The president gets another title, ignores soaring food prices, starts a charity, and pens a ditty to his favorite city. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.
The journalist faced not only the customary bureaucratic hurdles, but even alleged sexual harassment from an individual possibly linked to the security services.
Ashgabat may hope expending energy to attain international respectability will improve its chances of tapping global financial institutions for investment.