The most fascinating energy development of the last 14 months has been the furious, if covert, struggle involving Russia, China and the United States to develop Turkmenistan's vast natural gas deposits since the death of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov in December 2006.

MOSCOW, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Joining NATO will demand sacrifices and additional efforts from Ukraine, such as fulfilling the Membership Action Plan.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- What a difference nine months makes. Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, nine months ago a relatively unknown Turkmen apparatchik, made his first official visit to the United States, attending the opening of the United Nations' 62nd General Assembly and dazzling the Bush administration with promises of Western access to Turkmen energy resources. Given longstanding Turkmen grievances against Russia underpaying for its most valuable export, against all odds Washington might have staked a tentative claim to the Caspian basin’s last underdeveloped hydrocarbon assets, which Moscow formerly saw as its own. If the negotiations come to fruition, they represent an astonishing turnaround in U.S. fortunes in Ashgabat, which up to now have been marked by a mixture of indifference and ineptitude.

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The death of Turkmen leader Saparmurat Niyazov last Dec. 21 set off an unseemly but discreet scramble among a number of nations eager for access to the world's

Today is Monday, March 27, the 86th day of 2006 with 279 to follow.

KIEV, Ukraine, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Russia is raising the cost of natural gas for Ukraine to a level comparable to the cost of the commodity in Europe.

Today is Sunday, March 27, the 86th day of 2005 with 279 to follow.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A series by UPI examining the space policies of the U.S. and other governments. This week: The recent Russian decision to cease transporting U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station after 2005 highlights a harsh reality that few Americans are as

The first of two excerpts from "Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel," published by Joseph Henry Press. The book is a history of manned space exploration since the Apollo lunar landings. It describes th