Around 800 construction workers on a $1.4 billion high rise resort development in Surfers Paradise voted to down tools on 3 October. The strike is about job security on the Jewel Resort project after 150 workers were told that they were no longer needed. 

What began as a small protest in Mashhad, north-east Iran, against price rises, high unemployment and other economic grievances has spread across 65-70 towns and cities around the country.