Turkmenistan adjusts to a new personality

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — The hottest-selling items in Ashgabat's markets are photographs of the new president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, who appears set to carry on a personality cult rivaling that of the Kim dynasty in North Korea.

Pictures of the new leader, who took office earlier this year, have been springing up on billboards, on public buildings, next to fountains and in school classrooms across the country, often in the middle of the night.