Editor's note

The US and China have finally declared a truce in their two-year trade war. The countries have signed what they dubbed the first phrase of a broader trade pact. Washington offered to ease some punitive tariffs while China agreed to go on a $200 billion American buying spree and do more to crack down on Chinese theft of US companies’ trade secrets.

Great news, right? Not so fast, argues Penelope Prime. She highlights three fundamental issues the deal fails to resolve – all of which make getting a more comprehensive accord difficult.

Elsewhere David Rowe explores the history of the Olympic Games as a site for political protest as the International Olympic Committee moves to block athletes from any form of political protest at the Tokyo edition of the games in July.

Bryan Keogh

Senior Editor, Economy + Business

Top Stories

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He after signing the trade agreement. AP Photo/Evan Vucci

US-China trade pact President Trump just signed fails to resolve 3 fundamental issues

Penelope B. Prime, Georgia State University

The deal represents a trade war truce but doesn't resolve the underlying tensions that led to the two-year-old conflict.

The Olympics are an international gathering – politics and protest can’t be divided from that. Orestis Panagioutou/EPA

The Olympics have always been a platform for protest. Banning hand gestures and kneeling ignores their history

David Rowe, Western Sydney University

From Peter O'Connor waving the Irish flag in 1906 to rainbow colours at Sochi, athletes have always used the Olympics to share their politics.

Science + Technology

Lessons on how to effectively tackle insect invasions

Esther Ndumi Ngumbi, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Countries should promote alternatives to pesticides and more carefully examine how to prevent insect invasions in the first place instead of reaction when they happen.

We found the genes that allowed plants to colonise land 500 million years ago

Alexander Bowles, University of Essex

New research has pinpointed the genetic boost behind one of the biggest transformations of life on Earth.

Environment + Energy

Bird species are facing extinction hundreds of times faster than previously thought

Arne Mooers, Simon Fraser University

While Hail Mary conservation efforts can pull birds back from the brink, an extinction wave still looms.

With costs approaching $100 billion, the fires are Australia’s costliest natural disaster

Paul Read, Monash University; Richard Denniss, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

Estimates of the cost of Victoria's 2009 Black Saturday fires provide a staring point for calculating the much bigger cost of these ones.