Around 12, 000 miners at another gold mine have downed tools in a wildcat strike, demanding more pay.

ECONOMIST: South Africa

In its annual survey, Atlanta-based retail consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates finds that consumers are demanding more personalization than ever before and are willing to pay for it.

FORBES: Good service sells

The union representing more than 7, 000 hotel workers is demanding a pay increase and a special Olympic bonus.

BBC: NEWS | Europe | Olympics hotels face strike threat

Now here is the unsurprising conclusion: only if investors start demanding that the government pay four or five percentage points more to borrow, only if the interest rate were to rise to what Italy has been paying recently, would the UK's big debt become unaffordable.

BBC: Would euro solution be costly for Treasury?

About 450 workers agreed to a pay increase of 9.8%, after initially demanding a hike of more than 20%.

BBC: Hong Kong dock workers end strike

This extra cushion that traders are demanding implies either that people expect markets to become even more volatile or, more likely, that traders no longer pay much attention to their pricing models.

ECONOMIST: Technology shares