Symbolic struggles over the Confederacy are uniquely American. But fierce battles over public spaces and monuments, and the values they elevate and enshrine, are not. “The French have their own versions of these battles,” said Peter Brooks, a professor of literature who has taught at Yale and Princeton. In such battles for cultural and political supremacy, history is a weapon. …

In the affluent nations of northwestern Europe, people with university educations have taken over politics. Cabinet ministers with fancy degrees are nothing new, but more and more parliamentary seats have been going to college graduates. In some countries, the highly educated’s share of seats is completely unprecedented. In others, it hasn’t been this high since the 1800s, when politics was …

Bloomberg Stocks fell and gold and the yen climbed as geopolitical tensions flared up again, with U.S. President Donald Trump weighing new economic sanctions that could target China after a nuclear test on Sunday by North Korea. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined, with all industry sectors in the red, after a report that Pyongyang is preparing to launch an …