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For the first 6 months of 2013 U.S. auto sales reached 7.8 million, a 7.7% increase over 2012.

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Portugal's foreign minister, Paulo Portas, resigns in protest against continuity of austerity measures signalled by the selection of Ms. Albuquerque as the new finance minister. Portas's party is part of the coalition of centre right parties in the administration of prime minister, Pedro Passos Coelho. Cuts in public employee pay and spending on health and education, income and sales tax increases, have cut the deficit to 6.4% of GDP by 2013 from about 10% in 2010. The cost of this is an economy that is shrinking more than expected- by 4.8% in 2011 and 2012, and an additional 2.3% in 2013. Unemployment exceeds 17% in 2013. The loan terms negotiated for the 78 billion euro bailout with the IMF and E.U. in 2010, were renegotiated so that the 3% of GDP target for the deficit for 2013 was relaxed to 5.5%. Portas's party and other leaders are calling for a further renegotiation to take into account the economic conditions in Portugal and boost growth. Portas's party opposed the effort to cut labor costs of companies with a large increase in worker social security contributions, a measure seen as counterproductive even by business leaders that was later dropped. In financial markets the 10 year Portugal bond yield increased 0.22% to 6.615%....

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Efforts by homebuyers in China to evade government restrictions designed to control rising prices.

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An account of the last hours of Andrew Ashcraft of the Granite Mountain Hot Shot fire team fighting a blaze in the Prescott National Forest of the U.S. state of Arizona in July 2013. Nineteen firefighters died in the blaze.

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Morsi's authoritarian personal style, decrees and failure to give adequate weight to liberal opinion alienates liberals supporting El Baradei. The Salafi Nour Party is alienated by Morsi's improvement of relations with Iran. This weakens his administration with street protests in June 2013.

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Ajami points out the risks of the deal secularists and liberals in Egypt have made in calling on the military to upset the elected government of prime minister Morsi. The liberals and the Muslim Brotherhood were both equally opposed to the military and police intervention in politics in the period following Mubarak's ouster. The six decade rule of the military in Egypt has little to show for it in the modernization of Egypt and improving economic conditions. Egypt has seen this script before, says Ajami of the Hoover Institution- in 1952 the military stepped in after corruption in the political parties and political violence. The results were dismal extending throughout the period of modernization in Asia and Latin America. It has left Egypt frightfully behind in most dimensions of education, healthcare, and technological progess. The lack of training in parliamentary and democratic governance, and in the institutions of democracy are painfully evident- the poor roadmap for democracy laid out by the military, followed by the election, the decrees and authoritarian style critics describe of prime minister Morsi in failing to incorporate liberal opinion in policy, and the flawed secularist calls for the military to overturn the elected government with only one year in office. These institutions will take a long time to build and require patience, flexibility and the gift of wisdom on all sides....

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After years of rapid growth and rapid rate of credit creation China's economy is stalling. Each $1 of new credit generates only 17 cents in GDP growth, according to Bloomberg. This compares with 83 cents of GDP growth for each credit dollar in 2007. Local governments cannot find projects that are worthy of investment. Financial repression with low interest rates for savers is further depressing consumer spending when it is needed to rebalance the economy away from exports.