20,000 TONS OF DIESEL SPILLS INTO RIVER

MOSCOW» President Vladimir Putin of Russia has declared a state of emergency in a region in northern Siberia after a huge oil spill turned a river crimson.

More than 20,000 tons of diesel leaked into the Ambarnaya River near the city of Norilsk last Friday, after a fuel tank collapsed at a power plant. Norilsk Nickel, which owns the plant, said thawing permafrost had caused one of the tank’s pillars to collapse.

The oil leaked more than 7 miles from the site.

The accident is one of the biggest oil spills in modern Russian history, Aleksei Knizhnikov of the environmentalist group WWF Russia said. In a statement, Greenpeace Russia compared the discharge to the Exxon Valdez tanker spill in Alaska in 1989.

Security guard with knife wounds 39 at Chinese school.

A knife-wielding security guard went on a rampage at an elementary school in southeastern China on Thursday, leaving at least 39 people injured, officials said.

The attack at 8:30 a.m. left 37 students slightly wounded and two adults with serious wounds, according to an announcement by local authorities in Cangwu County. None of the injuries was lifethreatening. The security guard, named Li Xiaomin who was said to be about 50 years old, was arrested, according to People’s Daily, the official Communist Party news service.

Testimony: Shooter used racist slur as Arbery lay dying.

BRUNSWICK, GA.» A state investigator testified Thursday that a white man was heard saying a racist slur as he stood over Ahmaud Arbery’s body, moments after fatally shooting the black man with a shotgun.

The lead Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified Travis and Greg McMichael and a third man in another pickup, William “Roddie” Bryan, used their trucks to chase down Arbery.