Greenpeace activists shut down Arctic oil rig

The Independent: Yesterday, four Greenpeace activists shut down an oil drilling operation in the Arctic. Using inflatable speedboats to evade authorities, the four, who are all expert climbers, then climbed 15 m up the Cairn Energy oil rig off Greenland, where they are occupying tents suspended from ropes. Sim McKenna, from the US, who is one of the climbers, said: "We've got to keep the energy companies out of the Arctic and kick our addiction to oil, that's why we're going to stop this rig from drilling for as long as we can.” The drilling was forced to stop when the climbers breached a 500-m cordon around the rig; they hope to delay drilling long enough to make the company pull out before winter sets in.