breaking news on r.t. reports of multiple gunshots fired close to capitol hill and several people injured you're watching live pictures from washington d.c. . this comes amid america's ongoing budget deadlock with president obama warning of the danger of defaulting accusing the republicans are putting the economy at risk. the leader of the greenpeace campaign to save the arctic tells r.t. the organization will continue to target oil rigs in the region despite thirty of its activists being charged with piracy by a russian called. after whistleblower edward snowden has put on the shortlist for european human rights prize the former n.s.a. chief justice he should end up on a very different this our top story this hour. live

from studio center here in moscow where it's just turned eleven pm this is. and first we turn to our breaking news this hour multiple gunshots have been capitol here in washington d.c. the building was put armed security lockdown and police have described the situation as still active one officer has reportedly been injured and there are unconfirmed reports that they may have run gates close to the capitol building well we hope to get the latest from washington d.c. from our correspondent. in the next few minutes from now well of course all this comes amid high political tensions in washington with lawmakers clashing over barack. signature health care bill the president has called on his republican

opponents to show some common sense warning that if congress is not able to agree a budget there is a very real risk of a national default an estimated three hundred million dollars a going down the drain every day the government shutdown. sachs has more now from washington d.c. . getting last night at the white house between president obama and congressional leaders failed to yield any deal to end the government shutdown now in its third day and it's becoming increasingly clear that the president and congressional leaders want to include an increase in the debt limit and i'm going to end a government shutdown as well because the debt limit is the real serious issue here this government shutdown is having effects on our economy the longer it goes on the more effects it will have on our economy but failure to raise the debt limit and the u.s. still betting on it so that's would be absolutely catastrophic to put it in perspective in two thousand and eleven when republicans just made the threat of defaulting on our debt we saw the u.s. credit rating downgraded we sold job creation slow we saw the economy slow and we

saw about a billion dollar hit to the u.s. economy that was just the threat of a default so here we're looking at the very real possibility of a deep ball which many economists think it could be on par with the financial crisis like we saw in two thousand and eight. right now we see between both parties republicans and democrats with this default looming over their heads no closer to a deal they're both digging in we've heard from the democratic side words like republicans are acting like an artist's speaker the house john boehner needs to grow up he needs to act like an adult and from republicans i just want to read this quick quote from a republican congressman who said we're not going to be disrespected so that's where we are today and we have to get something out of this i don't even know what it is yet so we have republicans saying we need to get something out of this democrats saying we've given you everything that you're going to get out of this meanwhile the country races towards us default in a few weeks which would be a really a self-inflicted economic recession so what happens if the u.s.

fails to raise its debt ceiling well president obama would have to find money to save us the national debt from somewhere else most likely that would be done by shutting down some of the most costly government programs went to another possibility is the raising of taxes meaning that americans would feel the. and of a stereotype but what happens if those measures are not enough but washington would have to announce it was defaulting politicians and experts said default would be devastating for both the american and global economy it would affect all countries holding us debt now the u.s. government is obliged to pay back hundreds of billions of dollars each month and that would be put seriously at risk because washington wouldn't have the funds confidence in the u.s. would be severely hit making it much harder to borrow money and that would leave one of the world's most indebted countries without a financial safety net further increases in interest rates taxes and unemployment likely to follow possibly undermining the u.s.

dollar as the global reserve currency going to the head of the analytical department of bridge bank in russia says global economies are hoping the u.s. will resolve its crisis for everyone's sake. we believe that the very last moment probably but there will be a breakthrough and then agreement will be reached i think there is too much at stake in terms of what the defaults. or for there are delays in reaching the compromise would mean for the american economy so this is the case for the u.s. economy this is the case for the global economy as well as for russia as we've seen before with similar cases in two thousand and eleven. certainly the main transmission mechanism is through world prices so pressure on commodities pressure on oil prices would signify essentially pressure on russia's economy and financial

markets and then the other channel of course is capital outflows those may intensify further delays in reaching a compromise in the u.s. to a place washington's position as the global economic and political elite are threatened this is certainly something that undermines thord t. and the the role of the u.s. and leading the world economy out of its current predicament and going forward of course the hope is that some sort of a working range ment is worked out in the u.s. so that cases like that in the future are avoided. much more government must now shut down until congress funds it again. when we return now to our breaking news this hour here in r.t. and that is that multiple gunshots have been heard near capitol hill in washington

d.c. now several people have reportedly been injured but as i say reportedly here still details are very scant but we can now join in the snow if she. washington d.c. itself and the what do you know about what has happened. like you say this story is developing very quickly the latest information that we're getting is that there was a car chase that ensued after this lockdown occurred of the capitol building and that at some point the suspected shooter stepped out of the vehicle and was shot we're not aware of whether or not he was injured or shot dead we do know that one person has reportedly been arrested in connection with this shooting one police officer has also been reporting shot reported shot and we saw pictures of him being helicoptered lifted to hospital so a police officer is injured around two pm so just an hour ago local time shots were

heard some reports say as many as a dozen shots heard outside the u.s. capitol building of course this in the midst of this government shutdown a lot of speculation especially on social media that this could possibly have been someone that's angry about the shutdown in one way or another of course not clear yet at all whether or not this had to do with the fact that so many i should say not so many government workers are not getting paid because of this shutdown that what happened was the capitol was put immediately on lockdown offices were closed there is a shelter in the building we've heard reports that some people did go into that shelter but that lockdown has not been removed the area is still blocked off a lot of activity going on around the capitol it's about a twenty five thirty minute walk from here we're just about a five minute walk from the white house to give you an idea washington d.c. a big city of course in spirit but really a very small city so it certainly felt here on the streets that something is going

on but like i say reports still coming in and the story still developing and so thanks very much indeed for that that's. reporting live from washington d.c. and of course we'll bring you more details on the shooting incident as soon as we get them here. on r.t. that's our breaking news this hour. thirty people involved in a greenpeace protest have now been charged with piracy by court in russia's north western port city of moments they were arrested after attempting to scale an oil rig in the arctic last month in protest over offshore drilling in the region of greenpeace lawyers are appealing the decision insisting that there was no violence involved and authorities said they pose a serious threat to the security of the platform despite facing up to fifteen years in prison activists are still refusing to give testimony when earlier i spoke to ben alias and he is head of greenpeace is arctic campaign and he believes the region should be off limits for any oil drilling company. but increase has a long history of peaceful protest it was perfectly obvious to the coast guard to

the operator of the platform that this was a peaceful protest and the response that we've seen in the subsequent charges today i'm afraid are extreme and completely disproportionate but is there not a better way of getting your message across and quite frankly you're there you've taken a risk and you should be there for prepared to suffer the consequences greenpeace's spent a lot of time in russia talking to the office or talking to gazprom about the specific risks that this rig platform posed at every stage we've been ignored we've written letters we've sat down in conferences said you shouldn't do this time and time and time again we've been completely ignored i believe you haven't been ignored because gazprom said that they want constructive dialogue i'm reading the news was now they're saying yes we want to talk to greenpeace so are you now prepared to have a constructive discussion with them until they're willing to say ok we don't think we're going to go ahead with this project the dialogue is fundamentally pointless all right so what about the fact that this is a static rig not a floating one and i was talking to an expert yesterday saying this is a much safer method there's no way to independently verify that this this platform

is capable of operating in what are the most harsh conditions imaginable on the planet there is no technological way anywhere on the planet of cleaning up oil but it's spilt in ice so you could say the same about the role that shell operation in alaska always and also norway stat all operation would be targeting them along with the russian target. of course greenpeace has run a big campaign a very public campaign against shell in alaska for instance we've run it for over the past eighteen months and luckily we were able to shine a spotlight on shell because of their fiasco essentially in trying to drill for oil in alaska of course the same for canned energy in greenland for start all in the barents sea it's very interesting actually that you mention shell that they're about to become partners in the arctic with gazprom and you really couldn't think of two more reckless companies that you wouldn't want anywhere near what is probably one of the most unique and fragile environments left on the planet at the moment alternative energy wind source and solar energy just cannot supply the

energy needs of the world we're not saying to people turn off the gas taps turn off your tank but if you look in places like western europe and in north america demand for oil is actually flattening so this idea that we're going to need more and more and more oil until no we're completely sated i'm afraid isn't true. but i also spoke to patrick moore he is a former greenpeace leader who now thinks the organization should have found a better way to convey that message you can't expect to have people allow you to continue to storm their oil rigs oil rigs are a very serious operation with really big safety issues and you start scaling the rig and then people have to come and try to get you off it puts them in danger and so i can certainly understand why they were apprehended and finally towed away from the site the other thing that's quite ironic is greenpeace is using a diesel powered ship to. occupy

a boiler rig and so they you would they needed oil to get there if they had sailed there or rode there in a boat maybe it would make more sense i do tend to agree with president putin that they are not pirates it's that's pretty obvious i think their intentions were not to loot the rig or anything like that but they're still putting people in danger and it is a serious situation it's my understanding that this is the first oil platform that is done designed specifically to withstand ice the intention is to make it a safer way of extracting oil. but you know when it comes to oil this is this is the problem with the greenpeace situation their tactics i know they're not trying to hurt anybody but their policy is ridiculous they live in this dream world we're now they are against fossil fuels they're against hydroelectric energy they are against nuclear energy which between the three of them supply about ninety eight percent of the world's energy and they seem to think that civilization can operate

on wind and solar alone these technologies disappear for five days at a time when there's no wind and no sun how do you run factories and schools and hospitals and businesses and homes with this kind of energy so i think it's their policy that should be rejected but all that concerns justified when it comes to the air. it is a pristine the last remaining wilderness it is in danger is it and also of suffering environmentally by this exploitation the arctic environment is no more fragile than the tropical environment or the temperate environment or the environment of england or the environment of anywhere else in the world it's just you know mostly ice as most people know which is not alive they talk about how the glaciers are dying and all of this is if these things are alive they're not alive and the world might actually be a better place if there wasn't so much ice but i'll be back with more news all to the breaking today more details on that shooting incident in capitol hill in

washington d.c. all breaking news stay with us for that. technology innovation all the developments from around russia we. covered. the olympic torch is on its epic journey to show. one hundred twenty three days. through two thousand nine hundred towns and cities of russia. relate fourteen thousand people or sixty thousand coming. in a record setting trip. air. motors. a live torch relay special coverage on our.

news continues here on t.v. and we continue with breaking news and that is that multiple gunshots have been heard near capitol hill in washington d.c. details are fairly sketchy at this stage but we do understand that several people have reportedly been injured the area was on the shutdown on lockdown but it is now we understand that lockdown is now over and for more on this we can cross live to our correspondent in washington d.c. and he said now we will do you know about what's just happened recently then

capitol hill. well the latest detail that we're getting and this is from multiple sources citing witnesses that the attacker was in fact a female like i said though this is developing story different versions are coming in some of them go as this there was a car chase that ensued after the shots took place and a lot of activity outside the u.s. capitol building and that at one point the shooter got out of the car suspected shooter i should say got out of the car started shooting at police and was shot it's not clear whether the shooter was just injured or was taken to hospital we're also hearing that someone in connection with the shooting has been arrested it's looking like possibly the shooter was shot and then arrested it's very very very tricky what's happening here because we're getting so many different stories of what happened but basically just over an hour ago shots were heard outside the

capitol some reports say as many as a dozen shots immediately the u.s. capitol building was put on lockdown offices closed a shelter was opened for people inside to go to safety that has now been removed but the area is still locked off there's a lot of activity outside the u.s. capitol building we know that one police officer officer is reported injured. i have pictures of him being airlifted in a helicopter to hospital and so the reports continue to come in what we know so far is that a shooting did occur no one knows why some kind of suspect is in custody it's not clear whether or not they were injured in that there were some kind of car chase will continue of course to keep you up to date from the u.s. capitol but it's interesting to point out that first this is taking place in the midst of a government shutdown so first of all the people helping the police officers the emergency workers they're all technically working for free during this shutdown that's one another thing that we're seeing on social media is is speculation that

the shooting somehow could be in connection with anger over this government shutdown over the past twenty four hours or so washington d.c. has been fairly dead it's a city that there is a lot of government workers who are working right now they're not getting paid to the streets have been empty and all the sudden we have this major activity another thing to point out is that just over two weeks ago on september sixteenth sixteenth a former navy reservist opened fire at a washington navy yard killing twelve before he was shot by police so this is becoming something that is happening often in the u.s. capitol it's something we saw like i said just two weeks ago and this is as the debate over gun laws in the united states over the war on terror continues there's a lot of issues and aspects that we're going to be talking about obviously over the next couple of days as we find out more and more about what exactly happened here today in washington d.c. ok lisa thank you very much indeed and now he lives in washington d.c.

and we can now discuss the shooting with defense analyst. ivan is in washington itself how do you gauge the atmosphere the moment i mean. well i just walked across the park. from the what then in front of the white house to come over here and i had to go an alternative route because the street in front of the white house's block i think they did that as a precaution in case it's a multi-pronged coordinated terrorist attack it doesn't sound like that's what happened here today. cause could be any number of things it could be a mentally ill person such as the. shooting at the navy yard a couple weeks ago there was mention in your lead up and. or it could be somebody disgruntled because of the government shutdown or could even still be a terrorist attack although i think that seems like it's unlikely at this point so we don't really know at this point in these situations are often fluid information

comes in and sometimes things the conception of things is changes abruptly from a defense and on this point of view this is not only the heart of government but of course it is a major tourist attraction just how easy is it to keep an area like this secure. well it's of course very difficult the capital has gotten after nine eleven got a lot more protected but of course there's still an open free republic like we have here the public access to these buildings is still prized by both the politicians and the citizens so tourists go in and out of the capital all the time and of course there's you have to go through a bomb detector and. have your bag. and that sort of thing but. you know these buildings are still open most of them the especially the capital and so it's very hard to protect it completely and there have been other shootings in

the past that the on the capitol grounds and in the capitol itself how do you assess the response all the security services the lockdown is over already it seems that they've dealt with this fairly quickly. well yeah i think they're more used to it here than say in a place like boston that doesn't you know that had the bombing earlier. and so i think the capitol hill police in the in the police downtown here there's different there's all sorts of different police forces in washington so you have to be careful here talking about but i think they deal with these sorts of things. routinely not necessarily shootings but incidents here and there and i think that. they've lifted the blockade which it sounds like yes that is very rapid now of course you can speculate about the motive and nobody knows what's happened but of course at the moment there is that major debate going on between the republicans and the democrats there in capitol hill and there's a lot of anger presumably in the country so some people will be turning to the

possibility all of that being related to this federal government shutdown. well it's possible and something like that can also trigger mentally ill people to think that they have to you know shoot somebody or try to shoot somebody because of this or it can just be somebody who's not mentally ill who's just very angry and just decides they're going to take matters into their own hands and it's very tragic when this happens but you know. in a republic we sometimes get these sorts of incidents people the people are are can fully accept expound their views here which which helps diffuse some of the anger but sometimes that doesn't work of course people are resilient life goes on and it seems that what we're talking now you're in a washington studio and the lockdown is no way of life will continue as normal for you i'd imagine is one of the millions of people there in that city.

well probably go back straight to my office instead of taking a detour so i think i hope so i hope this was just. i don't want to call it a minor incident because people have been shot but it may not be. an international terrorist plot which i hope and i hope they're not too many people killed or injured ivan thanks so much really good to talk to you and your immediate reaction thanks for joining us so quickly live on. what just to remind you of a breaking news story this hour multiple gunshots being fired in the capitol hill in washington d.c. the building was a brief security lockdown one officer has reportedly been injured and there are all unconfirmed reports that a car may have ran the gates or some gates close to the capitol building we'll get more on this developing story seems we get. the decision to put fugitive n.s.a.

whistleblower edward snowden on a short list for europe's human rights prize has received a less them positive response from the director of his former agency reporting in new york explains. according to reports former n.s.a. director michael hayden recently joked about putting. blower edward snowden on a different kind of list while speaking at a washington post panel discussion on that cyber security america's former spy chief acknowledged that mr snowden has been nominated for a human rights award and then reportedly said quote i must admit in my darker moment over the past several months i'd also thought of nominating mr snowden but it was for a different list unquote now some journalists including a brandin from the hell blog have interpreted mr hayden's words to mean putting snowden on america's kill list joke or not many would argue that this is probably the worst time for any or any former current top u.s. official to speak sarcastically about noting why because journalist jeremy scahill

and glenn greenwald are currently working together on a joint investigation on how the u.s. national security agency has been involved in why do overseas assassination programs run by the obama administration on both of these journalists are known for their hard hitting investigations of the u.s. government and their collaboration will reportedly they say reveal how the vast surveillance network of the n.s.a. operates in conjunction with clandestine operations run by the u.s. military or the cia now for those who don't know the heart of the prize that snowden is nominated for was established by the european parliament to honor individuals or organizations who have dedicated their lives to the defense of human rights and freedom of thought it is considered among the highest e.u. human rights awards associating snowden's name with a list would mean in theory that a whistleblower and internationally recognized human rights campaigner would have

a mark on his head now this is a circumstance that many would argue is no laughing matter. that will bring you more details on our breaking news on that shooting incident and capitol hill in washington d.c. it will be just a hole for now from the enemy to a much closer and his unique view on international finance that is next after the break in the cause report. you know i'm old enough to remember on reruns when gomer pyle used to cry citizen's arrest when he saw something wrong in mayberry and a new law in russia could allow our city average to do the same thing by helping to enforce law in the country this low allows citizens to protect public order by becoming volunteer workers deputy policeman and even forming peoples militias which will in theory prevent crime or at least allow the police to be informed more

quickly and accurately of course this like any project which sounds nice on paper is all about the implementation so we'll see how these deputies and militias will work overall i think this won't have much of an effect on crime but it could have a huge impact on non-criminal bad public behavior you know i am not the bravest guy on the planet and it is hard to confront a group of five drunk guys who are just as big as you who are acting like idiots on the street but doing so with ten stone sober militiaman buddies could provide a much more convincing argument for the drunkard's this could be a big step forward for democracy when you actually have at least a scrap of power or control over the events in your neighborhood then you are sure feel like people actually have a lot of power and this could be good for the country but that's just my opinion.

well to the kaiser report i max kaiser hey you there in liverpool thanks so much for this max graffiti you can now see on your screen i asked people around the world to put max your feet up in your city liverpool thank you this is got to be five or six cities now around the world have huge max portrait graffiti yes ok now the lilliputians let's talk about them they looked upon fraud as a greater crime than theft four with care and vigilance one could protect your property from theft but were fraud is permitted or can see or cannot have or hath no law to punish the honest deal.