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Loading... By Peter Rainer Special correspondent Does a movie about a devoted modern-day practitioner of Hindustani classical music sound overly esoteric? “The Disciple,” written and directed by Chaitanya Tamhane, is anything but. What it’s really about is the spiritual balm that great art can provide. Sharad (Aditya Modak) is a 24-year-old vocalist in the ancient tradition who studies and performs with his longtime musical guru, or Guruji (Arun Dravid). Like his father before him in this rarefied realm, he craves renown for his artistry. But Sharad’s father (Kira...

Cheyenne, Wyo. For pro-Trump Republicans, removing Rep. Liz Cheney from House GOP leadership was relatively easy. Booting her from office will be another matter. The rush to punish Ms. Cheney for her criticism of former President Donald Trump and his loyalists is drawing a cast of Wyoming primary challengers so big it could ultimately help her win again next year. Another boost for Ms. Cheney is a pile of campaign money and a family legacy that has helped her before. Still, there’s no doubt that her campaign to call out Mr. Trump’s lies about fraud in the 2020 election is firing up opposi...

After eight years of frosty relations, Egypt and Turkey held their first high-level talks last week to move toward “normalized ties.” Not to be outdone, Qatar advanced its detente with Egypt; Saudi Arabia and Syria held secret talks in Damascus; and the Turkish foreign minister traveled to Riyadh this week to repair ties. The overtures are adding to the ongoing dialogue between the region’s primary rival powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Despite the violence convulsing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, dialogue and diplomacy are in the air this spring across much of the Middle Eas...

Washington Gas prices are rising. Auto prices are soaring. Consumer goods companies are charging more for household basics like toilet paper, peanut butter, and soft drinks. All of which is resurrecting fears of an economic threat that has all but disappeared over the past generation: runaway inflation. It occurs when prices for most goods and services not only rise but accelerate, making the cost of living steadily more expensive and shrinking the purchasing power of Americans’ earnings and savings. On Wednesday, the government reported that consumer prices for goods and services surged 0....

As U.S.-Russian relations plumb new depths, opposition-minded Russian activists are getting a painful taste of an experience that was very familiar to Soviet-era dissidents: The worse relations got between the USSR and the West, the harder the Kremlin cracked down on its domestic critics. In recent months, Russian authorities have introduced what many are calling a new paradigm of authoritarian repression. Many activists who had hitherto been officially tolerated have been arrested, and formerly acceptable civil society groups shut down. Why We Wrote This Russia may not be at war with the Wes...