Son succeeds father as Turkmenistan’s new president

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — The son of Turkmenistan’s former president has been inaugurated as the new leader of the authoritarian Central Asian country. Serdar Berdymukhamedov, 40, took the oath of office Saturday,  a week after an election in which the central elections commission said he won 73% of the vote. He had faced eight other nominal contenders, all of whom praised his father, Gurbanguly, who became president in 2006 and established a pervasive cult of personality. The elder Berdymukhamedov announced his resignation last month and Serdar, who had been named to increasingly prominent government posts, was seen as his certain successor. Turkmenistan, a nation of 6 million on the Caspian Sea,  has long been difficult for outsiders to enter.