Protests that began over rising prices in Sudan have grown into the largest uprising yet against the 29-year rule of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

The demonstrations began Dec. 19 in the eastern city of Atbara over the increasing cost of bread and fuel, and then spread to several other cities, including the capital, Khartoum. Amnesty International said last week that at least 37 protesters died over the first five days of clashes with police.

As Afghanistan wraps up a parliamentary vote marred by nearly 200 violent attacks and 50 deaths, U.S. officials insist the country can manage the violence and protect the democratic process.

Last weekend’s vote was the first to take place in war-torn Afghanistan since 2010. Afghan officials deployed about 70,000 police and soldiers to guard polling stations after the Taliban and Islamic State (ISIS) vowed to target voters.

TURKEY: Andrew Brunson, 50, and his wife, Norine, arrived on Saturday in the United States, one day after a three-judge panel freed the American pastor while finding him guilty on terrorism charges. The verdict likely ends Brunson’s decades of church planting and ministry in Izmir.

In a residential neighborhood in Hanoi, Vietnam, church leaders of the Dao ethnic group gather in a newly built classroom to learn about Christian leadership.

Afterward they stream downstairs to a communal kitchen where attendees of a women’s training program are eating lunch, the room filled with sounds of Vietnamese and the Dao’s local dialect.

IRAN: Mourners amassed Monday morning in Ahvaz for the funeral procession following a weekend terror attack on a military parade that killed at least 29 people and wounded 70—the deadliest attack in Iran in a decade. Iran blamed the United States for the attack, while a splinter group associated with ISIS claimed responsibility.

Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who championed veterans causes and made several unsuccessful bids for the presidency, has died from complications of brain cancer. He was 81.

Nigeria has overtaken India as the country with the most people living in extreme poverty, according to a report released last month by the Brookings Institution. The study found 87 million people in the African nation living in such conditions, a number growing by six people per minute, compared to a steadily decreasing 73 million people in India.