. thank you so much for your time. are you surprised he wasn't on suicide watch? >> well, that's difficult to comment on, really, sometimes being on suicide watch is counterproductive. prisoners find it frustrating to be looked at all the time and observed very long. it's not practical to keep inmates on suicide watch. it doesn't spriers me wasn't on -- surprise me wasn't on suicide watch. >> dr. frizel, this man months later killed himself. what's going on in the psyche of someone who does that? >> i mean, who knows. again, it's very difficult to know. it's likely that all these different things are going on in his mind, all these thrntion are coming -- things are coming together.

going to prison itself is a very stressful experience. all memories of his childhood and other things are coming together plus there's the expense of being in prison. he wanted to be believed a little bit, we don't know, there may be all sorts of problems of just being in a place that's unfamiliar to him. and some prisoners you know suffer quite severe distress coming off illegal drugs and alcohol which they're previously addicted to. in his case, in ariel castro's case, he does talk about an addiction to sex. just not having access to pornography or whatever else he used was very citrusful to him. >> in your capacity as a mental health professional, i'd be remiss not to talk about the victims, how do you think the suicide affects them? >> well, i think in different

ways. i mean i think some victims are likely to feel relieved, you know, in some ways. if it's closure for them, and in other ways, if people haven't been very open about what's happened and haven't expressed a lot of remorse, that also might be difficult for victims because they feel that their perpetrators must come to terms with what's happened to them and you know express regret and sorrow for what's happened so i think kit work both ways. >> thank you so much for your insight, we appreciate it, dr. brazel, senior floe at the university of oxford, england. thank you. the president wants to take military action in syria and make his pitch at the g-20

summit that pushes off on thursday. he did say he would not rule out support of military action but only after formal u.n. approval. here at home the president has gained support from a powerful political point house spieker john boehner. after speaking with other congressional leaders, boehner endorsed the plan. >> the united states has the capability to stop assad and to warn others around the world that this type of behavior is not going to be tolerated. this is something that the united states as a country needs to do. i'm going to support the president's call for action. i believe that my colleagues should support this call for action. >> also, at the meeting house minority leader nancy pelosi

reiterated her support. take a brief departure from national security and the economy and showed a softer side of american diplomacy. joining us now is mike viquera who is joining the president. even though this is a little bit of an escape from the issue of syria, his main mission would be taking this to world leaders i would imagine. >> certainly here smiles and statesmanship, a serenity is what we're going oget in stockholm. that is a marked departure for the president when he left an dreus air force base. the reason he was here is because he's not in moscow. you recall after the g-8 summit earlier this year in northern

ireland, the white house came out and announced the president was going to have a bilal meeting with vladimir putin. that's a snub no doubt about it. after russia granted temporary asylum to edward snowden, an nsa fugitive. this is now going to be doubtlessly overshadowed by the situation in syria. the president will have at least two bilal sessions at the g-8. he will meet with floonld francois hollande, he's not expected to meet formally with vladimir putin. l although there will be some

sort of formaliz informal meeti. fps relations seem to be at an all time low. there have been blowups over adoption policy between american parents, putin essentially banning american parents from adopting russian children,s, there's been a blow up over gay rights. the president has rejected this out of hand. we'll see how this goes. >> absolutely. one question about sweden, who will the president be meeting with in sweden? >> well as i said largely ceremonial here. many countries invite the president to come and have it. often along time and key ally in this part of the world.

the president will meet with the king and the prime minister, there will be a meeting with other nordic leaders, he'll also visit the grand synagogue, an historic site in stockholm, a tribute to raul wollenberg. who saved 100,000 jews. >> thank you, all right, let's take a look at some pictures from britain parliament, it's the first time prime ministers david cameron was there since the house of commons voted against the motion to allow a strike against syrian. the senate foreign relations committee is holding a vote, what does that vote do for the mission in syria? they reached an agreement for the draft resolution, that paves

the way for a vote by the committee later today. among the provisions the draft sets a 60 day limit on military action with the possibility of a 30-day extension. the compromise deal also bans any use of troops on the ground. if the draft is approved by the committee it will be sent to the full senate for a vote after members return september 9th after their recess. secretary of state john kerry and secretary of defense chuck hagel will appear before the house. joining me more on this is ran randall pinkston. good morning. >> good morning rachel.

>> the draft resolution as you indicate could be voted on as early as today. it also includes a provision that requires the presidential report back to congress ten days after the initiation of military action and then every 20 why days thereafter. and of course it does give the president the option after a 60-day exploration to come back and ask for 30 more days. this afternoon it would be a replay for secretary kerry and also for secretary hagel before the house foreign affairs committee. they will be questioned just as strenuously as they were yesterday. a full fledged debate on whether the u.s. should engage in military action in syria. >> so when does the full house take up a vote? >> well, the full house will take up the vote after the house

foreign affairs committee approves a resolution. presumably they will approve the resolution. they also have the option of changing it and sending it back to the house foreign relations committee for them to get on the same page with what both bodies want. but once the house foreign affairs committee approves the resolution then it will go to the full house when they come back from recess which of course as you indicate will be the same as for the senate, next week, september 9th. >> okay, we're talking relatively speaking for congress a fairly short time line as congress goes. >> very short time line as congress goes. and also surprisingly a bipartisan move at least from the leadership. but the membership is a whole other issue. it's not clear whether members of congress will follow the lead of the leaders, in supporting

president obama's decision to take military action against assad. we'll see how the vote -- one indicator will occur of course when the senate comes back and what kind of vote we get there. it's expected, it's likely that there will be less support in the house of representatives because there you have much more vocal opposition to the president's policies all around, especially foreign policy. >> okay randall pinkston in washington, d.c. thank you so much. defense secretary for bill clinton he stressed president obama should have talked to congress, talked to top leaders before a resolution was ever drafted. he says if the u.s. takes action against syria it would be disastrous. >> i think he's been calculating well, look you've been criticizing me, now let me put

you on the spot and see what you're going to do. even if congress should reject and not give him authority to go forward he might go forward anyway and i think that would be the worst of all worlds. once you turn to the congress and say, i need you to authorize this action and if they say no, you take action it seems to me you are flouting the law. >> president obama heads to the g-20 summit in st. petersburg, the president's plan for limited action against syria, joining us for behind the scenes look, a republican strategist, brad blakeman, and democratic strategist former staff secretary to bill clinton from 1988 to 1999. boat of them are live from

washington, d.c. first for both of you and mr. blakeman you can go first, first a glimpse of what's going on behind the scenes this week. >> behind the scenes boat in the house and the senate committees, the relevant committees, are going to try to draft a resolution. one thing the president's initial authorization was rejected soundly by the partisan house and senate. which means the senate and the house have to cobble together a joint resolution which i don't think is possible and this will be worked out if it passes both the house and the senate committees, in a reconciliation. and then voted again by the house and the senate if they can't agree on an nutritional bill it will go to the president and then the president will have to decide whether he will accept what the congress gives him. of course, if it's rejected by either house, then we have the problem as secretary cohn said,

is what do we do? if they don't do so i agree it's at his peril. >> david, dig a little deeper, this is a crass term but i can't think of anything else, what kind of wheeling and dealing to get people on board with whatever their side is? >> well, there is a full fledged whip effort or lobbying effort in both houses of congress and the president has to assemble in the president, it's pretty clear he has to assemble a 60-vote majority. that's because senator rand paul and others perhaps have asserted they will filibuster. you have to get to 60 votes to overcome the filibuster. this is the puzzle he has to solve. he's already been told by trusted democrats, his allies, that the resolution is too broad. he's got to narrow it. he's also been told by republicans on the right that it doesn't go far enough.

he has to cobble the 60 votes probably losin losing a couple f democrats and possibly gaining some republicans to get a majority in the center. i would point out it's ironic that in this highly partisan time what's going to carry the day if anything does is the kind of bipartisan center. something we haven't seen much of yet. secretary boehner, eric canton, john mccain, very prominent senators, have said we want to support the president's actions. that is going to unfold as a tug of war within their caucuses. senator tom udall said i don't feel comfortable, we haven't exhausted all economic options, why aren't we dealing with russia, why aren't we dealing with china?

they have to put together a coalition of republicans and democrats losing people at either end and heaping to form a majority from the center. >> brad, can you see anything happening perhaps on the international stage that could sway this one way or another? >> i don't. after we've lost the brits, which are our most trusted ally in their parliament, and hearing what the prime minister said, he's not going to go around parliament and order a strike with america, i think it's quite clear that the international community has no appetite for this. they may come along in time but what did putin say? putin said i'm waiting to hear what the u.n. is coming back with. we know the u.n. is not coming back with a report for at least three or four weeks. then we had the secretary general of the u.n. say if the president acts before the u.n. comes back with a report then we violated international law.

i think the president's going to have hard time getting international support prior to the u.n. report. number one. and number 2, the president has a hard time getting the american people's report. they don't want any intervention in syria. we heard a lot of rhetoric yesterday but not evidence. and the evidence that is going to be procured in this will come hopefully today in the classified hearing but a lot of that has to be declassified in order for the america people to understand why it's needed and that america is going oengage and what is the likelihood of success on this mission. >> i need your anxious can be short, you know you can do that for me. mr. blakeman said he did not hear evidence. did you hear evidence? >> yes, the intelligence community released a public version of their findings, very compelling. but there have been questions that have been raised about it.

but i do think there's a giant elephant in the room, what happened when colin powell released justification for the attack on iraq, we're aware of that and we're trying to present evidence as thoroughly and in as much detail as we can. what i think is a bigger question is, even if you accept that assad did this, what would be the gact? what would be -- impact? what would be the effect of an attack? that question i feel hasn't been answered adequately. >> and will continue to be debated days to come. brad blakeman and david goodfriend forp former deputy secretary to bill clinton. i will have you both back, i assure you gentlemen. we will have live coverage of the house foreign affairs

committee in washington. our coverage begins noon eastern. meteorologist dave warren. >> cool morning temperatures, dropping into the 40s in some areas. there is still some stormy weather out west. radar is tracking showers and storms yesterday and a lot of rain around idaho, montana, oregon and washington. the problem is this rain comes with lightning. still fairly dry. red flag warning meaning we will have lightning strikes and a little bit of rain. flash flooding possible in northern nevada so the rainfall is heavy, still fairly heavy there under the area, under red flag warning because it comes with lightning, through montana, idaho and wyoming. the radar across the entire country, cool and comfortable weather is dominating much of the country east of the

mississippi. minneapolis is at 64, new york at 66. but it will be getting even cooler. here's the 40s, low temperatures, pib pittsburgh at. climbing up to around 80. comfortable weather in new york, similar situations for much of the eastern united states. tropics are getting active especially in the caribbean. areas of low pressure expected to develop in the next 48 hours. nothing specific. flooding as another tropical storm moves up the country sea of japan, going oaf the areas that have seen tropical storms in the past week and more rain is forecast. rachelle. >> okay. ariel castro has committed suicide, prison psychiatrist explains what might make someone

do such a thing. thousands of walmart workers across the country, about to walk off the job, what they're demanding from the nation's largest private employer. >> a u.s. government report obtained by al jazeera investigative unit, exposes lack in security around the world. >> the security lapses leading up to the deadly attack at benghazi and what's been overlooked in the aftermath.

>> marking the one year anniversary of the attack on benghazi, systemic security failures in benghazi and other diplomatic potions around the world including this, a database has not been truly functional for a number of years. also many of the installations do not have state-of-the-art secure telephone communication links. several of the outposts in

africa and the middle east had immediate need of an intelligence analyst. al jazeera's investigative correspondent josh bernstein has more. >> dozens of men's breached security and overwhelmed the u.s. diplomatic post in benghazi. seven hours later, seven americans are dead including chris stevens. an exclusive report obtained by al jazeera investigative unit exposes breaches in security all around the world. department of state turning its back on security issues and putting lives in jeopardy for 30 years. circumvented their own security standards, failed to address the

risks. these are the findings of a five member panel of former high ranking officials, including five high threat posts in kenya south sudan, update, leb -- egypt and lebanon. the report paints a picture of dysfunction and questionable decision making, waivers for not meeting security standards have become commonplace, exposure of threats, and intelligence database used to disseminate critical information has not been truly functional for many years. many areas don't have communication links, forcing it to beg hat in hand for the use of others' facilities. in the ability to civility through raw intelligence, an

mead need for an intelligence analyst and this is not the first time that many of these concerns have been raised. 15 years ago, simultaneous truck bombs exploded at the u.s. embassies in kenya and tans nee. an independent consulting firm booz allen hamilton, report sited an mead -- cited a need to create a new position an undersecretary who would oversee diplomatic security. then secretary of state madeline albright approved the position but it has never been implemented. current undersecretary patrick kennedy who approved the temporary post in benghazi despite series concerns. >> because of benghazi and the development of the new libya we

had to have a forward operating location there and we had to have visits by ambassador stevens. >> the latest report described ambassador kennedy's office as too large, by describing benghazi as a temporary facility, exposed personnel to an unacceptable level of risk. this new and internal report concludes benghazi has demonstrated again the vulnerability of u.s. facilities around the world. josh bernstein al jazeera washington. >> if you want to read the documents yourself we've posted them at aljazeera.com. the radiation levels continue to rise at fukushima nuclear plant. what officials say is the risk of tamed water. nidal hasan has been forced to

get rid of the beard he has been growing since the arrest. one of of the smallest guys to ever play in the nfl, but he has big game. we sit down with the tail back later in sports.

>> welcome back i'm richelle carey. these are our top stories this hour. president obama's motorcade just arrived in stockholm. obama will attend a ceremony honoring world war ii hero, raul wallenberg.

looking for international support there as key lawmakers have agreed to an action, armed forces in syria without the use of ground troops. ariel castro, the man who held three women captive in his home for nearly a decade has committed suicide at a state prison facility. the 53-year-old castro was found hanging in his cell tuesday night. u.s. diplomatic posts including benghazi failed to correct them. according to a latest poll, the pew research center surveyed 1,000 people and asked them if they supported the president' ps action, 48% said they were against it 23% said they don't

know. the survey also asked if americans feared a long u.s. commitment should u.s. mount aresponse. 26% said yes, 26% said no and 13% said they didn't know. and finally, if a military strike would discourage use of chemical weapons. more than half 51% said it would not deter chemical warfare, 13% said they didn't know. russia is sending a missile cruiser to take over operations there. russian president vladimir putin now says his country would consider military action. putin said he needed to see proof assad gassed civilians before considering to support any strikes. >> i do not seclude taking action but i would like to draw your attention to one absolute key aspect. in line with international law

only the u.n. council can sanction the use of support -- force against an independent sovereign state is inadmissible and can only be interpreted as congregation. as aggression. >> putin has a contract with syria. san francisco's parliament is due to debate its action in the next few hours. >> the risk is not only for barb bashar but other dictators in the world. unprecedented actions and violated an international treaty. when you massacre your people i think we cannot take any of his comments into consideration. >> syrian americans are keeping a very close eye of course on

what's going on in congress. many worried about the excavate of family and friends back in their home land. al jazeera's john terry spoke with syrians. >> the heat is on in the kitchen just like it is in the congress. he loves syria and loves the u.s. but he's pleased that the congress is weighing in before attacking his home land. >> obama wants everybody to participate in the debate, debate is always good. we know his values. >> as he prepares taboullei, he keeps his eye on the tv. she is steeped in syrian culture and when bashar al-assad came to power syrians were optimistic for their future but his regime brought it on themselves.

>> i don't like to see bombing, it's not a good solution to anything. but it's almost the only solution if the u.s. is going to be involved at all. because i think the assad government is totally uninterested in any kind of negotiation, in any kind of liberalization. >> back in the kitchen and basam's mulling the senate hearing over and over in hi mind. after much thought he comes out in favor of a limited strike on syria. >> hopefully nobody gets hurt. it would be just us eliminating the weapons that kill unfortunate innocent people. i think people should support that because it's for a good reason. >> and with that it's back to the chopping board and the box in the corner to try to work out exactly what the congress might decide to do about syria. john teret al jazeera new york. >> well, the domestic international opposition to president obama's plan to attack

syria raises the prospect of a diplomatic option but is there any room for diplomacy given the tranctransgentcy. the president attempting to make his case for why military action is the proper course . does that mean that diplomacy is completely off the table? let me ask that a different way. do you think diplomacy was abandoned too quickly? >> i don't think it's abandoned, the u.s. is still committed to finding a diplomatic solution. diplomacy never stops. it's not a kind of full stop and then military action and then restarts. the u.n. security council will

be considering this an the possible use of cw in damascus and elsewhere in a week or two. the g-20 will be discussing syria intensively. my hope is that these discussions will lead to intensive energy for the so-called geneva 2 conference, bringing the parties together to resolve the conflict. the syrian commission we point out wish to happen. >> publicly the u.s. is not giving credence to anything that's happening, at least public li it doesn't seem as such secretary of state john kerry said nothing the u.n. can add evidence wise can add to what we no evidence wise. how are they going together? >> it's clear, the u.s. has drawn its own conclusions. that's quite varied and quite

widespread. the u.n. has a limited picture of what's happened. they've sent one group of inspectors to look at one site, far from where cw has been alleged to have used, also they looked at whether it has been used not who used it. which is an odd an limited mandate. >> it does seem odd. >> it is odd, there's been enormous controversy, and the russianed who support damascus have put enormous pressure on the u.n. they claim the rebels themselves have used cw. on the other hand the u.s., the u.c. and france have asked for wider inspections. in my view having worked on cw inspections in iraq there is one kind of inspection, you get full access to the witnesses, you're allowed to go wherever you want whenever you want and damascus hasn't permitted that. so we can't see the u.n.

inspections as a complete authoritative account of what's happened. >> how much leverage does the u.s. have diplomatically? >> it's the most important power in the world. i'm sure u.s. diplomacy will be is pushing for intensified efforts as well as a military attack, as odd as that found. >> thank you so much. al jazeera has coverage of the ongoing conflict. stay aware at aljazeera.com. nald hasan has stopped shaving, not permitted for inmates at forth leavenworth

where he was on trial. hasan kept his beard until now. walmart workers across the country will protest the company's labor practices tomorrow, they're demanding that walmart increase salaries and reinstate workers who were fired after a walkout in june. the latest inspections of fukushima nuclear reactor is showing 20% higher levels than previously known. florence allowsie i louie. >> discovered at several holt spots at the fukushima nuclear plant. this latest development comes just five days after the company reported previous readings of 1080, the initial spike was

because 1 tepco had used more sophisticated devices that can read up to 1 10,000 milliceverts per hour. this new spike of radiation levels is not because of any leaks. so far they have not been able to find evidence of new leaks. but there is still an important implication in this development because what does this mean to the cleanup of operations, and how will this complicate cleanup operations because the levels of radiation that's detected are extremely high. they can be extremely dangerous. experts have said that exposure of this radiation is enough to kill a person within hours if they're not wearing the right protective clothing.

the yosemite rim fire has been mostly contained, a mostly cool and humid labor day weekend have loud further containment. the fire is about 75% contained. full containment of the fire is not expected until september 20th. cooler days ahead for much of the nation. let's check in with meteorologist dave warren. hi dave. >> everybody is seeing that cooler weather from the plains east and northeast. west some areas are still under a fire concern. oregon and washington red flag warning and not because seeing actually dry weather, because rain is predicted but lightning storms with a little bit of rain. satellite picture sees some of those storms yesterday. heavy rain through nevada, idaho and montana flash flood in effect for that reason. heaviest rain in the northwest it does include the area in the

fire weather watch, that's because of lightning, light rain predicted from idaho to montana. that's the only place we're seeing the rain. cooler temperatures from the great lakes to the northeast, that front is pushed all the way south, that line is the front, cooler air is now south, much of the southeast seeing cooler temperatures and dry weather. temperatures in the 50s now heading for the 60s this afternoon, 70s and 80s here in new york but cool comfortable temperatures we'll be talking about. 50 in new york philadelphia, 43 in portland, maine, a little chill in the air each morning. temperatures right about 80° in the afternoon. tropics, some activity in the caribbean and gulf watching for some development over the next 48 hours. nothing named yet but could see some development here not only the atlantic but the pacific as well. another tropical storm in japan right over where the last one

went, that's led to some flooding, towards the sea of japan and more rain is predicted later in the month so flooding will be the problem for the next several week. richelle. >> jessica tapp, high jessica. >> we had no surprises at the u.s. open. serena williams easily disposed of her opponent, not the case andy murray. early on it looked like murray wouldn't be back to defend his title actually in queens. he dropped his ranking to 66th in the world but dropped back, this one would go four sets. murray, this is match point. winning this battle winning it 6-4, 6-4. queens to milwaukee, pittsburgh pirates franchise, they broke a streak 20 years in the making.

andrew mccutcheon, 100th of his career, travis schneider ripping a game-winning home run. tiegz beat 3-2 assure themselves of the first winning season since 1992. the jaguarless don't have the long history as the pirates but a long time since they've had a winning season, 2005 to be exact. i sat down with maurice jones drew, to talk about his past and future in this edition of al jazeera's preview week. >> most players dread opening week, not maurice jones drew, his 2012 campaign was cut short after he suffered a final foot injury. >> more than anything i want to play a full season.

be out there with my teammates, enjoy them because this only lasts so long. >> what has the road to recovery been for you? >> it was long. i think it was very long. you have to be patient. i think mentally every time you were off, i didn't play football for ten months, you have -- i don't want to call it doubt but you have a little concern can i get back to it. but you know after doing something for 20 years it's like riding a bike. you get back out there and your body starts naturally making these moves. you get sore and here and there but for me, sticking with it. >> coming off foot surgery, many said this would be the end of the line for maurice jones drew however, he's made a lie of that, going back he has worn 32, signifying,. >> you have to motivate

yourselves every day. by looking at my number, you know, everybody passed me up. keep going. the thought in the back of my mind, we still have something to prove, we have to strive to be the best. >> the best prorunning back, to groom his offensive line. >> i have a love thing for big men who can block. it's something exciting when you see a young man who can come in and you plug him in. we were able to do this with luke. to start off where he is as a rookie the sky is the limit for him. >> jones drew also has a love for fantasy football. it's a huge topic on his serius radio show. >> aaron, if you're watching, i want you to run and throw, don't

forget dawan harris. >> have you drafted yourself? >> every year number 1 it doesn't matter. >> as he should. along with the running back's natural love for the big man, jones drew combined both of those when he named one of his sons madden after john madden. hopefully he doesn't look like john madden. >> thanks jessica. >> you're welcome. >> california is at the forefront of the green energy movement. the college campus being an example of how to create enough energy to run on its own. ç]

>> welcome back these are live pictures out of st. petersburg, russia. world leaders gathering there for the start of the g-20 summit. mexican president pena nieto has just arrived.

70% of venezuelaians are waiting without power. sabotage for the blackout. knocking out traffic lights and chaos in the streets. government officials have suggested opposition politician he sabotaged the electrical grid causing this blackout. university of california is taking part in an ambitious new project by creating an apartment community for students and faculty that can generate enough energy to run on its on. stephanie stanton takes us to the u.c. davis campus. >> this luxury apartment community situate it on the university of california campus in davis has taken the college living to a whole new level. with space for 2,000 residents, gives students and faculty a chance to be part of an experiment in sustainable

living. it's the first of its kind, a zero net energy community. >> zero net energy means that basically we would produce the exact amount of energy we are using on a day-to-day basis. >> from low flow toilets and sinks to energy efficient appliances, ceiling fans and lighting uses 60% less energy. tan err amos was one of the first to live here. >> there are energy limits you have to meet. >> that means if you are consuming too much electricity management will come calling. >> we'll walk through their unit and say if you put a power strip here and you shut it off over the weekend, that will pull no ghost electricity or when you're not in the unit. >> solar panels capable of generating seven to 8 million

kilowatts per year. >> that's how we generate the electricity for the units here. >> the numbers are still being analyzed. with california's strict green energy building codes officials say west village can serve as a blueprint for other developers looking to build sustainable housing. and while rent and utilities are slightly higher than other area rentals, residents say it's worth the price. >> you have the ability to say, i'm helping the environment every day of my life. >> and this community is helping california achieve its goal that every unit needs to be energy sustainable by 2020. stephanie stanton, al jazeera, california.

>> good morning, i'm stephanie sy. here are some of the top stories we're following this morning. >> this is something that the united states as a country needs to do. >> significant support from across the aisle, the speaker of the house excess he'll back president obama. and president obama is in europe this morning, seeking to gain international support for a strike against syria as he joins world leaders this week at the group of 20 summit in russia. an al jazeera exclusive. new documents reveal the state department knew of security problems at