>> 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 u.s. diplomatic

posts, but surveilled to solve them. ariel castro has been found dead in his ohio jail cell. first, this morning, the man convicted of holding three women captive for years is dead. ariel castro hung himself last night. he was being watched closely in custody but had been off suicide watch since june. his attorneys had previously tried unsuccessfully to have him examined for psychological issues. ariel castro was found around 9:20 tuesday night hanging in his prison cell. the 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 at staggered schedules. it was too late, the 53-year-old was taken to this hospital in cleveland and pronounced dead a few moments later. it was just a while ago that castro began serving life plus 1,000 years, for charges of aggravated murder, and kidnap and rape. amanda berry, michelle knight and gina dejesus were held captive. his sentence hearing in august was one of the few times he spoke publicly following his arrest. >> ierm trying to get, paint me as a monster and i'm not a monster. i'm sick. >> the former school bus driver showed no emotion as a tearful

michelle knight spoke in front of the court. >> you took 11 years of my life away and i have fought back. i spent 11 years in hell and 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 and my friends. >> i was sick, thank you. >> the bordered up home where castro tortured his victims for so many years torn down with the plea deal. and with that plea deal, castro's brothers called him a monster. we've yet to hear from the victims this morning. president obama will make his pitch at the g-20 summit which kicks off on thursday.

russian president vladimir putin renewed his claims that the u.s.'s claims were complete nonsense. here in the u.s. the president has gained support from a powerful political opponent. house speaker john boehner, following ameeting with president obama and key congressional leaders boehner did endorse the president's plan. >> only the united states has the ability and capacity 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 osupport the president's -- 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 who

reiterated her support for the strike on a humanitarian basis. the president is on his way to st. petersburg, russia for the summit. but on his way he stopped in sweden, the president will focus but syria will become a priori priority. mike viqueira is there with the president. >> it's interesting and since you pointed out, since we are here, the president left that political pressure cooker, he heads to the g-20 where it will doubtless be on the top of the agenda. but the g-20 is all about the economy. we do expect the president to be with the swedish prime minister shortly. the first issue will be about

syria, we should have presidential comment shortly. the president backing not -- highlighting the backing of nancy pelosi but also joan boehner. the president and vladimir putin haven't been getting along quite frankly. spfl president obama about two years ago did call for the removal of bashar al-assad for him to leave power. vladimir putin obviously still one of the patron states helping syria still supplying them weapons still backing them politically. obviously a friction point here. it all came to a head over the edward snowden affair just a couple of months ago, when obama announced that he and putin would meet, that got scrubbed.

but the president has a largely ceremonial schedule aside from that press conference a little while later this afternoon. >> mike viqueira reporting live from stockholm, thank you. congressional authorization for military strikes against syria, joining us now with more on this is randall pinkston in washington. randall, good morning. what are we expecting out of congress today? >> it's going to be a very busy day for members of senate foreign relations committee, getting a closed door classified briefing from secretary of defense, from secretary of state john kerry and also from the director of national intelligence james klapper. there were questions asked in the open senate foreign relations committee and we heard secretary kerry several

occasions say we can take that up tomorrow, which is today, and there will be classified information given that the administration will be hoping to make the case to get more votes, more support from the senate for military action in syria. meanwhile the senate armed services committee is also getting a closed door briefing at that one. at that one it will be defense secretary hagel and also the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey, and then at noon, as you indicate the house foreign affairs committee will convene an open hearing which is likely to be quite robust and we will probably hear a lot more opposition to the president's proposal so that will be attended by secretary of state kerry, secretary of defense hagel and again general dem dem. senate democrat and republican

leaders are supporting it, membership, question mark. stephanie. >> all right, randall pinkston, thank you randall. foreign policy advisor to secretary hagel when he was a senator, currently editor and ceo of monitor. thank you very much for joining us from washington. you were the foreign policy advisor to chuck hagel when he was serving in the senate. i wonder if you are advising him today as he pushes for the obama's case for military action what you owould advise him? >> i think what's happening in the congress today is a difficult choice for many members. while the resolution seems to be going ahead, the senate foreign relations committee on which chuck hagel served as well as

secretary of state john kerry, president obama and vice president biden all served on that very committee, they had a full day of hearings yesterday and that committee has marked up a resolution, which may be voted on as soon as this afternoon, and which has tightened the language regarding the authorization of force to be sure that the -- if there is a strike on syria, the strike will be limited in duration and scope and targeted for -- to degrade chemical weapons. so what -- the context in which this vote takes place, is still in a country that is quite skeptical about the use of force in syria. and what u.s. policy is in syria. the latest poll by pew which has been released today, shows that only 29% of american support a military strike on syria. many of them have questions about the implications of it. over half would look for an u.n.

security council resolution or prefer. a poll says that 70% of americans do not support aid to the syrian rebels. the process is looking good for the president in the sense he has the speaker of the house republican john boehner on his side, there is still a skeptical american public. >> you talk about u.s. policy towards syria. these are punitive strikes that the congress is debating but do you see that there is a syria policy that's been clarified by the administration at this point? >> i think it's a good question. and part of the revised senate authorization, resolution that's going to be taken up, has a section that calls for the administration to put forward a syria policy. look, if the united states uses force against syria and it seems like that's going to happen, the end of the syria war, bringing

this war to a close, is about a negotiated political solution to the situation in syria. it will not end, whatever the united states does militarily. it may go on even longer -- >> do you think likely or less likely, if the u.s. decides on military strikes it is less likely or more likely that there can be some sort of diplomatic or political solution out of the civil war? >> if the administration moves ahead, with the robust diplomatic strategy and that's going to begin at the g-20 summit as your correspondents have pointed out with president putin and others and engaging iran which is the closest ally to syrian president assad then the military strikes could be part of a military strategy that gets us to a geneva conference or gets us to a close, but if

the strikes are detached from the diplomacy or separate tracks or disconnected then i'm not sure if the strikes in and of themselves will do more than continue the war. >> well engaging th engaging tha question, andrew saleedy, thank you for joining us. i'm dave warren. we are start being out west, the focus is thunderstorms, they bring needed rain but also the lightning. the problem is the lightning and rain, some of it veap evaporates before it hits the ground. flash flood warning in effect. and montana, wyoming, idaho there's that lightning, it does

come with rain. one or two showers moving through the midwest, much of the country is dry and cooler. here is this line, you can see it right there pushing south. there's a front bringing in cooler air and dry are air. -- drier air. chicago is at 60, 63 in minneapolis. new york, philadelphia, washington, d.c. aural in the mid 60s, that could change in the next few mornings. temperatures could drop into the 40s in a few areas for low temperatures. 47 in pittsburgh, by the time you wake up in the 50s, philadelphia, just below 60 in washington and cooler up through new england. by afternoon it is comfortable. temperatures climbing into the 70s thursday, barely over 70 on thursday and then gets a little warmer. tropics are quiet, one or two clusters of storms developing, could show signs of development

over the next 48 hours. we'll watch this closely over the caribbean and also the pacific. stephanie. >> thank you. coming up. >> a u.s. government report obtained exclusively by al jazeera's investigative unit, exposes breaks in security in outposts throughout the world. what is revealed about the security lapses leading up to the deadly attack in benghazi and what's been overlooked in the aftermath. walmart workers striking, thousands of walmart workers across the country, what they're demanding from the nation's largest private employer. >> and i'm jessica tapp, take a look at the reigning queen of tennis. i'm going to tell you all about that coming up next in sports.

>> one week from today marks the first anniversary of the attacks on the u.s. mission in libya. al jazeera's investigative unit has exclusively obtained an internal government report, it details system tic failures at benghazi and other areas in the world. used to disseminate intelligence information has not been truly functional for many years. also many of the installations don't have state-of-the-art telephone communication links. outposts in africa and the

middle east had the immediate neat for intelligence analysts. documents indicate official were aware and josh bernstein has more. >> dozens of men armed with rocket propelled grenades, overcame the u.s. post in benghazi. seven hours later americans are dead including chris stevens. a u.s. government report obtained exclusively by al jazeera's investigative department exposes security breaches across the world. department of state for turning its back on security issues and putting lives at risk for 30 years. in the case of benghazi state department officials circumvented their own security measures, failed to measure acceptable risk and according to

the report has still not debriefed any surviving agents. intelligence and law noarms official, the team traveled to ten locations around the world, including five high threat posts in sudan, egypt and lebanon. they met with over 200 individuals. the report paints a picture of questionable decision making, waivers for not meeting security standards have become commonplace, exposing employees in high threat areas to unacceptable level of risk. database to disseminate critical information has not been truly functional for many years and many locations don't have state communication links. forcing it to beg hat in hand for the use of others' facilities on the ability to sift through raw intelligence, every post the panel visited in africa and the middle east had the immediate 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 in kenya and tanzania. shortly after the ra tacks the state department hired an independent firm booz allen hamilton to analyze security risks, new and immediate need to create a new position, an undersecretary, who would oversee security. secretary of state madeline albright approved the position but it has never been filled. secretary kennedy approved the temporary post in benghazi despite security concerns. >> because of the importance of benghazi and the development of

the new libya, we had to have a forward office there and visits by ambassador stevens. >> the latest report describes kennedy's office as too large and the too complex and root cause for the confusion at the headquarters level. by describing benghazi as a state department facility, exposed personnel to an unacceptable level of risk. this new internal report concludes that benghazi has demonstrated yet again the vulnerability of u.s. facilities around the world. josh bernstein al jazeera washington. >> if you want to read those documents yourself we've made it easy. we've posted them at aljazeera.com. walmart, the nation's largest employer to substantially increase salaries. group our walmart has filed

charges against the retailer with the national labor relations board. the protests come after walmart failed to meet workers' demands business labor day. the u.s. open continues in queens, new york. jessica tapp is here. >> if you think serena williams has slowed down since her 32nd birthday, thankfully, the stars leonardo dicaprio watched. the first set just 19 minutes, the second a whopping 33. and it was on navarro's 25th birthday. she may have been polite, didn't want the cake and ice cream to melt.

serena should be well rested after a 52-minute match. >> honestly only because i've been playing here for, like, 50 years, so -- [cheering and applause] >> i've kind of gotten used to the conditions and even though it's very difficult to play each year, i'm getting a little bit better with it. >> she looks great for 50 then, how about that. it was a different story on the men's side for third seeded andy murray the cotsman dropped the first set of his match, but nonetheless the defending champ rolls on by, taking the last two sets, 6-4, 6-4. pittsburgh pirates broke a streak, andrew mccutcheon, the first, his 105th of his career. travis schneider with a pinch hit game winning home run.

thation to beat the brewers 4-3, they assure themselves their first winning season since 1992. to football, texans weren't ready to wait for brian curbin curbing's surgical repair, reportedly worth nearly $56 million, that's plenty of reason to flex the muscles, $20 million is guaranteed for linebacker who made the rookie season. the season but we didn't know which one of the two. the bills name e.j. emanuel the weekend starter against tom brady. >> the new exhibit that's giving the public a unique glimpse of

into his life, never before seen photos. ç]

photos. >> can we're following a story out of jerusalem. worshipers are prevented from a mosque, one of the most contentious sites in the world,

the dome of the mock and el oxam mosque. believers say this is where the final temple will be built when the savior comes to the earth. courtney kuhly brings us there story. >> these never before shown photographs taken by andy warhol are requirements of a bygone era. >> the stolen intimate moments that this show conveys. >> his own and warhol's assistant pat hackett. >> it's a great photo, mick jag jagger, serving tea to warhol.

>> in black aand white from drag queens to first lady nancy reagan from low brow to high brow. warhol introduced the idea of celebrity as art and artist as slebbary. his extraordinary image of socialites and artists. they became ubiquitous, some are now worth is millions. >> i think he'd be on intsa gram and all of the -- instagram and all the social media out there. >> if warhol would be alive he would be as currently as today's social media. courtney keeley. al jazeera new york. >> i'm stephanie sy, thanks so

much for watching.