NIAZOV OUT OF INTENSIVE CARE.

Turkmen president Saparmurad Niazov has been taken off intensive care in the clinic near Munich where he underwent complicated heart surgery on September 1. Niazov will need at least two more weeks of recuperation in the clinic following the "urgent" operation, the German chief surgeon said in a statement which described the president’s condition as "stable." (Turkmen TV, September 5)

Russia and Chechnya Try Again to Reach Compromise on Oil Transit.