BATON ROUGE, La. – Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, an avowed white supremacist, officially signed up Friday to run for U.S. Senate in Louisiana, saying “the climate of this country has moved in my direction.”
“I believe my time has come,” Duke said after submitting his paperwork for the ballot. He added: “The people of this country, the patriotic, decent, God-fearing people of this country are now right with me.”
Duke’s candidacy comes one day after Donald Trump accepted the GOP nomination for president, and Duke said he’s espoused principles for years that are similar to the themes Republicans are now supporting in Trump’s campaign, on issues such as immigration and trade.
He said the majority of Americans are “embracing the core issues I have fought for my entire life.”
NEW YORK – A rough day on Wall Street for Warren Buffett means Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is now the third richest person in the world.
Bloomberg’s billionaire index shows Buffett lost more than $754 million Thursday, thanks to a slide in shares of his company, Berkshire Hathaway. Bezos lost $136 million, but at the end of the day Bloomberg said his $65.1 billion net worth edged out Buffett’s $65 billion even.
Meanwhile, the world’s richest man became even richer Thursday. Bill Gates made nearly a half billion dollars to push his net worth past $89 billion.
Spanish retail clothing magnate Amancio Ortega remains in the No. 2 spot with $73.4 billion.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Friday denied prior knowledge or involvement by the U.S. in last week’s failed coup attempt in Turkey, saying reports to the contrary are “unequivocally false.”
Obama said he had made that clear to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when they spoke by telephone earlier this week. Obama said he also stressed to Erdogan that he should ensure everyone in the Turkish government understands that any reports to the contrary are untrue. Diplomatic relations and the safety of Americans on the ground in Turkey could be at risk otherwise, the president said.
“Any reports that we had any previous knowledge of a coup attempt, that there was any U.S. involvement in it, that we were anything other than entirely supportive of Turkish democracy are completely false, unequivocally false,” Obama said during a joint appearance at the White House with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.
Associated Press
